Friday, April 11, 2008

Iraq War Not That Funny Any More

According to an analysis just released by The Wolf Report, the Iraq War is not as funny as it used to be. While there was a surge in jokes around the time that the surge in troops began, the report points out that number of jokes has subsequently declined steadily.

“This is an unfair criticism of a very successful war,” said Adam Carlson, Public Relations Officer for the war. “First, we must be clear. The purpose of the war was never comedy, but rather entertainment. It has been highly successful, diverting, and entertaining war with high viewership and news-readership ratings, an enormous number of entertaining pro- and anti-war blogs and books, and with several major motion pictures completed and more on their way.

“Second it’s important to realize that the war’s story line has always included tragedy, drama, pathos, adventure, and sport as well as comedy. These are all components of an entertaining conflict and have all been exploited. A decline in the number of number of jokes related to an otherwise highly engaging war is not an indicator of the war’s over-all success.”

“Finally, despite the recent drop in jokes, the fact that both our allies and enemies are still laughing at us is evidence that the comedic aspect of the war continues to meet its objectives.

“It’s also important to remember that the war’s humorous tag lines—“shock and awe,” ‘WMD’s’, “mission accomplished,’ ‘stay the course’ and of course ‘surge’—have become funny only in retrospect. Contemporaneously they were all taken seriously. I predict that as events unfold that actions and statement that today are taken seriously will be looked backed upon as laughable and occasionally ridiculous.

The Wolf Report report’s analysis is unfair not only to the people who invented and planned this war but also to the brave men and women who have worked so hard to bring it to its present state.

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