In Newsweek magazine, there is always a “Perspectives” page that includes comics that often pertain to recent political issues and quotable phrases that were made to mock others or published on this page to mock the person who made the statement. I am not an avid reader of Newsweek, but when I have the chance, I pick it up simply to look at this particular page. However, it wasn’t until I was reading it the other day that I appreciated the construction, message, and humor of the “Perspectives” page. Although the quotes are submitted by readers, the editors at Newsweek decide which quotes to publish and the commentary to follow which often enhances the humor of the quote made.
Found on p. 27 in the October 8, 2007 issue of Newsweek …
“You know, the president—it is no secret—sometimes makes grammatical errors.” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, on President W. Bush’s recent comment during a speech about education that “childrens do learn when standards are high”
I think that this particular quote would make people think about some of the components of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act which are, particularly for teachers, quite controversial issues. While I think this quote can be seen as simply amusing, I think that the humor in it could also drive people to irritation. Including a quote like this aims to hit readers that will simply chuckle at the irony of President Bush making a grammatical error while talking about education, but the editors of Newsweek also consider the people that question the “high standards” Bush calls for in standardized testing (especially when considering the difficulty President Bush would have with the grammar portion of an elementary level standardized test). I think that Newsweek has an agenda for what they include on this page and although it is funny, there is always an argument behind the mockery.
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I chose to respond to this for several reasons. It caught my eye at first because the quote itself is phenomenal, you couldn’t script it any better. Also, making fun of Bush is always fun. But what really got me thinking was what Krystal said about a hidden agenda. As we’ve discussed, using humor outright to make a legitimate point can be quite useful as its difficult to rebut. But unlike Colbert or Stewart who blatantly and often obnoxiously assault a topic, it appears in this context to far more subtle. Having never been a reader of Newsweek or its “perspectives” page I can not say for sure how the material is presented, but presumably it is far more subdued and less inflammatory than say, the Onion. This presents a very sticky situation to me, as the actual argument is hidden beneath several different “masks”. It is as if there is a real point, masked by humor, then “remasked” again as legitimate statement. This essentially allows the writer/publisher, Newsweek in this case, complete freedom to deal with the material in any manner they so choose, allowing them to, as Krystal wrote, pursue whatever agenda they see fit. This series of masks also makes it difficult for the reader to discern what is fact and what is humor. In something like the Onion one can assume that everything is humor, in a live interview one can also gain insight from body language and tone of voice or by simply asking more questions, but in a written publication such as Newsweek, where one can not directly question the author, it becomes difficult to tell fact from humor. This, of course, makes it impossible to make informed decisions as it allows for the publisher to manipulate the message freely.
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