To qualify as satire something has to have an element of truth. Parroting tired and inaccurate stereotypes isn’t satire.
Oh, okay. So now satire needs to be “based in truth”. According to whom, might I ask?
The whole point is that the PS3 is a failure everywhere, though I’m sure the humorless amongst us will hijack the thread to chase tangents about French history, culture, and lingual nitpicks because I recycled an “inaccurate stereotype” about them.
Well, they probably wouldn’t be too impressed by a Sony-branded (and, presumably, Japanese) wine, so you got that part wrong, too.
Did you actually have a point other than, “Ha ha, I can make cheap, easy, and above all old jokes?” In what specific way was your “joke” satirical? What elements of irony or sarcasm did it employ? What idea, point of view, or position was it intended to explode? While I’m at it, you also said that it was a “figurative analogy.” What was it an analogy of? How was it figurative? What was your “joke” supposed to be a metaphor of? Do you actually know what any of these terms mean?
No, sorry, you can’t. A Frenchman ate it.
Satire is humorous criticism. If you’re criticizing someone for something that’s not true, it’s not satire. Or really lame satire, if you prefer.
Ambrose Bierce. Jonathan Swift. Mark Twain. Just for starters.
Which is sort of funny, because your joke appeared to be making exactly the opposite point: that the failure of the PS3 in France can’t be considered emblematic of the problems with the console in general: it only failed there because the French don’t care about anything that doesn’t come from France, and not because Sony bolloxed the marketing and development of their flagship product. If you were trying to make the opposite point, then you’ve managed to find yet another level at which your “joke” failed. The other levels, of course, being basic factual accuracy, and humor.
May I suggest that this might be a very good time for you to stop digging? Your hole is impressively deep as it is.
Nah, I’ll keep digging. This doesn’t seem to make much mention of truth as requisite in satire, nor this. I know I’m stupid and all, but the actual definition of what satire is holds more weight with me than what someone’s opinion of it is. As for whether or not I had a point besides making a “haha, cheap and easy, and above all old” joke, no, I did not. Believe it or not, I wanted to make a “haha, cheap and easy, and above all old” joke. And clearly this doesn’t sit well with you. Yes, it violates the logic of the PS3 being a universal failure as opposed to a French one, but again, you do not have a sense of humor so you missed the boat. I realize that my joke means I know nothing about France, satire, or any other subject you’re so well-versed on, and I’m profusely sorry about having gotten you all up in a tizzy with my stupidity. Hopefully, you can get over it.
Now, I wonder whether I should bother going into why my joke was an ethnic stereotype as opposed to a racial one. Got a spare stick I can use, Miller?
Because, of course, the absolute best way to gain an understanding of satire is to read a dictionary definition.
So then it wasn’t satire, was it? Because, as both of your cites clearly state, satire has to have a point.
Ah, that’s just not true. The part where you talked about Germany invading the beaches of France? Hilarious. Of course, I mean that more in a “laughing at you” way, and not so much a “laughing with you” way.
Your sarcasm is pretty weak, too.
Oh, please do! Please do! I can scarcely think of a more amusing topic than your dissertation on the difference between race and ethnicity.
How about some free advice? When you try to make a joke, and it bombs, just accept it gracefully and move on. Instantly going on the defensive, as you did in this thread, is just throwing chum in the waters of the SDMB.
Please, please stop with the “satire” hijack so we can all get back to making fun of the PS3? If anybody’s arrogant and/or insular, it’s Sony executives.
So true. I mean come on guys, let’s face it … the problem with the PS3, and the real reason it isn’t selling, is because it’s the best!
See, you’re wrong again. The PS3 is so popular, you can’t find them anywhere. If you can, Sony will pay you $1200! Which means if you buy a PS3, you actually earn $600! With a business strategy like that, how can Sony fail?
Australia’s pretty cynical, really. I’m always surprised when an overhyped launch of any product or event actually does have a bunch of people, because most here are pretty clued up on the “it’ll be in the stores tomorrow, and all next week, and for the next five years, so why do I have to stay up late tonight?” concept.
The Australian Launch.
“Meh” doesn’t cover it.
Sorry to revive the hijack, but I just can’t let this one slide. It’s cheese eating surrender monkeys. Get it right, or Groundskeeper Willie will kick your ass!
The French didn’t let the Germans “storm their beaches,” the Germans ran them right the fuck over. I daresay if France had been populated entirely by clones of John Wayne they still would have got run right the fuck over.
The thing is, your “joke” was actually kinda insulting to the OP. France is a big market, bigger than the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain. It’s the second biggest market in Europe and possibly the fourth or fifth biggest in the world. If the PS3 is a failure there it certainly qualify as a “noteworthy event”. What the French arrogance, its history during WWII or if I have a stick up my ass have to do with this, I don’t know.
It’s not only that we’re cynical, it’s that Sony have turned around and launched a big “FUCK YOU” towards the PAL crowd by nerfing the consoles they’re selling us, and not making them properly backwards compatible. Instead we get some shitty software emulation that has to be upgraded before it’s compatible with most games and even then it’s only about 75% of the back catalogue that’s going to be included. Not to mention the fact that the “savings” they’ve created by doing this have not reduced the price at all ($999 for a system, before you get any games?).
So fuck you and your $1k console right in the ear Sony. At least Microsoft were honest from the beginning with their intent to not make the console completely backwards compatible from the launch (though with recent updates the list has become pretty sizeable).
There’s a French race? Do you mean Le Mans or something?
Of course there is. How else would you explain the cheese and frog eating, the surrendering of their beaches to German storm troops and the U.S. having to bail them out from WWII?
Or their indifference to the PS3?
Serves them (Sony) right for pushing a stripped-down product to two continents for a ridiculously inflated price. I hope they learned their lesson about insulting their customers’ intelligence.