Parody

The issue from my group’s discourse project had to do with the American health care system. In terms of rhetorical strategies, the article for the Right used sarcasm and informal language to appeal to readers. The Center article focused on analyzing and explaining the health care plans proposed by Democrats without adding bias into the article. The Left article presented almost a guide based on questions regarding each plan, with some sarcasm mixed in. I’m focusing in on using sarcasm for this parody. I’m mimicking those old chain email/text messages, you know the ones—“Send this to # people or you’ll be killed by the ghost at midnight” kind (was there any other kind?).

(The plain text version: THIS EMAIL HAS BEEN CURSED, ONCE YOU READ IT YOU MUST PASS IT ON
Do not take this lightly . . . Once opened you must continue reading . . .
Once there was a man who had no health insurance. And that was how he liked it. One day he received this email and ignored it . . . That night, the ghost of Health Insurance came to him . . . and showed him hundreds of options . . . and explained what plans would work best for him . . . The man was horrified. The ghost wanted to make a choice for him. He tried to chase the ghost out of his house, but couldn’t touch it. The man ran through the house, trying to find something to scare the ghost away. The only thing that worked was the garbage disposal in his kitchen sink . . . The man has not seen the ghost since.)
Forward this email to 15 people in your contacts list, or the ghost of Health Insurance will come to you tonight at midnight and go through the various health care options that you qualify for.
A few explanations: This is based on a Breitbart article, in which the author had an extreme disdain for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and made fun of how she was not a fan of how many health care options there were, and how apparently she had never lived somewhere with a garbage disposal until she was an adult. He also notes at the end of the article that he doesn’t have health insurance at all—by choice, not for lack of qualifications. My intention with this chain mail parody was to emphasize how silly being against health care reform can sound—being shown too many options can be overwhelming, and with all the legal jargon it can be difficult to understand, so it makes sense that there are many people calling for a reform or something more universal. I think this succeeded relatively well, but I also think some of the jokes that needed explaining work better for people who would have read the Breitbart article. The chain email genre hindered this a bit in that most chain emails are more focused on a vengeful ghost that was murdered rather than someone who is trying to sell health insurance. The use of the ghost however worked well for a parody of people who are so totally and completely against any sort of health care reform.