Satire

Finally, here is some AP English I can relate to. I don't know about you all, but I'm extremely sarcastic and I love satire because it stops everyone from taking life too seriously.

So, we read Mark Twain's "Advice to Youth" in class, and when trying to find the full text for this blog, this article came up:

http://ape43.edublogs.org/2010/03/22/advice-to-youth-by-mark-twain/

Now, it's not that interesting of an article honestly, so you don't have to read it, but I'm going to dicuss a few things in the article because I thought it had some decent points.

Article: "Most people giving advice focus on positive things such as being honest and respectful. Twain, however, begins his article with positive things like obeying your parents and being respectful to superiors -  but later brings up how to master lying – this questions whether the advice people often give is actually true advice or what people want to hear, for people never want to admit however ‘wise’ they are that lying can be successful".

What Twain actually said was, "Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you." This is obviously sarcastic and making fun of the way children sneak behind their parents' backs.

Later, Twain actually encourages the practice of lying, so that a person may become better at it and not have to tell weak lies.

"An awkward, feeble, leaky lie is a thing which you ought to make it your unceasing study to avoid; such a lie as that has no more real permanence than an average truth. Why, you might as well tell the truth at once and be done with it."

Now, here, he's pointing out the basic truth in the world: people lie. People lie all the time, and there's no stopping it. So he jokes that you might as well be good at it if you're going to.

Anyway, I love Twain's speech. If he had given it at my college graduation I most likely would have laughed until I cried. And I thought people weren't funny in the nineteenth century. :)

Oh, also, if you like political satire, check out this link:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/bldailyfeed5.htm