Satire

   From Chaucer to Shakespeare to Jonathan Swift to Mel Brooks to "Saturday Night Live," satire has been a quick, effective and powerful way of making political statements.
   Satire can bite, gently or severely. Its targets can either laugh or take deep offense, depending partly on their own sense of security and self worth. And when combined with snide, sarcastic humor, whether written or performed, occasionally with a bit of a snarl, the term "snarky" is born.
   Sometimes, satire uses allegory and fiction to disguise, however slightly, its criticism of authority figures.
   Examples of powerful satirical works include "Animal Farm," by George Orwell; "A Modest Proposal," by Jonathan Swift; "The Producers," a film by Mel Brooks, and the "Saturday Night Live" television show with its takedowns of President Donald Trump and his press secretary Sean Spicer.
   Particularly sharp snippets from these works are "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others," from the book, "Animal Farm," and the song "Springtime for Hitler," from "The Producers."
   Political leaders and politicians are often major targets of satire, and many do not take kindly to negative comments of any kind, much less broad satire, on what they say and do. In fact, some countries have even made criticism of government and its leaders a criminal offense.
   Monarchs and dictators especially try to make criticism illegal, and satirists in such regimes must tread lightly, masking their comments as humor, or disguising them by using animal characters.
   Fortunately, humorists, comedians and satirists in America have the constitutional guarantee to be able to speak freely, limited only by the laws of libel. But even here, celebrities and others in the public eye are more open to strong criticism and snarky comments than private citizens.
   So as President Harry Truman famously said, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen."