Talking back to the puppets...

One of the most obvious aspects of contemporary discourse, which to some extent is fed by mass amateur satire on social media, is that many of us seem to be losing sight of the distinction between the caricature and a reality which should also be addressed on its own terms.

Brits like me, of a certain age, would probably understand this as having an on-going argument with a cast of Spitting Image puppets. (Grok doesn't quite understand the reference, but whatevs...) 

Increasingly I see people, especially on the Left, doing this with the likes of Trump, Musk, Netanyahu etc.

It’s unquestionably entertaining to be part of the collective send up. Yet behind the exaggerated latex masks that we have created, there is a real person, with attributes and inclinations which often sit well shy of the extreme end of the spectrum where we like to place them for our amusement and performed outrage.

This does not make these figures less dangerous, on some levels quite the contrary, because we are failing to confront and comprehend the reality, which often ends up giving them more leeway to act on their inclinations than they might otherwise have.

One might argue that a man like Putin is WYSIWYG, but even he has some subtle complexities that often get passed over by the digital commentariat.

 

A friend recently commented to me that satire has always been 'geared' towards more sophisticated, usually more intelligent people, so perhaps 'democratising' it, especially in the context of 'American' democracy, has not been a process without potholes.

And there are clear indications that the supposedly sophisticated are habitually allowing themselves to be readily influenced by the obviously unsophisticated. 

 

There’s another somewhat related phenomenon which we should be wary of as well. Social Media appeals to narcissists and amplifies their voices above those of non-narcissists. One of my key red flags for narcissism is a tirade of bile and invective emerging from a profile which could just as easily be interpreted as a set of self-descriptions, readily reversible analogies etc.

The medium, by its very nature, brings this out in some form in almost everyone who participates, but the repercussion (or perhaps reverberation) for those who suffer from the pathology in ‘real life’ is that much more pronounced.