The Onion's double standards

[MPG]

I have to say that I love The Onion (http://www.theonion.com/). It's one of the most consistently funny sites on the web with a sharp political edge and quite a bit of political incorrectness. However, I was never quite sure what to think about the fact that The Onion chose to not say anything even remotely funny about 9/11 in the weeks right after it happened. I can understand why they kept quiet about it, but I guess it just bothered me that for the first time, their limits were well-defined. For the first time, there was something where they had clearly decided "We're not going to touch this one."

Remembering this, it strikes me as kind of weird that making a joke about a mudslide in the Philippines where a thousand people may have died appears to be ok after all. From today's edition:
http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/philippine_mud_c.article.jpg
Philippine Mud Wins In Landslide

Don't get me wrong, I am not bothered by the joke as such, just by the double standard. If the tragedy occurs in another country, it's ok to joke about it? What do you think would have happened if - two weeks after 9/11 - The Onion had published a picture of one of the planes crashing into the WTC and captioned it with something like "Terrorists Crash Office Party on the 93rd Floor"? Or let's put it this way: What do you think people in the US would have thought if something like that had been published on a web site in the Philippines?

[Quasar]

Yeah, they should probably stay hands off on any/all tragedies. I did enjoy the 911 story they had about the terrorists being shocked when they woke up in hell, as opposed to being surrounded with virgins like they were promised.

[Bark]

Obviously, the Onion doesn't mind alienating its readers in the Philippines. It would mind alienating its readers in the United States. Mystery solved. :smirk: :D

[MPG]

So I guess it's all about trying not alienate the demographics that are important to your advertisers? Ok, that makes sense. :D

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

Obviously, you never read "The Onion's" piece on "Hijackers surprised to find selves in Hell," a segment in the Onion regarding the fate of the 9/11 terrorists that is one of the most hysterical things they've ever published . . . just read it, HERE (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38673)

You'll be glad you did.
:)

[Penfold]

I remember the hijacker in hell story, and I also recall the press conference by God saying "Which part of Thou Shalt Not Kill did you not understand?" Also the story a few weeks later saying "America longs to care about stupid BS again." But those weren't so much mocking the event. I suppose they thought the landslide joke was just too good to pass up.