Neil Gaiman pretty accurately sums up how I’ve felt for quite some time now:
I turned off the news at that point, feeling like I was living in a rather broadly written satire.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Tom Tomorrow in discussing this absolutely idiotic petition (which I have to hope is a joke):
Those of you who mockingly suggested this over the past few days may now understand the difficulties facing a satirist in times when reality so often surpasses satire.
Satire may not be dead, but it’s definitely seen better days. Personally, I’m a little tired of seeing political news links that need to be prefaced with the comment “No, this didn’t come from The Onion.” Satire is supposed to exaggerate society’s flaws, but instead it’s being dwarfed by them, by the sheer absurdity of the world in which we’re now living. When our nation’s leaders actually think renaming French fries is their top priority, it’s a little tough to find room for exaggeration.