“Palin Unveils 9/11 Firefighter Cousin, Reformed Lesbian Niece, Naturalized Mexican Half Brother”
This is a new story on The Onion. It addresses the criticisms against picking Sarah Palin because it was pandering directly to a demographic. For a lady who has had every joke possible made about her over the last few weeks, The Onion manages to write a hilarious article with some elements of truth. The short article ends in a traditional style of many Onion articles, over the top: “Palin has a campaign stop scheduled next week in Texas, where she is expected to introduce her stepsister Linda, a $35 barrel of offshore-drilled crude oil wrapped in an American flag.”
“Obama Deletes Another Unread MoveOn.org E-Mail”
This particular article does more with its headline than most do. As somebody who is now on the www.moveon.org mailing list because I’m a sucker for free stickers, I know those guys e-mail you so much, you have to just mass-delete their e-mails from your box. This article is especially funny because it takes a website controversial for its extreme liberal politics, and makes fun of them for e-mailing you so much. Sometimes, in satire, the most obvious jokes are the most true, and most funny ones. Note the picture that reads, “Explore Barack Obama’s personal e-mail account.” I thought this was particularly humorous in light of Sarah Palin’s hacked e-mail account.
Though this is a great article because, in the world of Obama satire, the most frequently used joke is about his God-like status because it is ridiculous but not controversial to make fun of. This is where The Onion comes in to address an area that is side-stepped by so many satirists: race relations:
“Black Guy Asks Nation For Change”
This was an article from earlier this year when Obama-mania was in full swing. Everyone was so excited about this man and were interested in his messages of hope and change. The Onion didn’t now what to believe, but it knew race would play some role in this country’s perception of him. So, they brilliantly take the word Obama had built an entire campaign around and make it mean spare change. Some of the best lines from the piece:
“I’ll be honest, when that black guy said he would ’stop at nothing’ to get change, it kind of scared me,” local mechanic Phil Nighbert said. “Just leave me alone.”
“I’m a hardworking American who pays his taxes, and the last thing I need is some guy on the street demanding change from me,” said William Overkamp, a Springfield, IL gun-shop owner. He added, “What he really needs is a job.”
Finally, how does this publication take on McCain? They make him seem like an insane cartoon character:
McCain Vows To Replace Secret Service With His Own Bare Fists
This joke, though not exactly used for the first time, is so absurd that it’s funny. It makes John McCain seem like an old Vietnam Veteran who has lost it. But, at the same time, it touches on the budget cuts McCain loves and treats the Secret Service as just some more government pork.
I love The Onion because it appeals to my sense of humor directly. There have been so many times when I am sitting on my computer with friends around and am just reading out headline after headline. They usually don’t think they’re as funny as I do but that’s probably just because of my delivery. The Onion is a unique brand of satire that thrives on absurdity, yet still points out more about issues than meets the eye.
So, is there a bias? I would have to say no for this one. There have been a lot more headlines about Obama but that could be because The Onion feels that it is some sort of duty of theirs to bring the worshipped figure to the same level of laughabilty as the easier target, McCain. An often, the articles reveal more about America than the candidates.
I could go on picking issue after issued that are lampooned to perfection by The Onion, and probably will come back to it. The point is, if you haven’t been reading The Onion, get on it.
I leave you with the (completely unrelated) Sarah Palin baby name generator.
My name is Taupe Armageddon Palin.
