While Seth’s remarks were littered with zingers that brought some members of the audience to tears, we were struck by the underlying seriousness of his tone and mission.
Seth takes humor seriously and understands its power, almost like a modern day Voltaire. But while Voltaire, like Thomas Jefferson and several other Founders, considered himself a deist, and often produced satire directed at the Church, Seth is a committed Christian and The Bee is Christian news satire.
In 18th century France, the Church was dominant. In 21st century America, the secular state is dominant. Seth described The Bee as a tool for Christians and followers of other religions to defend and preserve their freedom in a highly secularized society.
One of the most interesting anecdotes Seth shared related to his role in Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Elon was incensed when The Bee got kicked off the Twitter platform. After a few vain attempts to contact The Bee through the Twitter platform (they were locked out entirely), Elon finally was able to connect with them through an intermediary. He told them offhandedly at the time maybe he would buy Twitter as a solution to this problem.
After Elon actually did buy Twitter, in a subsequent meeting, Seth handed him a note that read “IOU $44 billion.” Importantly, Seth mentioned, the note was unsigned.
A free society requires us all to have the ability to poke fun at those in power, thumb one’s nose at the ideas and narratives they seek to propagate, and generally shout out when the emperor is wearing no clothes.
The Babylon Bee is now a highly influential digital business built around a commitment to truth-telling (albeit through the medium of comedically fake news). The Bee brings chuckles and a little bit of relief to millions of people every day, especially those with more traditional sensibilities and moral values. We draw inspiration from Seth’s success.
