U.S. Seemingly Unaware of Irony In Accusing Snowden of Spying

newyorker.com

193 points·joelrunyon··12 comments

It wasn't clear at first, but the other headlines from this author make it obvious that this is Onion-style satire:

Taliban Named Best Place to Work 2013

U.S. Promises Smooth Transfer of Quagmire from Afghanistan to Syria

The Borowitz Report [1] is a well-known, immensely popular satirical column. Granted, this isn't immediately clear unless you're familiar with the column.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Borowitz

This may be satire, but it is also 100% accurate, in its own way.

Definitely satire, but also definitely accurate (although not 100% factual).

Satire: Artistic form in which human or individual abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, irony, or other methods, with an intent to bring about improvement.[1]

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/satire

The US did charge Snowden with spying.

Borowitz Report is satire.

I'm honestly not sure why this is #1 on the front page. It's not that the topic that I find objectionable (although it has been pretty saturated lately), but this satire is not particularly well written or interesting.

I can't figure out how Borowitz got hired by the New Yorker. His satire is so consistently ham fisted and painful.

When I saw this title, I was sure this was going to link to The Onion.

This belongs in the "Real or Onion?" series

Btw - if you accuse someone of spying isn't the basic politeness expect you to tell on behalf of whom it was supposed to be done?

Sometimes you don't know. There was a spy for Israel who was caught spying by the U.S., but it wasn't until later (albeit before the trial) that they figured out Israel was the beneficiary.

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