Satire

By Joel Thurtell

My apologies to Jeff T. Wattrick.

Readers have commented that I mistook his spoof on Ambassador Bridge president Dan Stamper for a straight opinion piece.

According to one commenter, I missed 30 jokes in the Wattrick piece.

Now, with egg on my face, I’m trying to figure out how I went so wrong.

The embarrassment is acute for me, because I often write satirical essays.

As I re-read my own errant piece, “Dan, Dan, the martyr man,” I realized how, in part, I was misled.

In my essay, I suggested that “Jeff T. Wattrick” might be a pseudonym, because no real person would want to stand behind the absurdities expressed in Wattrick’s column.

When I write satire for my blog, I do it under a fake name.

I hope the phony names elicit a chuckle from readers, but humor is not my main reason for using silly names like Melanie Munch for the JOTR food writer or Pete Pizzicato for our music critic.

I’m aware that I don’t know most of the people who check out my blog. And they don’t know me. If I were to write under my own name in a satirical vein, it is more than faintly possible that some readers might take my words seriously.

For instance, sometimes I write about lying, especially as it relates to the media. When I write about these matters, I pretend to be in favor of deceit. I spread rampant praise, sometimes, on media reports that I deem especially misleading.

Some people who don’t know me might think I was seriously advocating behavior that is really opposite to what I believe.

Somehow, I need to signal readers that what they are about to read is intended as satire.

So, when I feel like sending up some piece of duplicitous journalism, I head the column with the name and title of my favorite pseudonymous writer.

That would be “Luke Warm”.

Read by itself, “Luke Warm” might seem like a joke to some. But some might take it seriously. It is an odd name, but there are plenty of odd names out there.

So I append a title to “Luke Warm.”

Luke Warm is identified as a Professor of Mendacity.

Now, that should be enough of a tip that what follows is an argument that is the reverse of what I really believe. Whoever heard of a “professor of mendacity”?

But just to be sure, I add that “Luke Warm” is at the “University of Munchausen”.

A few readers, maybe more, will know that Baron Munchausen was a teller of tall tales regarded by some as the grandest liar of all time.

The top of a “Luke Warm” column will look like this:

By Luke Warm

Professor of Mendacity

University of Munchausen.

You might say, a boldface lie.

But I mean for it to be a strong signal that what follows should be read in reverse. That way, when through the voice of “Luke Warm” I compliment someone for a flagrant lie, the reader will understand, I hope, that I really intend to condemn the behavior.

Tipped off to my tactic, the reader will be in on the joke.

I’ve been writing in this mode on and off for nearly three years, and so far, nobody has complained about feeling duped into taking seriously what I meant as a send-up.

That is important to me. Above all, I want to be considerate of my readers.

I don’t want to cause anybody to feel foolish, as I now feel for having taken Jeff T. Wattrick’s essay at face value.

I missed whatever cues he put out and didn’t realize he was pulling my leg.

Sorry to say, though, but I still don’t find those 30 jokes.