PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
The Onion: Not Funny, Just Very Sad
May 28, 2007 on 4:30 pm | In Uncategorized |This is The Onion trying to be funny, but I found it incredibly sad.
Scott, remember when we saw the panda in DC together?
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I saw the headline and decided not to put on my headphones.
Comment by Scott Wells — May 28, 2007 #
VW–This reminds me of the phrase, “we laugh so as not to cry.” The Onion uses this type of humor pretty frequently (I remember another article, “Area woman like a brother to unattractive area man” that also used it).
This type of humor seems very masculine to me. It’s something that many of my friends used in college and high school as a way of revealing contempt towards people we didn’t like (clueless, manipulative “experts” in this case) It’s something that my wife doesn’t get at all, because she immediately and viscerally feels the pain of the panda. For me, it’s a cathartic way to feel sorry for women in the panda’s position and to be reminded of the pain that the pain that manipulative people cause. I think that for many men, our sense of empathy comes from “thinking” as well as “feeling,” but I don’t want to speak for my whole gender.
Comment by Will — May 29, 2007 #
Edit–to clarify my last statement–I meant that my (and some other men’s) sense of empathy almost has to be “thought of” because we don’t naturally feel the emotions like many women do. I didn’t mean that men were somehow more objective or thinking more than women. Thanks, Jess.
Comment by Will — May 30, 2007 #
Will, thanks for weighing in on this. Great to hear from you (and by proxy, Jess).
Big hugs to you both, and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Comment by PeaceBang — May 30, 2007 #
The Onion used to be funny as satirical news when it was text and images, 3+ years ago.
The Onion after its re-launch with Audio, Video and Radio reports is just sad … as bad as SNL today compared with the 70s glory days.
I stopped looking at The Onion after so many times finding their attempts at humourous satire to be lame. And not even a little bit funny. Just pathetic.
Apparently The Onion has outgrown its purpose and capability.
Comment by David M. — May 4, 2008 #