Brilliant Parody

I've always wanted to do a parody leftyblog.

In my mind, the character would have to be a caricature of leftyblog excess; preeningly pseudo-intellectual, haughty without justification, visibly tingly over the trappings of the urban slacker lifestyle - and above all, clogged with hatred for anything or anybody to the right of Paul Wellstone.

My over-the-top parody blogger would babble sophomoric twaddle like...:

As a rule, the right wing anywhere is thin-skinned,cowish, and not overly infatuated with genuine thought, but here our self-proclaimed lonely-voices-in-the-wilderness somehow manage to set new standards in prejudice, intellectual dishonesty, and shoddy argument. Their naivete is oceanic: they believe in so many contemporary lies that they eventually come to have faith even in the fatuous fantasy fiction that they themselves churn out each and every night. It’s an ugly spectacle, this cavalcade of unwarranted angst, these soft and comfortable men so proudly indulging their silly warrior fantasies

...as if knowing the words equalled proving the thesis, not feeling the need to give examples of any of the above. Perhaps an unsuccessful literaturge, in my parody, still awash in self-absorbed post-adolescent dramatics, but devoid of the restraint that comes from the realization that the world never really did revolve around you and your next big idea...

Wouldn't you know it; Learned Foot from Kool Aid Report already did it!

Who am I kidding? Foot wrote the parody better than I could have. He deftly incorporated every possible cliche (the character is a literary critic and works in mental health. He dresses like an extra in a Mentos ad. He prates and gabbles about his skill as a writer, which he then manifests by reciting five-dollar catchwords to cover nickel ideas - hahahaha), he makes claims that appear absurd on their face but, if you know the local conservative blog scene, you realize are intensely clever inside jokes (David Strom is the "ringleader" of the local blog scene - you'd have to show up at Keegan's on a Thursday to get this fairly pithy little jibe), and, above all, purple-faced japes at local conservative bloggers delivered with such hamfisted, leaden, style-free aping of breathless, witless self-adoration that finally, you have to realize it's unreal. But it takes a genius-level wag like Foot to carry the gag off so seamlessly.

And the little exhange between the Kool-Aiders and the parodic creation - delicious. I imagine a lot of people fell for it!

Bravo, Foot Your April Fools edtion was great, but "Kevin" the parody leftyblogger is pure genius.

Posted by Mitch at April 17, 2005 09:46 AM | TrackBack