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Comment by logicNSci | Hacker News Reader

Given how many people shared Onion stories without knowing it's "satire" and the article mentioning "It was always some kind of dry, subtle joke"-

I think The Onion is bad for society.

It spawned numerous knockoff websites that would mislead people "because it's funny!".

If you are scrolling through a website, do you click on every article? Read every detail? And research the root website?

Or do you skim, read mostly headlines and occasionally deep dive?

How many "satire" website headlines do you subconsciously believe?

All for "humor", which is rarely found tbh.

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I think people who fall for The Onion articles are bad for society.

For example: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/congres...

The Onion is Baby's First Satire. I want it exposed to as many people as possible so when they fail to get the joke we can relentlessly mock them and know who to exclude from serious conversations.

Imagine someone who can't even handle the Onion trying to process challenging satire. The kind that might get you to change your mind, rather than the Onion/Daily Show brand of pats on the head for agreeing with established orthodoxy.

> The Onion is Baby's First Satire.

ITYM MAD Magazine, at least after the 80s.

It was hilarious when I was 12; these days, not so much.

The Onion's satire is generally pretty obvious. The truth is that some people just aren't very bright, and/or have a habit of reading and sharing news articles very uncritically.

I don't believe any satire websites. Because I understand what satire is. The idea that satire is bad because people are lazy/dumb is much worse than satire itself, I assure you.

You wouldn't know. That's the issue.

You read a seemingly innocent headline, and move on with your day.

Someone who can't figure out an Onion headline is dangerous. They'll uncritically believe just about anything; it's what gets us "FW: FW: FW: FW: OBAMA IS KENYAN" shit.

Would you say that it is worth teaching media studies and literacy in schools?

No, I would and do. I have common sense. And I understand what I'm reading. Most people do. Based on your comments here, you should probably stay away from satire websites since it seems you're easily mislead, but most of the rest of us can apply some basic critical thinking skills.

You're getting downvoted but there's a quote I read about a community based on satire that basically said; in the beginning it's great; everyone is in on the joke and understands it's satire. After a while, the people being satirized join, thinking they're in good company.

I butchered that, but I believe it was sourced from Reddit, maybe a mod or administrator.

A lot of the crazier conspiracy theories probably started out like that. Think chemtrails, flat earthers, 5G, that kind of thing.

This seems to just be something that's going to happen when you have satire of any substance.

A similar thing happened with the 1970s TV show "All In The Family". Its main character, Archie Bunker, is uneducated, chauvinistic, bigoted, and selfish. Many people got the joke, but I think plenty of people saw Archie and their main thought was, "This guy is just like me." They did a good job of portraying him as a real human being. (If he had been a one-dimensional punching bag character, the show would not have worked as well.) He was a working class guy whose frustrations with his situation were rooted in reality, so you couldn't fault him for that part. He just responded to those problems in all the wrong ways. But seeing the right ways to respond requires a certain kind of enlightenment, so this part went over some people's heads.

I'm disgusted at the thought that it is The Onion's fault when people don't bother to read beyond a headline or understand the context of what they just read.

Satire is an important and effective tool for getting people to think critically about mundane things we often accept at face value. It lets us challenge the status quo in a non-threatening way because who doesn’t love to laugh? Satire makes people think and that should always be encouraged.