Parody Singularity.

At the time I posted the Hari-Mordor piece, I hadn't read this 2004 Johann Hari article.

Science Fiction writer David Brin has exposed the dark values of Tolkien’s world by coaxing us to imagine the point of view of the evil wizard Sauron and his troops. "Sauron’s army was the one that included every species and race on Middle Earth, including all the despised colours of humanity, and all the lower classes," he explains. "Might they have imagined they were the good guys, with a justifiable greivance worth fighting for, rebelling against an ancient, rigid, pyramid-shaped, feudal hierarchy toppled by invader-alien elves and their Numenorian-colonialist human lackeys? Sauron, champion of the Middle Earthling!"

Really, I give up!

Also today is a good day for guest posts as Joseph Harker writes about racism over at Mark Wadsworth's blog.

Parody Is Dead.

Yesterday I attempted to parody the commies, race baiters and luvvies in their unhinged denunciations of Boris Johnson. Unfortunately my attempt at lunacy is quite tame when compared to the real thing.

For instance I attempted to satirise the snobbery and disdain shown by Ken Livingstone backers towards suburban Londoners, but I couldn't come out with anything as pathetic as Will Self:

"If Johnson were elected? I'd feel that he had neither the acumen nor the gravitas to resist becoming the teddy bear of the 4x4-driving, Laura Ashley headscarf-wearing, inherently inegalitarian and snobbish denizens of Chelsea."

I thought that threatening to kill a puppy would send up the ridiculous moral blackmail that Kennites attempt, but Arabella Weir makes puppy killing look moderate:

"I will go on hunger strike and throw myself in front of the next horse at Ascot if he wins."

Everything I parodied is taken to even greater extremes, the repeated references to Eton and the Bullingdon Club, the attempt to link Boris with Bush, the scaremongering over race and religion, the hordes of b list celebs, the sense of entitlement. How can I possibly compete with this?

Via Stephen Pollard.