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Uses And Abuse Of Satire By Donald Trump

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Uses and Abuses of Satire

Many people believe that the presidency is a sacred institution and no one should be allowed to make fun of Donald Trump who is the current president of the United States. However, the First Amendment does not exist so people can praise the public officials; it exists so people can criticize them. Therefore, the use of satire against the president should not be prohibited if so, censorship would take place. Satire is a harmless way to critic an issue, organization, or an individual in power in an exaggerated and humorous way, it is also a protected form of speech, and speech is not a privilege; is a right. Furthermore, before becoming president, Donald Trump allowed people to use satire against him, by being part of it. America started to stablish the use of satire by the early decades of the 19th century. At first the targets of satire were important and mundane subjects such as the noisy neighbors, and the conflicts that were going on such as the Mexican-American war, the Battle of Palo Alto, etc. Satire in America these days compared to the 19th century is more common and the targets usually are people in power. Moreover, in the 19th century satire was based only on cartoons, now in the 21st century we have videos, movies, music and many other factors that contribute to satire.
In 1954 the Comics Code Authority was born, controlling and regulating the content of every comic book sold in stores in the United States, by requiring a seal of approval for those who wanted to sell their books without any limitations. Those who didn’t have the seal were prone to get their work rejected by stores, to avoid any inconvenience with the Comics Code Authority (Cowan, “Comics Code”). If the government or any other power entity decides to prohibit or limit the use of satire against the president, the same that happened with the comic books will happen to the use of satire. People would be afraid to post or publish anything in regards to their opinion or point of view in a political subject that could compromise their freedom or financial status by being charged for not following the rules. In fact, wanting to stop the use of satire against the president is somehow a way of censorship.

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