Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Clown Colin Craig takes on satire

Hot on the heels of a weak sauce press statement following the passing of the marriage equality amendment and a fumble courting media highlighted on The Nation, Colin Craig has a new media strategy - high tackling satire.

Colin Craig has moved ahead to destroy any remaining credibility that he might have once possessed. He has actually had his lawyers draw up papers requesting a retraction and public apology from a satirical blog, The Civilian.

It seems some people in politics have difficulty with humour. I first took note of this problem when it was reported that the a North Korean media organization took The Onion's Kim Jung Un voted the Sexiest man Alive piece for real news.

The problem was further highlighted when America's Republicans got all excited over "Friends of Hamas" which originated as a private joke from a journalist. After that Breitbart.com recycled a satire from The Daily Currant.

There are a few serious issues here. How did we get to a place where parody and satire are indistinguishable from real politics? What is happening to journalism that such weak sources get legs?

How does a politician not know that satire is protected free expression?  Starting a bun fight might simply be a strategy for boosting the profile of his languishing political career.

Colin, please go and do something useful, return to the toothpick recycling business. You don't need satirists to make you look like a fool. Your own words are more than capable of achieving that ambition on their own.

[UPDATE]
Colin Craig has commented that he believes his reputation has not been damaged by this incident. Well, Colin, that was never very likely, was it? Your reputation, satirically speaking, spends much of its time languishing in the darkest smelliest parts of a DoC long-drop in the Kiangaroa forest in order to hide from Colin Craig's Press releases.

See also 3News coverage
   The Civilian
   The Civilian responds

1 comment:

Alan Bell said...

You really need to use spellcheck or get someone to proof read for you. I thought about sharing this but it just contains too many errors.

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