Musings on Satire and Spite

Awhile ago, I promised I would write a full review of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention’s We’re Only In It for The Money, but I ran out of steam- such is the life of a Substacker.

So I’ll keep in brief: We’re Only In It for The Money is a biting satire of the 60s counterculture. Zappa portrays the hippie movement as a bunch of navel-gazing, self-centered, phony potheads. And it rules.

A lot of political satire just comes off as spiteful, the equivalent of rollin’ coal or depicting your opponent as the Soyjak and you as the Chad. But WOITFTM is different for a variety of reasons. One, it’s genuinely hilarious: when one of the first songs has the lyrics “I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me”, you know you’re in for banger of an album. Two, it’s such a cool time capsule of a particular era: listening to it, you feel like you’re transported into 1968 San Francisco, and you gain a certain affection for the freakniks and beatniks that the album riffs on. Three, the music is genuinely good. Even if I had no idea what hippies were and that the lyrics are mocking them, I’d still love the album on the basis of the sound alone. I still find myself humming along to earworms like “What’s The Ugliest Part of Your Body?” A common Zappa take I hear from people is that even if they don’t “get” his schtick, they still admire what a talented musician he was.

Politically, Frank Zappa was an interesting guy. He was more or less a “South Park Republican” before there was a name for it. He didn’t like the proto-“woke” of his time (he described himself as “always a freak, but never a hippie”), but he also despised the religious right. In The Real Frank Zappa Book, he writes about how he’s actually quite conservative, at least fiscally.

A common issue with political art is that it tends to focusing on “owning” your target first, and being good second. The right is the biggest culprit of this- Conservative Inc. would sell a handkerchief made of lead if they could advertise it as “anti-woke”- but the left is guilty of it too. Observe:

If you think this meme is an exaggeration, keep in mind that there’s a self-proclaimed “woke-free” shaving razor brand called Jeremy’s that promises its consoomers will “shave like a man, not a manifesto”. This is what I meant when I said it’s incredibly myopic for the gender critical movement to assume that only transsexuals have an unhealthy attachment to “gender identity”. I mean, shit, if you need a razor brand with gauche advertising to affirm your manhood you’re NGMI.

To show that the progressive left isn’t getting off Scot-free here either, I included this garish display of men in fetish gear and manmade horrors beyond your comprehension. This apparently is a page from a picture book called “Grandpa’s Pride”, which was first put on my radar by the organization Gays Against Groomers (if you’re a GAG member reading this, know that I give your organization an official Lemon seal of approval, even though I’m no one special). This is a perfect example of “Fischer Price Exhibitionism”, to use a great term an old friend once coined- a tacky and voyeuristic display of sexuality combined with a nauseatingly cutesy aesthetic, done without a trace of irony or self-awareness. To repeat an analogy I used at the beginning, this is the progressive version of rollin’ coal. Whoever made this did it with the sole intention of poking the hornets nest, thinking “this will trigger the rightoid chuds FOR SURE!” When people rightfully point out that it’s weird, they then play the victim, crying about homophobia and how conservatives are trying to censor them.

To pivot to something slightly different: a popular debate is if conservatives are capable of creating good media (I hesitate to use the fancy smancy word “art”). My answer would be yes; your views on foreign or domestic policy shouldn’t interfere with your ability to put out something worthwhile. Norm MacDonald is considered the GOAT comedian, and he was pretty openly center-right. Joan Rivers was one of the funniest women- scratch that, one of the funniest people- in showbiz, and she identified as a “Country Club Republican.” Former Indie darling Ariel Pink is a great artist and he’s more or less a conservative troll/provocateur, ditto for synth-pop musician John Maus. Comedy writer John Swartzwelder was one of the main minds behind the Golden Era of The Simpsons, and he was a right-wing recluse. Say what you want about Anna Khachiyan, but she makes a good point about how artists who capture the current state of the world often flirt with reactionary themes- Lana Del Rey, Bret Easton Ellis, Michel Houellebecq, etc.

However, the problem is that a lot of conservatives get too wrapped up in their identity as a “conservative writer/artist/filmmaker/comedian, etc”, and forgot they’re supposed to first and foremost be a writer/artist/filmmaker/comedian, etc. This results in the vast majority of conservative media being preachy and having the subtlety of a sledgehammer dropped by Captain Planet. As mentioned previously, a lot of it is just made out of spite- putting something together through gritted teeth, thinking “this time I’ll Own The Libs for SURE!!!!”

Recently, my mutual and brotha from another motha

Prester John's Revenge

wrote about how it’s time to say goodbye to the snark and spite of 2010s, and hello to the new sincerity of the 2020s. He points to The Orville, Seth MacFarlane’s affectionate parody of the Star Trek franchise, as a step in the right direction. I commented how another good example of satire without spite is the musical Avenue Q. It would be easy to take the concept of “Sesame Street, BUT FOR ADULTS” and make it nothing but epic bacon shock humor, with the same tone of a seven year old drawing a comic where he kills Barney the Dinosaur. Instead, Avenue Q is fun, irreverent, smart, raunchy, and heartwarming- all at the same time. It lampoons Muppet media while still keeping the charm that made Jim Henson’s original creations so beloved.

It also helps that the soundtrack is a-freaking-mazing.

Another aspect that’s sorely lacking in media, regardless of political affiliation, is the ability to let go and have fun. Think of ragebait peddlers like Lib of Tik Tok or TDS sufferer Jeff Tiedrich. Do you really think they enjoy logging onto to X, slugging through another day of getting themselves angry, depressed, and raising their blood pressure? I doubt they get anything out of it besides engagement clicks and a very brief shot of dopamine.

On the other hand, two recent pieces of media that are uniquely spite-free are Smiling Friends and Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. “Refreshing” would be the best way to describe them. Despite being produced in the Current Era, both feel like a glimpse into what the post-culture war age might look like:

Smiling Friends was created by Newgrounds veterans Zach Hadel and Michael Cusak. The show is the culmination of their decade-long efforts to get their own cartoon on Adult Swim. Now, they finally have the budget and the platform to put whatever the hell they think is funny on TV. The result of this is a wonderfully zany toon that feels like a homage to 2000s-early 2010s internet culture, and a breath of fresh air from tryhard, 2deep4u nihilism of shows like Rick and Morty or Bojack Horseman.

Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast is hosted by comedians Matt McCusker and Shane Gillis. Shane Gillis first gained notoriety in 2019, when he was fired from Saturday Night Live after clips of him making politically incorrect jokes resurfaced. However, thanks to the Streisand Effect, he became a million times more popular as a result. This came full circle this year, when SNL invited him back as a host.

As you can see from Shane’s killer Trump impression, he doesn’t shy away from political comedy.

However, Gillis’ interest in politics seems to be purely sociological. Let me explain that word salad: instead of “wow, these guys are so fucking stupid, amirite?” Shane’s approach to politics is moreso “huh, these guys are interesting, let’s see how I can make that funny.” He doesn’t shy away from sharing his opinion, but he also doesn’t lecture the audience on what to think or who to get mad at.

Also, Shane’s history lectures are cozy af.