{"id":954358,"date":"2021-11-02T15:44:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T19:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=954358"},"modified":"2021-11-02T15:44:28","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T19:44:28","slug":"the-babylon-bee-vs-the-media-do-they-really-not-get-the-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-babylon-bee-vs-the-media-do-they-really-not-get-the-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"The Babylon Bee Vs. The Media \u2014 Do They Really Not Get The Joke?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-babylon-bee-vs-the-media-do-they-really-not-get-the-joke%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=954358&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Charlotte\u2019s Web author E.B. White once observed, \u201cHumor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a real-life example of White\u2019s axiom, witness <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2021\/10\/babylon-bee-news-kyle-mann-wokeism\/620376\/\">Atlantic<\/a> reporter Emma Green, who approached a recent interview with the Babylon Bee\u2019s editor-in-chief, Kyle Mann, with scalpel in hand.<\/p>\n<p>Green started with one of the outlet\u2019s most infamous fake headlines: <em>Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat,\u201d Green wanted to know, \u201cmakes this funny?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mann may have had little background in comedy before 2016, when, on a whim, he pitched a joke to a newly-launched Christian satire site, but his wit calls to mind the studied dryness of Bob Newhart or Steven Wright.&nbsp; Speak to him once and you\u2019ll forever read the Bee\u2019s zingers with his deadpan voice in your head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u2019 he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/podcasts\/archive\/2021\/10\/babylon-bee-news-political-satire-kyle-mann\/620385\/\">replied<\/a>, \u201cbecause [Iranian] General Soleimani died and then they called for flags to be flown at half-mast. Get it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Green didn\u2019t. \u201cBut what makes it funny?\u201d she pressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you want me to explain the joke to you?\u201d he countered. \u201cBecause the joke is that General Soleimani died and Democrats were sad. If you don\u2019t know why that\u2019s funny, then you\u2019re not the audience for the joke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Green was not to be stymied, and this dynamic played out several more times throughout the interview. She brought up an illustration from Mann and his co-writer Joel Berry\u2019s new book, \u201cThe Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness.\u201d The image featured a peach-colored stick-figure labeled, \u201cbad;\u201d a gray one tagged, \u201cbetter;\u201d and a black one deemed, \u201cbest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy do you think that\u2019s funny,\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>Mann\u2019s poker-face still did not break. \u201cIt\u2019s because being peach is not good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRiiight.\u201d This time Green hesitated for a moment before evidently deciding she was going to have to guide Mann where she wanted him to go. \u201cBut you\u2019re not just talking about that in terms of stick figures, right?\u201d (Lord help this woman if she ever gets ahold of the old Abbot and Costello bit, \u201cWho\u2019s On First.\u201d) \u201cYou\u2019re talking about that in terms of how progressives think about a hierarchy of race?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mann conceded the point flatly. \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo why is that funny?\u201d Green pushed again.<\/p>\n<p>At last, a frustrated Mann snapped, \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and deconstruct and explain every joke to you. We\u2019re taking this ridiculous position in order to mock something \u2014 to make fun of this idea that your<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charlotte\u2019s Web author E.B. White once observed, \u201cHumor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process.\u201dAs a real-life example of White\u2019s axiom, witness Atlantic reporter Emma Green, who approached a recent interview with the Babylon Bee\u2019s editor-in-chief, Kyle Mann, with scalpel in hand.Green started with one of the outlet\u2019s most infamous fake headlines: Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani. \u201cWhat,\u201d Green wanted to know, \u201cmakes this funny?\u201dMann may have had little background in comedy before 2016, when, on a whim, he pitched a joke to a newly-launched Christian satire site, but his wit calls to mind the studied dryness of Bob Newhart or Steven Wright.\u00a0 Speak to him once and you\u2019ll forever read the Bee\u2019s zingers with his deadpan voice in your head.