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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InzeladunMaster" data-source="post: 4503720" data-attributes="member: 9774">I could choose to be offended by this, but, nah.  Often satire does help me to see the absurd side of things. I can often focus too narrowly if left to my own devices, and humor tends to open my view and allow me to step aside and see things from a different angle. I have a strong tendency toward tunnel-vision sometimes. Humor is often my binocular device.  From your truism, I am not sure if that makes me not intelligent enough or not - "those intelligent enough to understand the satire" (me) "don't need satire to see the absurd" (hmmm, I need the satire sometimes...)Not sure where that leaves me on the intelligence scale of things.  I understand satire, yet I need the satire lest I take things too seriously, as I tend to do.Hmmm, that has not been my experience. Again, I have always found satire to be enlightening.*raises hand* Quite often with me, actually. <a href="http://home.sprynet.com/~owl1/hank.htm" target="_blank">Satire drove the nails into the coffin of my Christian beliefs long ago</a>, for example.Yes, I enjoy the ones that poke at my beliefs, too.  I laugh at Democrat jokes just as hard as I do Republican jokes. I can laugh at myself, too.  I love impersonators, for example. I once had a student who could do impersonations in my Presentations Skills class and, for his final exam, did a satirical impersonation of me. He did a great job - and I had to admit he had me spot on, and I couldn't help but laugh.I am a huge KISS fan, but KISS jokes crack me up (I loved one reviewer's comment about KISS's Psycho Circus tour; Gene Simmons often has weight problems, and this reviewer commented that Gene looked like "a beach ball with bat wings" on that tour.  As much as I like Gene, that was funny!).I like Robert E. Howard as an author, but I can make fun of some of his bad writing habits, not to mention some of his personality traits.Apparently, I am not the only one who does not mind poking at their own beliefs a bit: <a href="http://www.holyobserver.com/" target="_blank">The Holy Observer: Christian Humor, Satire, Parody, News</a>  If you click on "The Truth" at the bottom, you will see the owners of the site are strong Christians who enjoy satire and humor, even at their own expense.I admire people like that.Yes, I enjoy satire of my own beliefs.  Perhaps I just don't hang onto my beliefs for dear life.  I know enough about beliefs to know that often a belief is just perspective, and when perspective changes, so does belief. As I learn more, my beliefs change. If my beliefs change, then I must have had wrong beliefs in the past. If I know I can have wrong beliefs, then what on Earth makes me think my beliefs now are any more correct?  It does not bother me to think that I may hold an incorrect belief.  When it is shown to be incorrect, I will change it.  Its not a big deal - it is called growth.  I don't hold any of my beliefs to be so all-important that I couldn't deal with losing the belief.  So, yeah, I can handle satire of my own beliefs.I can also handle the fact that other people may not understand my belief or may hold other beliefs. That doesn't bother me either.  Unlike some severe extremists, I am not going to kill someone in defence of my beliefs, either.  As I said before, my beliefs could be wrong!</blockquote>

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