satire

Here are a final couple of words [here][here] on satire by Bob Hyatt. In these Hyatt quotes a little from Scott McKnight. I agree with both guys and have pasted a couple of the key points below. Emphasis is mine.

A steady diet of satire is soul-destroying, especially when one remains anonymous and especially when it goes on indefinitely about the same person. Satire turns the human gaze against others, even if at first in fun, and learns to hold Eikons up for ridicule and insult. It has its own way of becoming a cancer of cynicism, eventually eating the soul.

There are two kinds of satire- the satire that you do when you genuinely like someone, but see their flaws and foibles and the satire you do when you genuinely dislike them and really don't care much about their feelings at all.

When you dislike people and what they stand for, and out of that produce satire that mocks them... in my opinion, it's exceedingly easy to cross a line into just ridicule for the sake of ridicule, no matter what high-minded motivations you may try to attach to it.

It's just like junk food- addictive, habit forming and ultimately it will kill you.

Satire is meant to flow upwards- towards those at the top- the establishment and those in power. It's wholly inappropriate for the rich to "satirize" the poor or those in power to satirize those on the fringes.