Ah, remember when the Onion was just putting a funny spin on the news instead of reporting facts and tweaking them a bit? It turns out they were actually getting into a time machine and predicting the future literally.
Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’ (January 17, 2001)
It gets even better as you read it.
That’s what makes it funny: it has a very real element of truth. All of those “area man”/“area woman” articles are just things that we are very much familiar with, but reframed as news items that normally would never make the paper. The Onion isn’t just about the future–it’s about the here and present.
Jeeeeez…that is just breathtaking. Dismally, dismally breathtaking.
I thought you were going to link this. That’s one fast turnaround, eh?
From the real article:
He superimposed the African-Canadian person onto the family cluster in the original photo. It was two photographs and one head was superimposed over the original family photo," said John Gosgnach, communications director for the social development division.
African-Canadian? I didn’t know the Canadiens did this too.
Maybe it’s more common on the East Coast, but we don’t say this around here. (This is probably because most black folks that you’re likely to meet in BC are either lately of the Caribbean or just plain ol’ been-here-forever Canadian.)
On the other hand, we use “Sino-Canadian” and “Indo-Canadian” quite a bit, although both of these groups have had large, well-established communities here since before Vancouver was even incorporated.
That alteration is pretty embarassing. I picture the photo editor as an Ed Begley Jr. type: “Hmmm… this stock photo isn’t quite diverse enough. Maybe a little more grinning negro?”
Gillette’s 5-blade razor predicted by The Onion
In 2005, Gillette:
In 2004, Onion:
Not seeing the connection.
There was a recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum by an anti-Semite.
Speaking of which: Holocaust Museum Cashier Has Another Depressing Day. Really more about the general depressingness of having to work at a museum devoted to the Holocaust, but it sort of fits.
Wow. They even call Ohio as the guy’s home state! Maybe I should start reading their financial section.
That’s a bit eerie.
The story about the Photoshopping of the black guy is not pure Onion fiction, it’s a parody of a real event. The University of Wisconsin faced some criticism in September 2000 after digitally adding a black student into a photo of a group of white students at a football game. They did it to show their diversity. The Onion piece is from December 2000.
Saturday Night Live actually scooped the Onion on this one in 1975, spoofing a hypothetical tri-blade razor.
They also had the preposterous Telepsychic Ray skit. Calling a psychic on the phone? What a stupid idea!
Ha ha ha ha! I love that under the black man’s face is the headline: “Learn to swim. It’s worth a try”.
And did you realize that the $2 bill was recently redesigned?
It sounds like you might be playing along with that post, but if you aren’t, take a good look at the date it was posted and the initials of the “contributor.”
I’m reminded of Chris Rock’s joke about O.J. doing a how-to-“If I Did It” video, years before he wrote a book on the same topic.
Actually, you can’t give them “prediction” on this one.
My Beloved Alma Mater photoshopped a black guy into an admissions brochure back in 2000. I remember it was quite the controversy on campus.
Since it’s in Madison, and the Onion at that point was in Madison, they were no doubt inspired by the event.