Satire can be a mighty weapon when humor is used to puncture the pretensions of the privileged, the wrongdoing of the elite.
When directed at the downtrodden, those who struggle to overcome hardship, satire mutates to something less noble. It becomes simple meanness, petty and cruel.
Transcript:
It was a hard time for Christians. The oppression ranged from public executions by fire and sword to the disdain of polite society. The cross was more than a mere symbol of shame. Crucifixion was a form of execution reserved for the most despised of criminals.
Christians had been accused of setting the great fire that consumed large sections of Rome itself. In response, the Emperor Nero had Christians burned to death on crosses to light one of his huge nighttime garden parties. The arson accusation remained credible to Romans for many years, until it was eventually supplanted by a rumor that Nero himself had hired thugs to start the destruction of the city.
It was during this horrific time that some anonymous critic carved a bit of anti-Christian graffiti on a Roman wall. The mocking representation eventually became famous. It is called the Alexamenos graffito. It is the oldest known surviving depiction of Jesus.
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