# Wow - the Onion has finally baffled me.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2000, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524 "2000-12-20T15:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![broccoli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@broccoli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/broccoli)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/1 "2000-12-20T15:13:36Z")
This is in reference to this article: [http://www.theonion.com/onion3646/national\_machete\_assoc.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3646/national_machete_assoc.html) O.K., Reading the onion on a dreary cubicle wednesday morning is usually the bright point of my day. Today however I cannot tell if the lead story is making fun of the NRA or of the people trying to legislate them. This is really bugging me. The article goes kinda both ways… .what do you think? broccoli! ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/2 "2000-12-20T15:22:01Z")
Seemed mostly a “make fun of the NRA” story to me, which makes sense given what appears to be the political beliefs of the staff… …though yeah, the “child accidentally hacking infant to death” slipped a little the other way. ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/3 "2000-12-20T15:30:30Z")
The great thing about _The Onion_ – what makes it so funny – is that it doesn’t worry excessively about _whom_ it is making fun. It just _makes fun_. Don’t you worry either. Just enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/4 "2000-12-20T15:37:06Z")
They are totally making fun of the NRA. They did it pretty well too. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/5 "2000-12-20T15:42:49Z")
IMO, the story would have been funnier with a more innocuous object, like baseball bats or toaster ovens. Who could we get to be spokesperson for the National Toaster Oven Association (besides Martha Stewart)? > [@](#): > > _"Martin Yan then hoisted a Proctor-Silex 30005 Four-Slice SmartToast Toaster Oven over his head and exclaimed, “Out of my cold, dead hands…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/6 "2000-12-20T15:47:38Z")
This particular card-carrying NRA member thinks the article was poking fun at both sides. I thought it was quite amusing too. The ultimate point here is that both sides of the Great Machete Debate are unduly paranoid. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-onion-has-finally-baffled-me/46524/7 "2000-12-20T20:13:04Z")
_The Onion_ had an article a while ago along the lines of “Gun Show Attendees Revel in Phallic Symbolism”, but I can’t find it in their archives. The only gun-owner related story I could find in The Onion’s archives was [8-Year-Old Accidentally Exercises Second Amendment Rights](http://www.theonion.com/onion3520/second_amendment.html)