Prophet of Zod | 5 Reasons Christian Satire is Awkward and Uncomfortable @ProphetofZod | Uploaded January 2022 | Updated October 2024, 8 hours ago.
The humor of the Babylon Bee has always struck me as fairly stilted. While it has occasionally funny observations about quirks of church life or light jabs at specific denominations, it usually falls flat in a way that sounds like a middle-aged dad or a painfully pseudo-hipster youth pastor who's trying too hard to mimic satire without understanding it. Often (especially since 2018) it just comes off as blunt-headed and mean.
Why is this? Is it just because the writers at the Bee are talentless hacks? Maybe. But I think there's more to it than that. I think that, when you step back and think about what satire is and what it's supposed to do, you realize that fundamentalist evangelical Christianity just isn't a good fit for it. In this video, I go over five aspects of the religion that make it (generally) bad at satire.
The article I'll be referring to in the video: babylonbee.com/news/here-are-all-the-headlines-the-babylon-bee-would-have-written-if-we-were-around-in-bible-times
THE CLARIFICATIONS:
1) I’m aware that the Babylon Bee was different - and generally considered better - before it was sold in 2018. This does account for a lot of the problems we see in this article, and I'm aware Christian satire is not always problematic to the same extent.
2) I’m not saying the Babylon Bee is never funny. I know some of you like some of its jokes, and even I think it’s funny - maybe even slightly pointed - at times. My point is not that Christian satire can never be either of those things, but that it is generally hampered by the factors I bring up. So as I say at the end, take some parts of what I say and leave others.
3) When I say things about the nature of satire, I’m not trying to argue the dictionary definition. I know it doesn’t HAVE to challenge authority to technically be satire, but I’d argue that that’s how it’s most effectively used and that it often goes wrong when it veers too far from this function. If you reply "Well actually it's using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices and it doesn't say anything about power," you're missing the point.
4) References to power dynamics are not some kind of social rant. I’m just talking about how perceived or real power dynamics can impact humor. Most of my observations about power and authority are in light of the dictate-driven authority structure of fundamentalist religion.
5) Making observations about the Bee’s humor is not the same as saying it should be censored. This should go without saying, but people have already started reacting to me as if that was my point. I don’t know why some people are so quick to take any critical observation about something as a call to silence it, but I hope you’re not one of those people.
STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND ME
My Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzod
My Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-Zod
My Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_Zod
My Email: poz@prophetofzod.com
My mailing address:
PO Box 773024
Eagle River, AK 99577
Website: prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
The humor of the Babylon Bee has always struck me as fairly stilted. While it has occasionally funny observations about quirks of church life or light jabs at specific denominations, it usually falls flat in a way that sounds like a middle-aged dad or a painfully pseudo-hipster youth pastor who's trying too hard to mimic satire without understanding it. Often (especially since 2018) it just comes off as blunt-headed and mean.
Why is this? Is it just because the writers at the Bee are talentless hacks? Maybe. But I think there's more to it than that. I think that, when you step back and think about what satire is and what it's supposed to do, you realize that fundamentalist evangelical Christianity just isn't a good fit for it. In this video, I go over five aspects of the religion that make it (generally) bad at satire.
The article I'll be referring to in the video: babylonbee.com/news/here-are-all-the-headlines-the-babylon-bee-would-have-written-if-we-were-around-in-bible-times
THE CLARIFICATIONS:
1) I’m aware that the Babylon Bee was different - and generally considered better - before it was sold in 2018. This does account for a lot of the problems we see in this article, and I'm aware Christian satire is not always problematic to the same extent.
2) I’m not saying the Babylon Bee is never funny. I know some of you like some of its jokes, and even I think it’s funny - maybe even slightly pointed - at times. My point is not that Christian satire can never be either of those things, but that it is generally hampered by the factors I bring up. So as I say at the end, take some parts of what I say and leave others.
3) When I say things about the nature of satire, I’m not trying to argue the dictionary definition. I know it doesn’t HAVE to challenge authority to technically be satire, but I’d argue that that’s how it’s most effectively used and that it often goes wrong when it veers too far from this function. If you reply "Well actually it's using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices and it doesn't say anything about power," you're missing the point.
4) References to power dynamics are not some kind of social rant. I’m just talking about how perceived or real power dynamics can impact humor. Most of my observations about power and authority are in light of the dictate-driven authority structure of fundamentalist religion.
5) Making observations about the Bee’s humor is not the same as saying it should be censored. This should go without saying, but people have already started reacting to me as if that was my point. I don’t know why some people are so quick to take any critical observation about something as a call to silence it, but I hope you’re not one of those people.
STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND ME
My Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzod
My Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-Zod
My Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_Zod
My Email: poz@prophetofzod.com
My mailing address:
PO Box 773024
Eagle River, AK 99577
Website: prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
