That's one way of looking at it. I don't think that is what was in Lehrer's mind when he made that quip. For one thing, sabotaging the Paris peace negotiations in order to improve Nixon's election chances was serious business. It ensured that the Vietnam war would continue for another four years, costing the lives of another 22,000 US soldiers and fuck knows how many hundred thousand non-US lives.DRSB wrote:He is right as these things are actually dead serious. He is still alive, wonder what he is making out of Trump.Hermit wrote:Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. - Tom Lehrer
May as well go and poison the pigeons in the park instead.
In an interview Lehrer explained why he made that comment: "...everything is so weird in politics that it's very hard to be funny about it". You can't trump, so to speak, the weirdness of an actively war-mongering politician receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Political satire consists of ridiculing a scenario by exaggerating its absurdity or weirdness. Since Kissinger's award, so says Lehrer, the peak of weirdness has been reached. No political satire can top that. It has become obsolete.
Lehrer is 88 years old. Having retired from public appearances roughly half a century ago, I don't expect him to issue public statements now.
