Hello and welcome! This little weekly column will present politics at its most absurd. SAtired supports freedom of speech, small government and free markets. This means we’re centrists. This is NOT a safe space!
The Weekly Squib*
- squib /skwɪb/ noun: squib 1. a small firework that issues a hissing sound before exploding into a short piece of satirical writing.
Covid conspiracy theories abound. Maybe 10 months of lockdown does that to people. Up first is that 5G is linked to the emergence of the pandemic. Last week three cellphone towers belonging to Vodacom and MTN were burnt and destroyed.
Bill Gates, who has probably done more for the fight against malaria, reducing health inequalities in the Third World, advancing education, and more, has been accused of being Satan himself for, among a host of sins, making the case for mandatory vaccines, purportedly conniving to implant microchips into people, and seeking to depopulate the world.
Our Chief Justice sort of back-pedalled on the ‘evil’ of vaccines claimed to contain the mark of Satan, 666.
And then there is the disturbingly large number of people worldwide who believe that all vaccines are dangerous, including the Covid vaccines. Why would pharmaceutical companies open themselves up to being sued? It’s impossible to argue that the vaccines against mumps, measles, smallpox and polio have been more harmful than beneficial. In fact, it’s the reverse by some magnitude. Where’s the evidence? Or are the illuminati hiding that from us too? Lockdown has clearly addled brains.
They’re coming for Blazing Saddles!
And on the cultural front … it had to happen! Brendan O’Neill, editor of sp!ked, writes that HBO has ‘soiled its streaming version of Blazing Saddles with a worthy three-minute intro – three minutes! – designed to put the film in its “proper social contex”’. The ‘proper social context’, he goes on, ‘is graciously provided by Jacqueline Stewart, a professor of media studies at the University of Chicago. She says that “racist language and attitudes pervade the film”.’
As O’Neill says, this ‘contextualising’ lecture is artless, patronising and ridiculous.
Blazing Saddles is one of the great satires on racism. Set in the Wild West of the late 1800s, it tells the blackly (our intended), comedic story of a town which gets a black sheriff. The townsfolk hate him to begin with. ‘Up yours, n*****!’, as the old lady says to him when he wishes her a good morning.
The context in which the n-word is used – in fact the context in which all words are used – is incredibly important. In Blazing Saddles it is not used to demean black people but rather to poke fun at people (particularly whites) with crazy racist views.
Blazing Saddles is crude, lewd and rude. It is also one of the funniest films ever. If you discover you’re offended, just turn it off or leave the room, and leave the rest of us to wallow in our political incorrectness.
And staying with the old US of A … ♀️
For a change, President Donald Trump was not a figure of fun. Not in the least! No, that was reserved for Democratic Party worthies House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern in their unveiling of what they called a ‘visionary rules package’.
Pelosi said: ‘Democrats have crafted a package of unprecedented, bold reforms, which will make the House more accountable, transparent and effective in our work to meet the needs of the American people.’
‘Thanks to the leadership of Chairman McGovern and our members, These (sic) future-focused proposals reflect our priorities as a caucus and as a country – including crushing the coronavirus, addressing economic disparity, combating the climate crisis, advancing inclusion, and promoting integrity in government.’
And what, pray tell, were these stunning proposals? In future the rules document will use language such as ‘parent’, ‘child’, and ‘sibling’ instead of ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘son’, ‘daughter’, ‘brother’, and ‘sister’. It will also replace ‘chairman’ with ‘chair’, ‘seamen’ with ‘seafarers’, and ‘himself’ and ‘herself’ with ‘themself’.
Such weighty matters of state! No wonder America is in such crisis! The Republicans voted against the motion, natch. Other than making the chocolate ice-cream-eating grandmother look sadly woke, the change does only apply to the House rules document.
Not to be outdone, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri and minister of God, led the House of Representatives in a prayer last week during the swearing-in of the 117th Congress.
Cleaver asked God to give the new Congress the strength to overcome selfishness, prejudice and ideology, and to heal the partisan divisions of 2020. Most laudable.
‘We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and (the) God known by many names, many different faiths,’ he said. ‘Amen, and Awomen.’
Lord have mercy! The right reverend obviously knows little about biblical history. If he did, he’d know that ‘Amen’ comes from the Hebrew meaning ‘certainty’, ‘truth’ and ‘so be it’. The word made its way through Greek and Latin before eventually becoming part of Old English.
As Republican Rep. Guy Rescenthaler tweeted: ‘It’s not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable.’
The New York Post’s (yes, the one removed from Twitter over the Hunter Biden story) headline read: ‘A-woman’: Oy vey!
Awomen to that, sibling!
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