Satires

Sander

Sander

This ghoul has seen it all
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Our prime minister, who looks like:

http://www.cda.nl/domains/cda/content/downloads/beeldbank/minstaat/balkenende.jpeg


And is called Harry Potter for a reason, as you can obviopusly see, has recently said that satires about the royal family should stop, since they damage the royal family, and they are just dispicable in general.
A few days after that came out, I also heard some guy say that satires on people like the pope should stop, because they are disrespectful and tasteless.

Now, I'd like to hear the opinions of the people here about that. Should satires be stopped or not?
 
Holy hell...

I strongly suggest that you edit your post so the pic doesn't load with it.

Satires are good, but they do get old and idiotic after a while. It's a judgement call really.
 
I'm not talking about being against or for satires, I'm asking whether you're for or against BANNING satires for certain people.
 
Naaah, you shouldn't. Freedom of speech and a sense of humour towards yourself and towards moral idols are very important if you want to live in a free society.

Censoring them would be something like denying that the "target" of the given satire is imperfect, human, and therefore cannot be laughed at, raising the person above the level of men to a superior plane.

Anyways, there are people who don't even need cartoonists to look extremely stupid and act even worse. :D
 
Well, as long as the jokes aren't too cheap (not very fond of toilet humour or "generic" jokes that can be applied to most anyone or anything), satire = teh win.

A few years ago, one minister here sued a cartoonist for portraying him as engaging in submissive sexual practices with his wife, a journalist. I'm not sure about the law, but I do think the comic went over the top there - although all the minister accomplished was direct more attention to the thing. :) He demanded a written apology, but I think he lost in the end.

On the other hand, there was a parody of a beer commercial featuring a former prime minister who had been suspected of alcoholism which I found rather witty.

Ah well, I guess it boils down to where you draw the line beyond which lies the realm of the distasteful. Of course, that's extremely hard to codify in the law, so the line has to be drawn either arbitrarily or not at all. :shrug:

Either way, banning a satire simply for poking fun at someone in power should at least raise eyebrows everywhere.

Á propos, a show poking fun at Prime Minister Berlusconi (who also happens to own several private TV stations, newspapers and more) has been cancelled on the Italian public television. Apparently the companies owned by Berlusconi threatened to sue and RAI shelved the show for fears of legal costs.

Details
 
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