\u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u2019 he replied, \u201cbecause [Iranian] General Soleimani died and then they called for flags to be flown at half-mast. Get it?\u201dGreen didn\u2019t. \u201cBut what makes it funny?\u201d she pressed.\u201cDo you want me to explain the joke to you?\u201d he countered. \u201cBecause the joke is that General Soleimani died and Democrats were sad. If you don\u2019t know why that\u2019s funny, then you\u2019re not the audience for the joke.\u201dBut Green was not to be stymied, and this dynamic played out several more times throughout the interview. She brought up an illustration from Mann and his co-writer Joel Berry\u2019s new book, \u201cThe Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness.\u201d The image featured a peach-colored stick-figure labeled, \u201cbad;\u201d a gray one tagged, \u201cbetter;\u201d and a black one deemed, \u201cbest.\u201d\u201cWhy do you think that\u2019s funny,\u201d she asked.Mann\u2019s poker-face still did not break. \u201cIt\u2019s because being peach is not good.\u201d\u201cRiiight.\u201d This time Green hesitated for a moment before evidently deciding she was going to have to guide Mann where she wanted him to go. \u201cBut you\u2019re not just talking about that in terms of stick figures, right?\u201d (Lord help this woman if she ever gets ahold of the old Abbot and Costello bit, \u201cWho\u2019s On First.\u201d) \u201cYou\u2019re talking about that in terms of how progressives think about a hierarchy of race?\u201dMann conceded the point flatly. \u201cSure.\u201d\u201cSo why is that funny?\u201d Green pushed again.At last, a frustrated Mann snapped, \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and deconstruct and explain every joke to you. We\u2019re taking this ridiculous position in order to mock something \u2014 to make fun of this idea that your skin color matters in setting up a hierarchy of the oppressed versus oppressor class. If you really don\u2019t get the joke, I can\u2019t help you.\u201dIf it feels a little tedious to go through this exchange, that, of course, is the point. The tedium of inquest and explanation robs the satire of its power. Except Mann refused to play by the rules. Thus, when Green posted the interview to social media, it became a joke in itself. Bee fans guffawed, sharing screen-shots and quoting excerpts of their favorite parts.\u201cThis Atlantic interview with [Kyle Mann] is almost as funny as a really great [Babylon Bee] piece,\u201d tweeted The Federalist\u2019s political editor.His colleague Mollie Hemingway posted a recent Bee headline \u2014 \u201cBacked-Up Cargo Ships Positioned To Spell Out \u2018Let\u2019s Go Brandon\u2019\u201d \u2014 alongside the quip, \u201cDoes anyone want to explain this one to The Atlantic?\u201dFinally, someone asked. \u201cDoes it count as media consolidation when the BABYLON BEE absofreakin\u2019lutely owns the journo from THE ATLANTIC?\u201dBut listen to a podcast where Green discussed the interview and none of Mann\u2019s deadpan responses colored her understanding of their interaction. Why, she wondered in tones so girlish and guileless you could almost picture her with all the wide-eyed, blinking confusion of a Disney cartoon, are Mann and his team so intent on creating humor that only one side of the aisle finds funny?\u201cI think there\u2019s something\u2026almost bittersweet about that idea, that there probably isn\u2019t humor \u2014 especially humor that gets at all political \u2014 that Americans could just set aside their differences and find funny together,\u201d she told the host.Even in the aftermath, The Atlantic still didn\u2019t seem to get the joke: That the left \u2014 in particular the leftist media \u2014 turned the sort of late-night, all-purpose political jibes that Americans could enjoy en masse into scolding, agenda-driven attacks. And that forced conservatives to forge their own subculture for amusement. In other words, The Atlantic helped create The Babylon Bee.That said \u2026 Green has been covering faith-based stories for one of the oldest, most elite culture journals in the U.S. for more than seven years. If she really doesn\u2019t understand why the Bee\u2019s headlines make conservative Christians giggle, you have to wonder\u2014is she qualified to be a religion reporter at all?Personally, I suspect Green probably is qualified for her job and she and her outlet do get the jokes. They just wanted to kill that frog.Mann, however, is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. When I speak with him and Berry about their new book, he tells me he believes Green legitimately thinks The Babylon Bee is doing something dishonest or sinister. It just took him a few minutes to figure out what Green was driving at.\u201cBecause I get so many interview requests, it didn\u2019t quite sink in for me who I was talking to until a few questions in,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThen I was like, Oh, OK, I know what you\u2019re trying to do.