The problem is that the ironist gets to enjoy the emotions that he is purporting to satirize, as if that somehow makes it alright, if at the last moment you can say it was all to place a mirror before evil. I think it shows a lack of selfawareness, from people who argue that they are more selfaware than the people they are supposedly satirizing. The darker the material you work with, the more responsibility you have as an artist to transform it. What I object to here, and in other "shock comedians" is the lack of transformative work. That is the only reason they should get a "pass" -- and without it, it is simply selfindulgence disguised as art, and I would argue, worse than simple propaganda from idiots. The smart ironists get to feel superior and indulge simultaneously.

yours, Peter T.