Word: causticity
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Harvard's left needs to discover a sense of humor and not shrink from using caustic wit and sarcasm. It could also benefit from a more combative stance. Mockery can be an especially effective device for combating the hypocrisy or ridiculous obsessions of the right...
DIED. MIKE ROYKO, 64, caustic Pulitzer-prizewinning columnist who ruled the Windy City from his Page 3 pulpit; after surgery for an aneurysm; in Chicago. From high-society dames to low-down pols (a frequent target was former Mayor Richard J. Daley), no one was safe from Royko's pen, including himself, as he learned when minorities protested his tactless quips. But Royko remained unrepentantly irreverent in his column...
...hire S. Jammu, a woman related to Indira Gandhi, to run its police department. Soon Jammu and her imported Indian co-conspirators launch a power grab that includes Orwellian public relations, kidnappings and pet assassinations. Franzen's twisty plot and thriller pace are the sweeteners that mask his caustic commentary on urban decline...
...scene opens: you're in the drawing room of a simple yet elegant English cottage, the soothing strains of Ella singing "Always" wafting in the background, fresh flowers on the table and a decanter of wine waiting for you. Suddenly, from stage left, caustic British wit slices through the air and shatters the soft stillness. This, my friends, is a Noel Coward play...
...sadly interesting motif of parallel dysfunctions ran through the Hiss family as well. Alger Hiss's father committed suicide rather savagely, slashing his throat with his own razor. Alger's sister Mary Ann also killed herself, by swallowing a bottle of caustic household cleanser...