Introduction

Satire, whether in literary or visual form, is generally regarded as something that ‘punches up’– in other words, a weapon of the powerless against dominant groups and people. Even in ancient times, Aristotle defined wit as ‘educated insolence [pepaidumenē hubris]’ (Beard 2014: 33). Satirical journalism is thus identified mostly with anti-establishment sentiment, but in Britain and Ireland in the twentieth century it was by no means confined to organs that were overtly anti-establishment and/or satirical in character. The mainstream press also featured work by notable individual satirical journalists, and a well-displayed editorial cartoon would become an important element in the armoury of many daily newspapers.

Nor, of course, is satirical journalism always anti-establishment. Satire that targets subaltern or other vulnerable categories of persons is, however, always controversial and public opinion in the twentieth century tended increasingly to deprecate it. This has had the effect of curtailing– though not eliminating– the negative racial stereotyping and other similar tropes that were common in earlier periods, especially in cartoons. Moreover, despite the anti-establishment tone of much satirical journalism, the effect of such journalism may be less to undermine the establishment than to prop it up by channelling discontent into laughter and making the powerful seem less of a threat by ridiculing them. One of the classical interpretations of humour and laughter is ‘relief theory’, often associated with Sigmund Freud, and this posits that laughter serves to release tensions. It is, in the words of Mary Beard, ‘the emotional equivalent of a safety valve’ (Beard 2014: 38). In the same vein, the editors of Dublin Opinion, the foremost satirical journal of twentieth-century Ireland, claimed ‘that humour is the safety valve of a nation, and that a nation which has its values right will always be able to laugh at itself’ (Kelly and Collins 1952: Foreword). Satire by this reckoning is rarely more than political therapy, through which ‘outrage turns into elation and a joke’– to quote John O’Farrell, the British comedy scriptwriter (Williams 2016)– and criticism of the establishment is neutralised.