Jeff Lawson buys The Onion • Hacker News Board

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#261

Post by Kye » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 2:46 PM UTC

serf wrote: post #259

Kye wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The context of the post you replied to is effect on culture in the US. Were you looking for someone to go off on, or did you sincerely miss it?

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#262

Post by dogleash » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 2:53 PM UTC

atleastoptimal wrote: post #8

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

Comedy was hit hard by the broader online media shift from personalities to soulless "personalities."

It feels like there's a big hollowed out void between hackneyed mass appeal, and full sending to absurdist and surreal comedy.

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#263

Post by rurp » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 2:57 PM UTC

bitsinthesky wrote: post #83

lubujackson wrote: post #57

I'm old enough to remember when it was a physical paper you'd get for free in Harvard Square... wish I kept some of them. I particularly enjoyed the old "Point/Counterpoints" such as: https://www.theonion.com/u-s-out-of-my-uterus-vs-we-must-dep... https://www.theonion.com/americas-homeless-want-a-hand-up-no... https://www.theonion.com/my-computer-totally-hates-me-vs-god... Also, shout out to the "Oh! Mumford" comic s…

I have a stack about a foot tall of copies i collected from the Obama era. Anyone idea what i should do with them? Perhaps donate them to the library as a public good? They are still hilarious. My favorite is one where they pretended a Chinese ceo of a fish company bought the paper. It was filled with articles with bad statistics trying to get the common American to eat more fish, how wonderful the ccp is, and how we…

Mention of the Obama era reminded me of one of my favorite Onion headlines:

Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People

https://www.theonion.com/mitt-romney-haunted-by-past-of-tryi...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#264

Post by PopePompus » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 3:23 PM UTC

OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #71

lubujackson wrote: post #57

I'm old enough to remember when it was a physical paper you'd get for free in Harvard Square... wish I kept some of them. I particularly enjoyed the old "Point/Counterpoints" such as: https://www.theonion.com/u-s-out-of-my-uterus-vs-we-must-dep... https://www.theonion.com/americas-homeless-want-a-hand-up-no... https://www.theonion.com/my-computer-totally-hates-me-vs-god... Also, shout out to the "Oh! Mumford" comic s…

I learned about it via "Monk Gloats over Yoga Championship" https://www.theonion.com/monk-gloats-over-yoga-championship-... I also frequently mention I don't watch television. In fact, I don't even own one. https://www.theonion.com/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-d...

I love: https://www.theonion.com/bush-finds-error-in-fermilab-calcul...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#265

Post by anononaut » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 3:31 PM UTC

spencerflem wrote: post #249

1over137 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>...spreads anti-trans hate. Hmm, how do you define that? They make fun of trans issues sometimes, but that's not 'spreading hate' in my books. A sibling comment gives an example headline: NCAA Swimming Champ Caught In Possession Of Performance-Enhancing Testicles

I was thinking of the one they got kicked off twitter for- "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine" featuring gems like "UPDATE: Since announcing this award, we've been told that Levine actually identifies as a woman. We have still chosen to give the award as his self-identification has no bearing on the truth. Congratulations, Rachel Levine!"

Gosh, how hateful

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#266

Post by adamsb6 » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 4:13 PM UTC

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…

They deleted it, was here: https://www.theonion.com/articles/special-olympics-tball-sta...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#267

Post by DudeOpotomus » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 4:30 PM UTC

lubujackson wrote: post #57

I'm old enough to remember when it was a physical paper you'd get for free in Harvard Square... wish I kept some of them. I particularly enjoyed the old "Point/Counterpoints" such as: https://www.theonion.com/u-s-out-of-my-uterus-vs-we-must-dep... https://www.theonion.com/americas-homeless-want-a-hand-up-no... https://www.theonion.com/my-computer-totally-hates-me-vs-god... Also, shout out to the "Oh! Mumford" comic s…

How do you know someone went to Harvard?

They tell you...

FYI, The Onion is from Madison WI, not Cambridge...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#268

Post by dev_by_day » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 4:36 PM UTC

neilk wrote: post #250

dev_by_day wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

According to your comment history you’re a leftist who, among other things, supports Kyle Rittenhouse. I would say this is a rare configuration of positions. The point you’re making about Collins suffers because you only labelled him an “extreme leftist”, over and over again, without examples of this behavior. So I went looking, myself. Apparently he was pulled off Twitter coverage because he made posts mocking Elon…

A persons very limited comment history is not a strong measure of values, I don't use this site that much.

I'm not a Kyle Rittenhouse supporter, I merely held that he didn't commit murder which is what many legal experts held as well.

Fwiw my actual policy and culture positions are much more aligned with liberalism when its pragmatic and not pathological altruism.

I'm happy to provide references on ben collins bias, he has been called out multiple times for spreading misinformation despite claiming to be an expert on it.

He has been objectively criticized by multiple legit journalists like glenn greenwald and even moderates like nate silver.

https://reason.com/2023/10/19/ben-collins-disinformation-hos...

https://nypost.com/2023/10/20/nate-silver-rips-ny-times-nbcs...

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#269

Post by pimlottc » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 4:39 PM UTC

DudeOpotomus wrote: post #267

lubujackson wrote: post #57

I'm old enough to remember when it was a physical paper you'd get for free in Harvard Square... wish I kept some of them. I particularly enjoyed the old "Point/Counterpoints" such as: https://www.theonion.com/u-s-out-of-my-uterus-vs-we-must-dep... https://www.theonion.com/americas-homeless-want-a-hand-up-no... https://www.theonion.com/my-computer-totally-hates-me-vs-god... Also, shout out to the "Oh! Mumford" comic s…

How do you know someone went to Harvard? They tell you... FYI, The Onion is from Madison WI, not Cambridge...

FYI, Harvard Square is a public place, thousands of people visit and pass through it every day who aren't Harvard students. It's not part of the actual Harvard campus (as opposed to e.g. Harvard Yard).

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#270

Post by runarberg » Fri, Apr 26, 2024, 4:44 PM UTC

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…

As a person firmly in the American political left, I have to disagree with all but one of those (point 6 holds true).

1. If you don’t want Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza to stop, you are not a leftist.

2. If you don’t want trans children to get correct healthcare, you are not a leftist.

3. If you want to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, you are not a leftist.

4. If you don’t want to fix the gender wage gap, you are not a leftist.

5. If you hold racist views, you are not a leftist.

6. The radical left has many different views on taxes. I want to eat the rich, but many on the left do indeed want taxes only to be used as funding of social services.

I’m aware I’m committing No true Scotsman fallacy here. However I don’t see people that hold these views to align anywhere close to me politically—not even moderately. On the left we call people that hold these views conservative democrats, and at best we call them centrists, never moderate leftists. The only people that call them “moderates” are the conservative democrats them selves (and maybe some republicans).

I’m also aware that there is a (very small) faction of communists and tankies, particularly in the UK, which holds anti-trans and racist views, and would agree with points 2, 3, and 5, however, even among communists, they are very niche and still very extreme, so definitely not moderate American left.