The Death of Satire: Rewriting The 10 Commandments On The ABC

Abstract

When Gerard Henderson took exception to the spoof Clarke and Dawe served up last week in the wake of the government's botched announcement of the proposed new national security telco regulations, he unwittingly pointed to a major problem: the death of satire in Australia. The episode in question is a gem. Clarke plays a 'Christian linguistics advisor', read 'spin doctor', proclaiming that the government has re-written the Ten Commandments so that they are more malleable in negotiations. He explains to Bryan that the Christians currently in government are studying the scriptures, with 1500 linguistics advisors to help them rewrite them for use as policies.