# Getting whooshed by the Onion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018 "2006-07-11T13:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/21 "2006-07-11T17:43:04Z")
Does anyone else think it would be frickin awesome if on April Fool’s Day, The Onion ran serious news articles? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/22 "2006-07-11T17:43:29Z")
[QUOTE=Subway Prophet] So I was pointed to [this pro-life blogger](http://marchtogether.blogspot.com/2006/07/murder-without-conscience.html) who was reacting to an article in “[the Onion](http://www.theonion.com/), an online magazine.” :smack: I have no words. [/QUOTE] The best part is that, after hundreds of mocking comments were posted about the original blog entry, this numbskull wrote a spin-control followup entry in which our hero “Pete” reveals that he’s **still** unclear on the concept that stuff printed in _The Onion_ isn’t real news. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/23 "2006-07-11T17:45:27Z")
I like the blog’s latest entry trying to backpedal and not look like a fucking idiot. Classy. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/24 "2006-07-11T17:46:55Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] The best part is that, after hundreds of mocking comments were posted about the original blog entry, this numbskull wrote a spin-control followup entry in which our hero “Pete” reveals that he’s **still** unclear on the concept that stuff printed in _The Onion_ isn’t real news. [/QUOTE] The first paragraph seems like that, but afterward it seems he’s saying more, “It might as well be real because that’s the attitude I’ve seen.” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/25 "2006-07-11T17:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] The first paragraph seems like that, but afterward it seems he’s saying more, “It might as well be real because that’s the attitude I’ve seen.” [/QUOTE] The example he shows exhibits the same cluelessness – if some jackass came up to me and started pestering me with questions the way he describes himself doing, I’d give the same sort of outrageous answers. The simplest way to get rid of that sort of crank is to outdo him until he makes **his** escape, convinced that **you** are a crank. ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/26 "2006-07-11T18:10:18Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] The first paragraph seems like that, but afterward it seems he’s saying more, “It might as well be real because that’s the attitude I’ve seen.” [/QUOTE] Interesting that he would pull this quote from the Onion article: > [@](#): > > The funny thing is, I actually have the pro-life movement to thank for this opportunity. If my HMO wouldn’t have bowed to their pressure not to cover oral contraceptives, I never would’ve gotten pregnant in the first place. but omits the follow-up: > [@](#): > > Then what would I be doing a week from Thursday? I’ll tell you what I wouldn’t be doing: going to an awesome abortion clinic where I’ll be the center of attention from the minute I put my feet up in those stirrups. I wouldn’t be looking forward to induced dilation of my cervical opening and suctioning of my uterus, either. And I sure as heck wouldn’t get the chance to have a doctor insert a metal instrument into my womb to dislodge tissue from my uterine wall! > > I seriously cannot wait for all the hemorrhaging and the uterine contractions. This abortion is going to be so amazing. I’m sure he’s talked to \*so \*many women who’ve been similarly “psyched” for painful surgery. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/27 "2006-07-11T18:18:56Z")
I don’t know that Dear Abby or Ann Landers were taken in, but I clearly recall reading a letter printed in _Reader’s Digest_ by a woman citing the Onion witchcraft article. The editors had replied that it was a spoof, and they were clearly kind of embarrassed to have to tell her that. I can’t tell you which RD it was, though; just something I picked up somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/28 "2006-07-11T18:25:10Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom] I don’t know that Dear Abby or Ann Landers were taken in, but I clearly recall reading a letter printed in _Reader’s Digest_ by a woman citing the Onion witchcraft article. The editors had replied that it was a spoof, and they were clearly kind of embarrassed to have to tell her that. I can’t tell you which RD it was, though; just something I picked up somewhere. [/QUOTE] DING That’s what I was remembering. Thanks! I think I might have bought that issue for that very reason. It’s lying around here somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/29 "2006-07-11T19:12:22Z")
The Dubya Administration did send the Onion a letter demanding that they not use the Presidentail Seal in any of their articles. The letter, available [here](http://www.p2pnet.net/story/6758), seems in indicate that they feared that people would interpret Onion articles as “suggesting presidential support or endorsement”. The letter was filed after the publication of [Bush to Appoint Somebody to be in Charge of Country](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41444). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/30 "2006-07-11T19:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] Does anyone else think it would be frickin awesome if on April Fool’s Day, The Onion ran serious news articles? [/QUOTE] Well, there is [this article.](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29842) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/31 "2006-07-11T22:27:27Z")
[QUOTE=ITR champion] The Dubya Administration did send the Onion a letter demanding that they not use the Presidentail Seal in any of their articles. The letter, available [here](http://www.p2pnet.net/story/6758), seems in indicate that they feared that people would interpret Onion articles as “suggesting presidential support or endorsement”. The letter was filed after the publication of [Bush to Appoint Somebody to be in Charge of Country](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41444). [/QUOTE] Actually, I think they wrote the letter because the Onion website featured satirical versions of the weekly radio addresses from President Bush, and the graphic for them featured the Presidential Seal. Although the article you linked to does feature the presidential seal on the President’s flag, it does not seem to represent that Bush or the office of the President endorses the Onion, whereas the radio addresses are satires of Bush and his office, and the use of the presidential seal could imply that these fake radio addresses were authorized by the office of the President. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/32 "2006-07-11T22:32:44Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Didn’t Chinese papers once reprint as factual a story in The Onion about Congress threatening to move if we didn’t build them a new Capitol? [/QUOTE] But only for 20 minutes. I like reading the feedback comments on the OP blogger. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/33 "2006-07-11T23:03:16Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] Does anyone else think it would be frickin awesome if on April Fool’s Day, The Onion ran serious news articles? [/QUOTE] Well, the AV Club, their entertainment section, is all 100% serious reviews and interviews. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/34 "2006-07-11T23:56:58Z")
I think we should not forget to mention the case where the Chinese newspaper picked up the story about congress threatening to move. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/35 "2006-07-12T00:01:29Z")
But what about the time when that congress-demands-a-new-capitol story was picked up as true by that Chinese newspaper? I’d like to hear about that. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/36 "2006-07-12T00:20:55Z")
What’s this, Harry Potter threatened to move unless somebody built a Chinese restaurant? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/37 "2006-07-12T00:29:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] What’s this, Harry Potter threatened to move unless somebody built a Chinese restaurant? [/QUOTE] No, he threatened to have an abortion. In 1960. For 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/38 "2006-07-12T01:36:32Z")
Wow, this endless-repetition-of-dumb-joke thing is really, really unfunny. Please stop, all of you. The Harry Potter/Satanism story is archived [here](http://web.archive.org/web/20000815214418/http://www.theonion.com/onion3625/harry_potter.html): > [@](#): > > “I think it’s absolute rubbish to protest children’s books on the grounds that they are luring children to Satan,” Rowling told a London Times reporter in a July 17 interview. “People should be praising them for that! These books guide children to an understanding that the weak, idiotic Son Of God is a living hoax who will be humiliated when the rain of fire comes, and will suck the greasy cock of the Dark Lord while we, his faithful servants, laugh and cavort in victory.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/39 "2006-07-12T01:56:05Z")
Hey guys? Remember the time when someone posted something three times in a row, and everyone else copied it? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018/40 "2006-07-12T04:01:54Z")
Actually it was just two times in a row. The third post said “Hi, Opal”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-whooshed-by-the-onion/364018.md?page=3)