It's a complicated world and folks pick different ways to cope with barbarity. Much like the quite "graphic" images available from ISIS itself in its print and online images, combating it should not be reduced to simple reactions. This is a world of both parody and satire and understanding the difference between the two is the real task of political communication. One example is an online kerfuffle over a skit on last night's
Saturday Night Live that spoofed a patriotically sentimental US car commercial by comparing ISIS recruitment to military enlistment.
A “Saturday Night Live” commercial spoof is stirring outrage online over its depiction of a female high school graduate who leaves her family to join the Islamic State militant group also known as ISIS.
The ad, starring “SNL” host and “50 Shades of Grey” star Dakota Johnson is a spoof of the Toyota commercial that portrays an Army-bound daughter being dropped off at the airport by her father. In the “SNL” version, though, the daughter is being picked up by Islamic militants in a Toyota pickup truck.
“You be careful, OK?” says the father, played by Taran Killam.
“Dad, it’s just ISIS,” she replies.
When a teary-eyed Killam instructs one of the militants, played by Kyle Mooney, to “take care of her,” he replies, “Death to America.”
As the truck drives away, a voice-over assures Killam: “ISIS: We’ll take it from here, Dad.”
While the studio audience seemed to laugh, plenty of viewers at home didn’t find it so funny.
Keyboard Kommandoes are
the only ones being outraged when compared to the reality and gallows humor as parody or satire is often the only thing getting many people through a time of such manufactured violence
Parody and satire are often confused or reversed in definition. Part of this may be related to the fact that satire sometimes used parody as a tool for getting humor across. The fake-news show The Colbert Report is often described as both parody and satire. Accurately, it is a parody of news pundits such as Bill O’Reilly, used to make a satirical point about real socio-political commentary shows.
Imagine that the outrage could be over wearing the wrong team's cap in this case
Miami Dolphins instead of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Use your own facial recognition skills to notice the resemblance, but refrain from making the stereotypical conclusions. Like experiencing even mediated versions of the visceral, one needs to consider that we are culturally literate enough to take a "meta"-critical view of all things mediated.
'Jihadi John' Unmasked: First Picture of Mohammed Emwazi as an Adult Emerges
Bethany Haines, the daughter of British hostage David Haines who was purportedly killed in one of the ISIS videos, told Britain’s ITV that identifying “Jihadi John” was a good step, “but I think all the families will feel closure and relief once there’s a bullet between his eyes.” http://abcnews.go.com/...