What “genre” am I reading?
We are often asked whether what we write is satire. We say yes. When asked whether it is journalism, we also say yes. How can that be?
Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.
Satire is a literary form where wit, irony, or sarcasm is used to expose and discredit vice or folly.
Both elements are indispensable to democratic societies. The more open a society is, the more robust the marketplace of information and idea it tends to have.
Our aim is to expose corruption and injustice by presenting information about lies, hypocrisy, graft, malfeasance, and all forms of shadiness. We use wit, irony, and sarcasm to do these things. Many stories are about the machinery of government and those who have taken public oaths.
What you read and see here draws substantial elements from classic investigative journalism and satire, but it is a genre all its own. At its core, it is a politically expressive approach.
Our constitutional republic is at a time of crossroads and crisis. We are compelled to label this work both “journalism” and “satire” to receive protections the Bill of Rights affords for both newsgathering and free expression.
Oathbreakers who control the machinery of government have weaponized justice to their own ends. Freedom of speech and the press are under assault like no time before in American history. We have seen the corrupting effects of a hazardous partnership between Establishment Governmental interests and a “Corporate Media.” More and more, dissent is becoming stifled.
We are Minuteman standing on the front lines defending the fundamental rights of our constitutional republic to collect information, disseminate that information, and opine and express uncensored and “unauthorized” narratives about these topics without fear of pretextual governmental retribution.
An authoritarian would label us Though Criminals. And by entering this arena in today’s America, you may become one as well.
Who is Richard Luthmann?
Richard Luthmann is a writer, commentator, satirist, and investigative journalist with degrees from Columbia University and the University of Miami. Once a fixture in New York City and State politics, Luthmann is a recovering attorney who lives in Southwest Florida and a proud member of the National Writers Union.
“I am a journalist who writes on a multitude of issues, including justice, the courts, government officials, prisons, and reform. You find some questionable players in all these places and often outright crooks. Exposing these bottom feeders from the outside is sometimes the only way to make them pay the price for their injustice and misdeeds.”
“I use satire and opinion to make my point. I have already been told to ‘stop writing about the Government’ by the U.S. Government, so I must be doing something right.”
“If you’re a victim of the system, maybe the press is the right forum for you. If you have experienced injustice and are tired of dropping tens of thousands of dollars without results, maybe it’s time to try the digital pen.”
Contact Richard Luthmann at 239-631-5957 or richard.luthmann@protonmail.com.
"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.” (Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, more obscure than public opinion, and more deceptive than the whole political system.)
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
The news media is a critical check on the powerful, serving as a watchdog to hold elected officials and other public figures accountable for their actions. The media was first called the fourth estate in 1821 by Edmund Burke, who wanted to point out the power of the press. The press plays a crucial role in providing citizens with access to information about what is happening in government and by shining a light on corruption, abuse of power, and other forms of wrongdoing.
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