Satire: (from Websters dictionary- 'trenchant (vigorously effective and articulate) wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly'.
Man oh MAN we have some ripe candidates out there right now just begging for this. One thing I have noticed in my many spins around the sun is that those who hold themselves as being above all others can't stand disrespect. They just can't stand it. They have lost the ability to laugh at themselves and if you're around them you'd better not even THINK that anyone other than God is in your presence.
Well, the hell with that.
While God may be worthy of the utmost respect, respect of that magnitude is something that has to be earned, and until it is, setting yourself on a pedestal next to him is premature.
Maybe in your POMPOSITY ('having or exhibiting self-importance') you believe you have earned that position, were born into it, or whatever, but there are those who just might have a different opinion. And when all avenues of opinion have been sealed, or are thought to have been sealed, pomposity grows and grows and then along comes some character with a pin to pop your balloon.
Beware of that one! But, he or she acts as a servant. It's for your own good, you see, because in your blindness you have failed to see that your rhetoric has been falling on what could very well be deaf ears. The many in the crowd have either been too cowered to speak or they have been mesmerized by your incandescent personality to such a degree that they can't see any other source of light but this one can, the one who ain't buying it. And not only ain't he buyin' it, he can pinpoint exactly what's wrong with the picture you've been painting and expose you to the crowd, who might not like you so much when he's finished.
No respect!
Take a clue from those who have been taken down a notch- you'll be viewed as much more human if you're willing be be seen as one who makes mistakes and has the ability to laugh about them. But if you never do, that sends a ripple through the pack and all the animals within it sense that something is wrong, so they send a messenger to set things right again.
When this 'messenger' (could be more than one) shows up, it's not really a singular entity that comes to rain on the pompous one's parade, it's in actuality more than that, it's an unspoken cry for help from the pack answered, like rain after a drought, where, after withering in the hot sun of 'perfection', and tired from shielding their eyes from the glare of unbroken brilliance, the members of the assemblage are finally able to lower their hands and breathe sighs of relief as well deserved and overdue satire arrives on the scene.
Though the words the satirist uses may be charged not in any way should they be perceived of as mean, for they are necessary to the situation. Meanness is unworthy of respect, while satire garners it. Satire simply points out in an elegant way what is already there but hasn't been expressed. It's that 'something' that's been bugging the crowd since who knows when and when it is spoken, written, or heard the continuous remark is "That's it! That's exactly what I've been thinking! THANK you!" because it's not just about breaking the pompous one's bubble, it also releases everyone trapped within it, those that have wandered with the false prophet out into some parched, devoid-of-reason desert and were unable to find their way back.
Yeah. We've all been there, off in dreamland, following the latest trend, or caught up in the latest 'craze', oh- I'm not going to bestow such a word on current events! Let's just say that part of the flock has been wandering. They're nearly out of sight over the hill but a ferocious-looking border collie is going to come charging along to catch them right at the ridge. From there they'll be herded back safely to the fold.
Because, while they still might be sheep, shepherds are around to look after them.