Comedian Larry David is best known for creating “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and for dipping his toes into political satire. He is a creature of the Left, and last year’s attempt at political satire was in a New York Times essay titled “My Dinner With Adolf,” in which he compared comedian Bill Maher’s experience dining with President Donald Trump to dining with one of the greatest evil figures of all time. Trump was a politically safe target because, according to the Left, it is fair to compare our Republican president to the leader of the Nazi Party.
However, David recently made another foray into political satire. This time, he published in the digital weekly Air Mail a work titled “The View From Here.” The essay isn’t long, but it does feed on the fact that members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are utter loons who hate the Jews and want to destroy America. Like his “My Dinner With Adolf” piece, David writes this one in the first person.
He gives the DSA 12 ideas to improve their platform. In this mock manifesto, he ridicules the DSA’s blatant greed by suggesting a mandatory open-door policy for everyone. That way, any foreigner can walk in, take what they want, and leave. Another “suggestion” is white people becoming slaves to black people as reparations for slavery. He also takes a jab at the DSA’s antisemitism. “Jews,” he writes, “ will no longer be allowed to refer to themselves as ‘the Chosen People.’ Henceforth, their new nickname will be ‘the Bagel People.’”
With each suggestion, David ups the ante. He suggests relocating the Jews to the remote Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific Ocean, where a large population cannot be supported. (Fun fact: These islands are where the mutineers of the HMS Bounty decided to hide after overthrowing their captain and marooning them.)
The funniest proposal is the last one, where David snarks:
We Democratic Socialists love to laugh ... but not at the expense of others. The last thing we want is for any person to be offended by a joke that targets them or someone they know. No one should ever have their feelings hurt. Consequently, any comedian who is responsible for causing emotional discomfort in any way will be sent to a facility where they will be re-programmed and hopefully emerge with a greater awareness of the sensitivities of their fellow citizens. If, however, the re-programming is unsuccessful, the repeat offender will be sent to Pitcairn Island to live with the Bagel People.
Like Shane Gillis’s recent sketch for “Saturday Night Light,” David’s satire at the DSA’s expense is funny because it’s true — and neither Gillis’s target nor David’s target was at all amused.
The New York Times interviewed people who commented on the essay. All were either leftist radicals and/or affiliated with the DSA, and all said a variation of, “David’s satire wasn’t funny,” “David is an old, angry Boomer on Team Israel,” or “David is irrelevant” and they don’t care what he says.
In other words, the DSA threw a tantrum that proves David’s point. It is a totalitarian organization that cannot tolerate being made fun of.
It is also interesting that David, a left-winger, recognizes the danger that the DSA’s ideology poses and who it is convincing: students and young adults. This demographic wants to be viewed as mature and ready to change the world, and yet it doesn’t know much about life or the real-world consequences of socialist policies. Which is why we should double down on the ridicule.
In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, a magical creature called the Boggart transforms into your greatest fear. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, students are instructed to confront the Boggart and transform it into something ridiculous so the creature gets confused, loses its power, and is forced to leave. In her brilliant way, Rowling hits on the very thing that can dispel the DSA’s awfulness: Laugh at it, turn it into something ridiculous, and watch as it loses all power and fades into the annals of history.
