Reply #5: Wow, do I ever wish you were correct. But I've noticed that lately satire, irony and sarcasm go

[Mike 03]

over the heads of many people who claim to be democrats.

Oh, and I'm positive that there are some sincere Democrats here who, bless their hearts, will accuse those Dems who apprehend sarcasm, satire and irony for what they are to be traitors, because they simply do not perceive either of the three.

Since you brought this topic up, I have a couple of great books to recommend by my favorite professor at U.S.C. that draw this distinction.

"The Critical Mythology of Irony" by Joseph Dane
"Parody: Critical Concepts Versus Literary Practices, Aristophanes to Sterne" by Joseph Dane

But there are tons of great explorations of these three different approaches to reality.

Read Chaucer, f'r chrissakes.