Examples of Satire in U.S.!

On page 143 Bachelder writes a story of Sinclair eating with a “black guy, a Jew, a Mexican, a redneck, and an Eskimo” at a bar. At the end of this story that portrays ethnic/religious stereotypes, Sinclair is shot one more time. Bachelder uses this—as I would call it—anti-joke satirical element in order to convey an important message. I think that the reason why Bechelder uses this racist story is due to the many criticisms that Sinclaire got on two of his works: Oil! and The Jungle. Oil! was critiqued to be an anti-Jew while The Jungle was thought to be anti-black. Even though I’m not sure about the reason behind Bechelder’s use of this story, I am guessing he just wants to point at Sinclair’s stand on racism as negligible compared to the significance of his contributions to the socialistic ideology. Therefore, I think Bachelder makes something that is not as important—at least in his opinion—into satire in order to then direct the attention of audience to the more important content. I can use this element in order to be in control of my audience’s attention—which as Passionate Politics says is limited—when I make my educational video to be able to skim over unimportant arguments and get to the core in a short amount of time. 

On page 170, Bachelder writes about Sinclair’s excessive usage of exclamation points by dedicating an entire page to just exclamation points! I feel like the reason why Sinclair and Bechelder use exclamation points so excessively is to convey a sense of urgency. Conveying a sense of urgency for change is one of the characteristics of melodrama and I can use that for example in my manifesto in order to grab the attention of my audience and show them why it is important to support Iranian refugees who seek refuge in the United States.

Another satirical element can be seen in the chapter that starts on page 67. I feel like Bachelder sets the scene perfectly for a great satire at the end of the story which also very astutely portrays Sinclair’s idea about America’s reward system which puts people against each other. I feel like had Bechelder not set the scene so perfectly, this joke would not have worked anywhere close to the way it did in this story. Setting the scene for sarcasm is very noticeable in Bachelder’s book and is something that I will definitely be using in my educational video since I want it to be funny but at the same time informative about a topic that is inherently serious and dramatic.