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Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

nytimes.com

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Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#251

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

1over137 wrote: post #236
HeatrayEnjoyer wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's bad about The Onion? I've always enjoyed their work.

I used to love it. But in recent years, they only ever seem to make fun of Republican and rarely Democrats. I'd prefer to see them shit on everyone, because they all deserve it.

In recent years one of the two parties was taken over by a reality show host blowhard with no impulse control or self awareness. It would be weird if the media didn't capitalize on that with extra attention.

The worst idea of our time is that there's some sort of law or balance in the universe preventing one party from ever deserving more criticism than the other because there's at all times some sort of magical fixed equivalence or symmetry to their dysfunction.

Sometimes a guy who tweets all day, pays off porn stars, and has to pay $25 million for having run a fake university is just funnier. That's Occam's razor. Pretending there's full dignity in that would be a kind of participation trophy.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#252

Post by fsckboy »

berkes wrote: post #244
dev_by_day wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There's a very big difference between "left" and "extreme left". Or, at least, in most of the world there is. Yet you use them offhandedly like synonyms. It gives your response an air of propaganda and FUD.

I don't see where he used them like synonyms, his comment seemed to be only about the far left?

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#253

Post by pc86 »

crashmat wrote: post #216
dev_by_day wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

could I ask what kinds of positions the 'extreme American left' takes on issues to distinguish them from the moderate left?

At the risk of engaging in what I'm sure will be a very even-headed and reasonable dialogue, I can think of a handful of things that the moderate American left would do / agree on that the more extreme elements would not. And just because you have to bend over backwards to avoid getting shadowbanned or flagged for even mentioning any of these, I'm not telling anyone where I stand on any of these things. Some I agree with, some I don't. It doesn't matter.

    1. Israel has a right to exist and should not just pack up and leave Gaza.
    2. Children who are not old enough to get a loan are also not old enough to consent to surgery or hormone blockers.
    3. If you transition from male to female you should not be allowed to participate in women's sports.
    4. Women's pro athletes getting paid a fraction of what male pro athletes do is a function of supply and demand and is not inherently sexist.
    5. There are root causes to the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans that do not boil down to "the system is racist."
    6. Taxes should be used to raise revenue in order to provide social and other government services, not as punishment.
None of those positions are inherently conservative and all of them could be held by a popular mainstream Democratic member of Congress or Presidential candidate. All of them (or any of them if voiced loudly enough) would get you ostracized from leftist group.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#254

Post by hyper_cube »

There must be an Onion writer based in East Lansing MI

https://www.theonion.com/face-of-jesus-seen-on-miracle-hippi...

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-na...

https://www.theonion.com/new-study-finds-average-american-st...

https://www.theonion.com/area-bar-used-to-be-cool-now-lame-1...

https://www.theonion.com/voices-in-mans-head-make-great-poin...

https://www.theonion.com/study-finds-pop-up-ads-evolved-deco...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#255

Post by chomp »

thrownawayfray wrote: post #200
chomp wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ben Collins, the guy who got suspended from MSNBC for criticizing Elon Musk too hard? Upset Nate Silver because he criticized him too hard? Upset Matt Taibbi for making fun of him for doing PR work for a billionaire? I think he’s perfect for the job honestly.

If _MSNBC_ thinks he’s too overtly partisan and not up to journalistic standards, I’d say Collins fails to clear the absolute lowest bar in news media ethics.

Boy do I have to warn you about The Onion’s content then.

Also if you think being partisan is the lowest bar instead of “report the truth” or “be accurate and fair” then that tells me enough already about your values.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#256

Post by k8svet »

pc86 wrote: post #253
crashmat wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

could I ask what kinds of positions the 'extreme American left' takes on issues to distinguish them from the moderate left?

At the risk of engaging in what I'm sure will be a very even-headed and reasonable dialogue, I can think of a handful of things that the moderate American left would do / agree on that the more extreme elements would not. And just because you have to bend over backwards to avoid getting shadowbanned or flagged for even mentioning any of these, I'm not telling anyone where I stand on any of these things. Some I agree…

With those framings, you don't really need to tell us much more.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#257

Post by maxsilver »

hyper_cube wrote: post #254

There must be an Onion writer based in East Lansing MI https://www.theonion.com/face-of-jesus-seen-on-miracle-hippi... https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-na... https://www.theonion.com/new-study-finds-average-american-st... https://www.theonion.com/area-bar-used-to-be-cool-now-lame-1... https://www.theonion.com/voices-in-mans-head-make-great-poin... https://www.theonion.com/study-finds-pop-up-a…

Or maybe an MSU grad with a sense of humor?

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#258

Post by Slava_Propanei »

reducesuffering wrote: post #172
longdustytrail wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are all great, another good one is “This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t” https://www.theonion.com/this-war-will-destabilize-the-entir...

Like fine wine. We need a new 2024 one: Why Republicans Have Little Cachet Amongst the Educated In The Past 2 Decades A Total Fucking Mystery

[dead]

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#259

Post by serf »

Kye wrote: post #241
jl6 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but those were tiny interventions that hardly affected mainstream USA at all, unlike the brutalizing experience of 9/11, Iraq, and Afghanistan in the following decade.

It's telling that the Iraq or Afghanistan vet (or both!) has replaced the Vietnam vet in TV shows and movies.

what does it tell?

the only thing it tells me is that time moves forward and a 70+ year old Vietnam veteran can't fit the role.

if you're saying that it indicates that the conflicts had a large impact, I would argue that actually it's because the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts lasted a long time and had an impact on Americans specifically, and Americans specifically have a large impact on television/movies/media.

Go ask Albanians and Serbs about their 'tiny intervention'.

The Americans lost 4500 in Iraq and 2400 in Afghanistan.

10000ish were killed in the Kosovo War, and 200,000 people ( at least ) were displaced.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#260

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

extraduder_ire wrote: post #235
justin66 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ‘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.

Then there's no reason to visit the site. The link card will give you everything you're looking for. I think the de facto purpose of the article text when shared online is to make it more plausible to someone who doesn't know the site is parody.

I happen to enjoy the content itself, even if it's all just riffing on the joke on the headline. But I'm a big fan of snark in general.

Also, I'm not 100% sure, but perhaps there are some SEO boosts from having long form article content that wouldn't be gained from just having a title and a blurb (though they do also do those very short form articles as well, where it's a few sentences with the headline)

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