The Snark Stops Here.

Two decades after the founding of the grandaddy magazine of New York media satire, Spy, snark just hasn't been the same. It's permeated our brains. It's a part of everyday thought, at least here in Manhattan. What was once the mouse of sarcasm has become an 800-pound gorilla way of life.

Has snark gone too far? Does it even have the same shock value?

Since the advent of grassroots journalism, anyone can be an ironic media critic. Sure, plenty of people waxed satirical years ago, but without the internet, it was hard to get the message out to a wide following. Spy itself may not have gotten off the ground if the founders had to give up their Time ID cards when they left the company.

Enter: the blog.

A largely free enterprise, blogs have saturated the market of satire to the point where I no longer get giddy waiting a week for the next pointed Village Voice column or the next New York Post headline (or the next musings of any j-friends). No need to sneak into major companies, for LexisNexis and other online archives make fact-checking a pajama affair.

Snark is a worldwide phenomenon (except maybe China), and we are becoming desensitized.

Is Gawker even really that funny anymore? Does it parody itself, even among its own sister blogs? In the blogosphere, there's always a new kid on the block. Soon, even Pink Is the New Blog will bid adieu and fade into the murky interweb.

The shock value of satire is gone, and the blog is to blame. Will the bubble burst?