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"Satire in the 1950s" (1958) Summary and Analysis
Never has there been a time when satire is more needed and in shorter supply, Vidal says in this short essay originally published in The Nation. He compares America under "the Great Golfer" (President Eisenhower) to the Catholic Church in its intolerance for tolerance, its complete ineptness when it comes to satire. The Roman Empire, by contrast, was a hurly-burly circus of conflicting religious, moral and political beliefs that was ripe for satirists. Post-war America, according to Vidal, is a brain-fogged land of lockstep conformity where issues such as religion, race, and ethnic and political differences are all swept under the rug. "A profound tolerance is in the land, a tolerance so profound that it is not unlike terror," Vidal says.
In fact, the conformity that engulfs America is so pervasive, particularly among...
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This section contains 246 words (approx. 1 page at 400 words per page) |
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