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Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

nytimes.com

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Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#221

Post by saboot »

lapcat wrote: post #38

I think this is good news, because G/O Media websites are the worst. I was at UW-Madison when The Onion started. We had a wealth of student newspapers at the time, along with The Daily Cardinal and The Badger Herald. Scott Dikkers and Todd Hanson, writers for The Onion, also wrote great comic strips for the Cardinal (Jim's Journal and Badgers and Other Animals, respectively). Some favorite Onion headlines that I reme…

"Osama Bin Laden Found Inside Each Of Us" https://www.theonion.com/osama-bin-laden-found-inside-each-o...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#223

Post by justin66 »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #74
DoreenMichele wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I'm the target audience. I don't really get it. I spent years homeless. I try to write about meaningful ways to help the homeless while preserving their agency. I try to write about systemic issues I feel contribute to the problem. I don't find that second link funny or relatable or anything that makes sense to me.

I don’t think any of the articles that grandparent linked are really the most exemplary Onion articles. The onion is really at its best when it manages to nail it exactly right. Sometimes they are just so perfectly in touch with cultural zeitgeist it’s uncanny. Here are two of the most memorable ones in recent memory: https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-na... https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-s…

> ‘The Onion’ Stands With Israel Because It Seems Like You Get In Less Trouble For That

This is a recent Onion classic.

The thing about the Onion is, once you’ve got a great headline - and maybe a photo, which will usually be a head shot - the text of the article sometimes seems largely superfluous. They actually ought to be doing better in the age of Twitter and so on, but it didn’t work out that way.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#224

Post by latexr »

rmason wrote: post #212

Here's Jeff Lawson answering why he bought The Onion https://twitter.com/jeffiel/status/1783674204820262958

People without a Twitter account can’t read past the first post, which doesn’t explain anything.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1783674204820262958.html

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#225

Post by justin66 »

mangosteenjuice wrote: post #23
dontupvoteme wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were great when they weren't shackled 'Little Boy Heroically Shoots, Mutilates Burglar' 'Black Man given Nation's worst job' (After Obama won) I've never laughed so hard at headlines

The Onion had two events that resulted in a huge drop in writing quality and edginess: OG writers refusing to relocate from NYC to Chicago in 2012 when the HQ was moved, choosing to part ways instead. Then, the remaining writers being called out for the following tweet, somewhat rightly, but being neutered forever after: https://crasstalk.com/2013/02/sorry-former-onion-staffers-ca...

It seemed to me they were well into the current era of lessened relevance before that stuff happened.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#226

Post by justin66 »

Nition wrote: post #65
mangosteenjuice wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Onion had two events that resulted in a huge drop in writing quality and edginess: OG writers refusing to relocate from NYC to Chicago in 2012 when the HQ was moved, choosing to part ways instead. Then, the remaining writers being called out for the following tweet, somewhat rightly, but being neutered forever after: https://crasstalk.com/2013/02/sorry-former-onion-staffers-ca...

I don't know any of the context around that tweet, but The Onion has obviously chosen the most innocent, blameless celebrity they could think of to make sure it's a clear joke to everyone, right? Like finding the skinniest person and calling them obese. The writer of that article seems to have still somehow misunderstood and come to the conclusion that The Onion actually hates Quvenzhané Wallis. I wonder if they real…

On the contrary, the context was that the kid was getting a lot of very stupid criticism already. It’s certainly why they attempted the joke.

I don’t think anything about that situation was somehow off limits or immune to satire, they just didn’t pull off the joke. It’s not like the kid was likely to have seen the joke, so no worries there. The problem is that when you use language like that and you’re not even funny, you’re operating at the Andrew Dice Clay level of comedy. That should inspire suicidal ideation in any comedian (who isn’t Andrew Dice Clay… I guess…).

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#227

Post by xippy »

orf wrote: post #192
paulpauper wrote: post #26

I guess it's cheaper than a real news site, and is there any difference anymore? Babylon Bee has become defacto news now. I don't mean this in terms of blaming the left or the right, but just that it's hard for any entity to have any monopoly on the truth anymore. Mainstream, established news sites have to compete against AI-generated content and influencers in the 'news space', which has blurred the lines between tr…

The Babylon Bee has got to be the most braindead thing I’ve stumbled upon in a long time.

It has some quite amusing headlines on its front page right now, very Onion-like:

Hamas Thanks College Student Supporters By Promising Them A Quick Death During Global Intifada

College Student So Caught Up Harassing Jews He Forgot About Term Paper On Inclusion

This is one of my favorites from recent years, both funny and really gets to the point:

NCAA Swimming Champ Caught In Possession Of Performance-Enhancing Testicles

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#228

Post by skywhopper »

tootie wrote: post #109
pavel_lishin wrote: post #6

From a different article: https://www.businessinsider.com/twilio-founder-jeff-lawson-b... > When asked whether he had purchased The Onion, Lawson played coy. "What's The Onion?" he replied. Then, "What's a Tetrahedron?" > Business Insider was unsure how to respond to these questions.

Had no idea Ben Collins had become an executive at whatever this thing is. He was an excellent reporter and a guy who really, really understands how the internet works and how communities flourish or go toxic. He reported a lot about Kiwi Farms and Cloudflare's response to public pressure. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/worst-plac...

The company was created just a couple of weeks ago with the purpose of buying The Onion. It doesn’t sound like the CEO responsibilities will take a lot of time away from his other work.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#229

Post by sethammons »

captcanuk wrote: post #35

Alright, stop what you're doin' 'cause I'm about to ruin The image and the style that you're used to All you had to do was give Jeff a chance And now I'm gonna do my dance And to the Onion readers Peace and Humptiness forever

I've actually heard Jeff do the humpty dance live; now I'm thinking you have too
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