What is your favorite sketch by "The Onion", aka "Onion News Network"?

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Trump Voter Feels Betrayed By President After Reading 800 Pages Of Queer Theory. Important commentary and funny at the same time.

What's the actual joke here? It sounds like it's almost mocking trans literature by how complex it is to understand for the average american. Is that it?

It's unrealistic to expect people to judge your message on the merits of your argument if you're not taking the time to translate it into a language they speak.

Not really interested in making an argument to whether it's fair to apply this caricature here, but that's definitely the message here.

I think that mainly mocks the idea that if only people talked to each other more, communicated with each other more, tried to see things from the others' perspective, then everything would be great and everyone would arrive at a common conclusion.

The Onion does something really clever: they simply show what the world would be like if feminists actually succeeded in convincing people with their arguments. The end result is comically bizarre and obviously extremely unlikely. The joke/criticism is how disconnected feminists are from the real world with their overly complicated, academic and abstract language, despite the fact that they ostensibly have a goal of influencing ordinary people into being better.

I've had this beef for a long time with feminists: they lack empathy and insight into the actual lived experience of the people they want to convince. They're caught up in an authoritarian, entitled worldview where they imagine they can just coerce others into becoming better through force and shaming, using language that is so far above most people's heads that it all just seems imaginary. Whenever I try to raise these concerns I am met with hate and am called a misogynist even though my intentions are to help. They have virtually no ability to listen. There are exceptions, but they are drowned out among all the (in my opinion) misguided people.

The end result is comically bizarre and obviously extremely unlikely. The joke/criticism is how disconnected feminists are from the real world with their overly complicated, academic and abstract language, despite the fact that they ostensibly have a goal of influencing ordinary people into being better.

The goal of feminism is gender equality. That is to reduce the authority men have over women (and in some cases vice versa). Part of that may be to influence people toward being kinder and more understanding towards others. But another part of that might be a deeper and more complex understanding of how gender functions in society.

Think about it this way… Just because Einstein’s theory of special relativity is complicated and not well understood by most people doesn’t make the theory of special relativity incorrect. But for some reason in the social sciences you can make the argument that a theory is too complicated and therefore wrong and some people will think that argument makes sense. The theory being complicated is obviously not an argument against the theory of special relativity or Judith Butlers theories on gender.

I do find this skit funny but I think the joke is one layer deeper. I think the joke is something along the lines of this Upton Sinclair quote:

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. ―Upton Sinclair

That is men benefit from the status quo of gender relations therefore men have a certain subjectivity that we expect from them that resists thinking critically about their own position in gendered hierarchy. Seeing (especially working class) men break from that subjectivity breaks expectations and the result is humor.

Thanks for clarifying. It does feel like they're punching down a little, but its a good commentary nonetheless.

"Punching down" is in the eye of the beholder, and kind of supports my point about having empathy in the way you speak. I guarantee that steel workers feel like they got the short end of the stick in life, and that feminist academia is the elite.

I wouldn't generalise it so black and white, but I do hear what you are saying.

I'm just gonna leave this here with no further content...

"Sony Releases Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work"

@HotWheelsVroom Lmao, I also like that one very much
"It's functions include... ...being all ass backwards fuck". Magical

But I'll still add another great one - Political Talk Show Host Suddenly Very Interested In Manslaughter Law Loopholes (https://youtu.be/xOVQPtuKRs4)

The system specs tho LMFAO 🤣🤣🤣

System Specifications:

  • Makes the most irritating beeping noise you've ever heard in your goddamn life
  • Fucks up everything else you hook it up to
  • 'Scans for receivers', whatever the fuck that means
  • Flashes random fucking words and numbers on the display screen

Sony Releases Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work. Replace by Sony by Apple and it still fits perfectly.

The MacBook wheel comes closest

Everything is just a few hundred clicks away.

We will be watching to see if it catches on in the business world where people have to accomplish things rather than just dicking around.

"I'll buy anything that's shiny and comes from Apple" 👌

Prague's Kafka International Named Most Alienating Airport

And a 'from-16-years-back' broadside at the US approaching November:

'No Values Voters' Search For Most Evil Candidate

honorable mention to New Marijuana Study Confirms Everyone Knows You're High And You Will Be Stoned Forever

because when this was originally uploaded on their website it would play a slightly different version every time you opened the page. So you'd laugh and show your friends, so then even if your (allegedly) stoner ass hadn't gotten tripped out the first time, while they're watching it and laughing you'd start sweating.

Second honorable mention to "Is The Government Spying on Schizophrenics Enough?" But I'm honestly still not sure that one's totally okay, even if I still laugh every single time I watch it. I'm not that type of mentally ill but have had people close to me who struggle enough with it and the very nature of the disorder is such that even though I laugh I've always at the same time felt it treads very much on the line.

The "post office box" sketch:

New Live Poll Let's Pundits Pander to Voters in Realtime

I love this one. I sometimes fit “post office box” into sentences just to say it the way Duncan does.

Side note, I saw Duncan’s actor in an episode of Always Sunny a few years ago and it was lovely seeing him. He’s probably my favorite from ONN. The segment about Nigeria where he accidentally reads about Niger is a phenomenal use of visual comedy

These comments are proof that The Onion peaked like 15 years ago. They just haven't been as funny since then.

i dont think its the onions fault, parody just got more difficult when real life is already ridiculous

Weirdly, this comment is a little hasty but only because of recent developments. ONN presumably didn’t make enough money so it was canceled, thus they couldn’t keep doing sketches like that. Now that The Onion has bought itself from its corporate owners, ONN is said to be returning. If the new ONN sucks this comment will be accurate though.

The MacBook Wheel. Imagine how disastrous this product would be if it actually happened.

Not to mention that was the first time I discovered the Onion.

Honestly same I didn't know who was the onion

Future News from year 2137

"A lot of networks report the news as it happens. But only one has the power to report the news BEFORE it happens. Through our state-of-the-art wormhole sattelite, the Onion News Network Future channel brings you exclusive news transmissions from the year 2137. Because to stay ahead in today's world, you need to know what's going to happen in tomorrow's."

And then on the map one of the states is Gay Texas LMAO

WOKE LIBERAL america be like

  • wokelahoma
  • they/themessee
  • nonbinary dakota
  • transylvania
  • hannah montana
  • lesbiana
  • kawaii
  • gay texas
  • north and south queerolina
  • washington H.R.T.