Anything for a Laugh: The Role of Humor and Satire in American Free Speech
Alexandria, VA – “Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense.”
-Mark Twain’s Notebook
For 250+ years of our U.S. history, newspapers and now the media at-large have enjoyed a love affair with the First Amendment to the Constitution, specifically, Freedom of the Press. And major players in that arena have been the essayists, cartoonists, comedians, and satirists of this great land.
The Fourth Estate – the nickname for the Press – comes from an addition to the French system known as the Ancient Regime (or Old Regime). The First Estate was the Clergy, the Second was the Nobles, and these two ruled supreme over the bulk of society, which were the Peasants and the Bourgeoisie, known as the Third Estate. The disparity of 1 and 2 over 3 were largely responsible for the French Revolution.
Due in no small part to American irreverence, born before our own revolution that found its way into print, it became a bulwark of America’s love of Free Speech. After all, the Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” And who better than Americans[i] to hoist a petard up the bum of many corrupt, dim, and lackluster politicians and others of the rich and famous set?
Our history has provided rich opportunities for ripostes against major figures, especially in government. It has been our sense of humor and creativity that gave birth to many of the finest laughs and satire hurled at the high and mighty in American society. These barbs and their creators have been the shining example to the rest of the world in what fascinating and funny directions Free Speech can go.
During the Presidential campaign of 1884, his opponents used paternity out of wedlock against Grover Cleveland. They started a campaign with a lyric, “Ma, Ma, where’s my pa?” It was a hit and widely circulated. Despite the bad publicity, however, Cleveland won by a narrow margin.
Political cartoons lampooning American power brokers have been around since the time of Benjamin Franklin. But it was the Warren G. Harding administration that is one of the finest examples of political cartooning running wild to expose and ridicule corruption. Several of Harding’s cabinet members, called the Ohio Gang, were involved in what became known as the Teapot Dome scandal,[ii] considered the biggest scandal in American history until Watergate.[iii]
Every generation has its Mark Twain, Thomas Nast, Herblock (Herbert Block), Art Buchwald, Gary Trudeau, or the one-and-only George Carlin, to poke at the giant in the glittering 65-room mansion or private island in the Caribbean. But things have become a bit prickly of late with some of our most prolific archers being cancelled or threatened legally for some of the arrows they launch at America’s new royalty. Given some corporate power moves in America’s media boardrooms and courtrooms, the grand old First Amendment may be in peril. And we will be the first to lose a wonderful vehicle, humor and satire, that sets us apart from the rest of the world.
Jimmy Kimmel may be more sage than funny when he said at the Oscars last month, “We hear a lot about courage at shows like this [Oscars], but telling a story that could get you killed for telling it is real courage. As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it to North Korea and CBS.”
[i] Americans – the U.S. kind. Canada, Mexico, and 32 others are also considered Americans but we branded ourselves first, like Xerox, and so now we have the new Gulf of America.
[ii] Teapot Dome was an oil range in Wyoming that provided sequestered oil reserves for the Navy. The Secretary of the Interior Albert Hall leased the oil production rights to two oil company executives without competitive bids and the kickbacks went to Hall. Then the kickbacks went into Attorney General Harry Daugherty’s brother’s bank.
[iii] Watergate is more than a condominium property in Washington DC. Back in the day it became famous for the Nixon folks breaking into a presidential headquarters, major money changing hands, people erasing presidential White House tapes about the burglars, and the then-Attorney General trying to cover up the entire routine. It got really ugly. Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein got famous, President Nixon resigned, lots of his staff went to a country club prison, one staffer found God, and now every scandal wears the -Gate suffix.