\u201dWhile he won\u2019t lay the responsibility for their contentious exchange at Green\u2019s feet, he does feel that someone at The Atlantic hoped to catch him in a soundbite that would give the impression he was defending racism. \u201cWhich is weird,\u201d Mann says, \u201cbecause that joke with the stick figures is mocking racism on the Left. But I think [The Atlantic] [doesn\u2019t] see it that way. Like they don\u2019t think that is racism.\u201dBee managing editor Joel Berry agrees with Mann that Green really doesn\u2019t understand why his outlet\u2019s jokes amuse so many millions of Americans, but he concurs that elite media outlets like The Atlantic helped create the environment that fosters their own blinkered perception.\u201cI agree with the premise that comedy does have to ring true in order to be funny,\u201d says Berry. \u00a0But now you\u2019re kind of dealing with two separate truths, two different views of reality. You\u2019ve got half the country reading Fox News and the Daily Wire, and the other half is watching CNN and MSNBC. So there\u2019s a lot about the premises of our jokes that, if you are not familiar with what the right is talking about, it\u2019s going to go over your head.\u201dAs an example of that, he points to the very Soleimani headline Green brought up, about Democrats flying the flag at half-mast to mourn his death.\u201cYou know, we were kind of satirizing the fact that whenever a terrorist or a tyrant around the world dies, the Left eulogizes him with this flowery, affectionate language. For someone in the world of leftist journalism, there\u2019s a kind of a lack of self-awareness there that allowed the joke to go over their heads.\u201dBerry says he\u2019s as depressed as Green that shared laughter has grown so hard to come by in our nation, but he finds a silver lining in the fact that progressive extremism in the news business, in particular, has led some comedians back to a place where they\u2019re voicing the feelings of the underserved middle.\u201cComedians like Dave Chappelle and Bill Maher are bringing some of that common humor back. I think there are a lot of people on the traditional left who would still agree and still laugh at a lot of the jokes that we tell.\u201dBoth Mann and Berry share that there have, in fact, been times when those on the opposite side of the political spectrum do appreciate the Bee\u2019s humor, even if they don\u2019t agree with it. Mann recalls an occasion early last year where actor\/comedian Patton Oswalt did the Bee the professional courtesy of acknowledging they\u2019d well and truly burned him.\u201cWe made fun of Oswalt in an article because [during the pandemic] he posted something like, \u2018Oh, you guys, you guys want to get out of your houses and go to Fuddruckers,\u201d Mann remembers. \u201cSo you know, he was kind of mocking people that wanted to go to their jobs from his mansion or whatever. And we pointed that out. He shared our article and was like, \u2018OK, they got me. That was pretty good.\u2019In fact, what Oswalt said was, \u201cWell sh**. This is a well-deserved slam on a very badly worded tweet of mine from a week back. At least it\u2019s a funny-as-f**k slam. Touch\u00e9, you magnificent bastards.\u201dMann laughs remembering the exchange. \u201cYeah, I just loved that moment of this comedian who was able to respect the joke even though he\u2019s got a different political point of view. How cool is that, you know?\u201dAnd moments like that are the reason the Bee boys say they\u2019re not going to let The Atlantic\u2019s hand-wringing over \u201cWho Would Jesus Mock\u201d dissuade from their purpose, whether the media gets the jokes or not.\u201cSatire has this prophetic role to play,\u201d Mann says, explaining that he and the rest of his team can point to numerous biblical examples, including Jesus\u2019 descriptions of legalistic, humorless religious leaders as a \u201cbrood of vipers\u201d and \u201cwhite-washed tombs.\u201d\u201cJesus used brutal and savage humor where you would be very uncomfortable if you were a fly on the wall for some of his encounters with the Pharisees,\u201d he points out. \u201cThat was him just completely throttling the cultural power of his day. So yeah, that was kind of what they tried to do in The Atlantic piece. It was like, \u2018Who would Jesus make fun of?&#8217;\u201dIn response to that, Mann says it\u2019s not his role to speculate what Jesus would have said to the Black Lives Matter or LGBT movements that hold so much cultural sway the media turns blind eyes when they burn cities and all eyes when a few dozen of them decide to hold a streaming company hostage.What he does know: \u201cGod has given us this tool of satire and humor, and it would be a sin for us not to use it.\u201dThe views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}