View from the North 40: Satire is no joke, Nimrod

Satire is the only superpower I wield with any sort of natural grace and effectiveness. It’s likely that this shouldn’t be something to brag about, but I would argue that what satire lacks in measurable worth it makes up for in its vast sphere of influence.

The key to the wide-ranging power of satire is that it is a multifaceted tool incorporating sarcasm, irony, parody, mockery, travesty, a bit of burlesque and more. Think of it like this: If your superpower was super strength you could do things like lift heavy objects, jump high, run fast, throw far, stop speeding trains and crush a 50 gallon drum against your forehead like it was a 12-ounce light beer can.

For example, a 2011 study by researchers at University of California, San Fransisco, found that people with a dementia that affected the frontal lobe of the brain could not recognize sarcasm — one of the foundation virtues of satire. This problem is so definite that even when the moments of sarcasm were clearly signaled with body language the test subjects still couldn’t figure it out.

This inability to discern sarcasm is actually one of the earliest signs of dementia, so, basically, sarcasm is now a crucial diagnostic tool for the onset of dementia. That means, if you don’t get my humor, you should go see your doctor immediately and tell her that you have a problem with your brain – because it’s you, not me. And you’re welcome.

Satire isn’t a difficult power to tap into, you just have to let your mind be open to different perspectives and be willing to embrace the ridiculous. It doesn’t have to be a big thing but, that said, not only does it help shape a full mind, but it also encourages the accumulation of knowledge.

Did you know that awful and awesome used to mean the same thing? Awe-inspiring. Somewhere along the line awful came to have that negative element to it. Probably because it lacked an E. (See what I did there, blaming a letter of the alphabet for the problem? That’s ridiculous. It’s because that second L was missing, too, and nothing could be “full” of anything, really, without it. Try to keep up.)

Knowing all this, if someone tells you that you’re awful, all you have to say is “Thank you” to flex this superpower. That reply sounds like sarcasm, but it’s really irony with a little dusting of mockery when armed with the understanding of the true meaning of awful.

Just throwing in a subtle bow or raising your arms in victory increases the satirical power with a bit of burlesque. I’m giving you all my best stuff here.

And right here, right now, we have come full circle back to the Nimrod in my headline.

Nimrod with a capital “N” is a real person, or enough of a real person that he is mentioned in Christian, Jewish and Islamic writings, as well as Armenian and Hungarian legend. He was by all these accounts a giant warrior of a man and a keen hunter.

In fact, Nimrod is often equated with his biblical description “a mighty hunter before the Lord,” and his Webster’s definition, “a skillful hunter” – some religious writings say he was a bit arrogant and rebellious, attributing the construction of the Tower of Babel to his orders. But even after he angered god and caused chaos in the world, he was still Nimrod, mighty hunter.

Among Nimrod’s modern honors, Earnest Shackleton’s successful 1909 polar exploration ship was named Nimrod, and the British built a carrier-based, single-engine fighter biplane called the Hawker Nimrod. All befitting accolades. Then the power of sarcasm fueled satire was applied to the name.

In 1940 a cartoon short titled “A Wild Hare” was shown in to the viewing public. The show’s star, a wise-cracking rabbit named Bugs Bunny, who went on to great fame and fortune, called his inept, rifle-toting nemesis Elmer Fudd, a “poor little Nimrod.” The rabbit’s tone was not flattering.

History was made.

Thus it is that a tool of satire altered the course of roughly 4,000 years of tradition. Think about it, not even being linked to one of the biggest cultural and construction faux pas in biblical history could match that.

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And if we’re tallying superpowers, I can also roll my tongue into the shape of a tube and use it as a very short straw. It’s re-usable, too, so there is that at [email protected] .