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I'm done with The OnionI've been a huge fan of The Onion, the satirical newspaper originally published by the University of Wisconsin, for about 15 years now. I've purchased their books and audiobooks, downloaded their videocasts to my TiVO, etc. That ended tonight… The current lead story is the most sick, the most gratuitously unfeeling and disturbing, the most inappropriate as "humor" thing that I've read in quite some time. I came away appalled, and don't even want to talk about it. I'm not interested in an apology from the organization, not interested in all the genuinely wonderful stuff they've done over the years as mitigation. I just want them to go away. I've erased their videocasts from my TiVO, and deleted their link from my browser. I'm not sure ethically whether I'm bound to destroy the books and audiocasts I own, or just let them sit on my shelf. I certainly wouldn't want to help the organization market by giving them away. Some things you just don't joke about. At least not if you're a decent human being.
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Free Speech
I read the article and you're right, it's not funny and is distasteful.
But that's free speech. It's not always pretty and sometimes (especially in comedy) it pushes the boundaries and limitations of what we think is acceptable.
You shouldn't swear off the Onion completely just cause of one bad article. It's still generally really funny. I'd just chalk it up to one bad article by one poor author who is a single of very many.
Not censorship, but editorial taste
I certainly would not advocate that the Onion be banned or anything; I'm all for speech free of government interference.
I can't write this off as just one poor author, though. The Onion is a large-scale commercial enterprise, with lots of sales and advertising revenue. That means that at least one editor, and probably more, had to approve the offending article for publication.
Further, I doubt I'm the only one who emailed the Onion protesting that garbage. I'm sure the editorial board fears the slippery slope that starts with a retraction and a public apology for a particularly offensive article, but in this case it would be the distinguishing mark between a bunch of tasteless and crass opportunists and a quality publication whose process suffered a rare failure. So far as I'm aware, no retraction or apology has been offered.
One of my favorite webcomics, Dr. McNinja, recently published a guest cartoon that apparently tried to make fun of Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act, but instead ended up looking up violently pro-Nazi. My brother emailed the author. He apologized, and took down the offending cartoon. Dr. McNinja is, as far as I know, a one-man amateur operation, and I can understand the mistake. I will continue to read the webcomic (although my brother does not).
Surely I can expect better from a substantial corporate entity than from an amateur webcomic author.
Okay
I read the headline earlier but I couldn't figure out what it was about. I skipped the article.
I wasn't able to find any real boy with that name on a quick Google search.
But yes, anyone who laughs at that article has some profoundly disturbing problems, which says a lot about the person who wrote it and the people who published it.
Sorry that the Onion has not held up over the years.
I Can't Find It
Nothing particularly disturbing this morning, so maybe a brief recap of the offending article would bolster your case? I am genuinely curious.
Link
I really didn't want to post a link, but I suppose it is necessary. Damned if I'll help boost their PageRank, though.
The article describes the imaginings of a kidnapped small boy that he is rescued and home safe instead of tormented and dying.
Funny stuff.
that's plenty
All I needed to hear, I was curious and now I'm not.
+1 on "something's gone horribly wrong" and I don't think it's your sense of ... something. I don't think you have to burn your audiobooks.
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