The mainstreaming of satire threatened its role as a democratic check on power; Sahl himself wrote jokes for Kennedy's campaign.
Satire must satirize, purposefully.
Comedy and satire are increasingly becoming mainstream methods to express dissatisfaction with various policies, and it is a poor expression of the democratic right for the freedoms of speech and expression that this law is in place.
What has often gone missing from recent mainstream discourse about free speech is that satire can question power, but it can also preserve it.
YouTube has also helped revive Russian protest music, which, like satire, has been virtually banned from popular mainstream media outlets.
One gets the point about how the mainstream media obfuscate political reality, but Mr. Grimonprez's scattershot satire would benefit from tighter framing.
Private Eye have done so much serious investigative journalism too, and satire, and they have followed things up that the mainstream press have either been too slow to or reluctant to touch.
They have a cabaret tradition of sophisticated satire, cross-dressing and mildly amusing songs, and there are also recognisable mainstream, low-brow comedy tropes in the form of vulgar popular entertainers.
