From the archive: Michael Gerber on satire
An essay from Issue No. 3—written in late 2016—on satire, politics, and cultural temperature.
As we build out the Bystander archive, we’re revisiting pieces from earlier issues.
Today’s addition is an essay by Michael from Issue No. 3, written in late 2016, when he—like many people—still assumed Hillary Clinton would win the election.
The essay is about satire: how it works, how it overheats, and what gets lost when everything becomes a joke, all the time.
It’s very much of its time, but it doesn’t read as dated. If anything, it feels sharper now.
We’ve posted the full essay in the archive.
Read “Trigger Warning” in the Bystander archive
As always, the both this Substack and the archive exist to support the print magazine. Links to the issue and to donate are at the bottom of the piece.