Anti-Gays Use Onion Article as Evidence

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2004-04-13 04:19am

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFre ... 12787.html

A school board trustee is demanding an apology from a parents' group that used a fake photo from a satirical newspaper on its pamphlets opposing the expansion of a safe schools policy. Simply Truths Our Priority, or STOP, handed out pamphlets and computer discs with a 300-page book of Internet research outside a public meeting last week. . . .

"Satire is apparently lost on rigid individuals," said London trustee Peter Jaffe. "Taking something from a spoof newspaper and presenting it as reality crosses the line. (The photo) plays on people's worst fears. I would hope this group will make a full and public apology." . . .

"We knew it was a gay paper and we hold that even as a joke, the gay community is proud of their advancements into the safe schools program in the U.S.," she said. "We don't think homosexuality in schools is a joke."

Asked whether she believed it was a real photo, Ashworth said the caption included the teacher's name, city, state and grade.

"We researched in depth and that was one of the things we found," she said, noting the group spent seven weeks accumulating research. . . .

"We don't come by our findings lightly. . . . Whether it was meant to be a joke or not, it's not funny to parents who are trying to protect their children."

Other headlines on the archival page are: Antique dealer sick of appraising smurf collections and Orgy a logistical nightmare... . . .

Sean Mills, president of the Onion, laughed when he heard the news.

http://www.theonion.com/onion3326/homos ... cruit.html

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-04-13 04:31am

Not surprisingly, they like Country and Western music out in London Ontario.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2004-04-13 07:46am

That's funny as hell. I suspect they just got a few hundred pages straight from google for that cd, and now it's bitten them in the ass.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-04-13 08:17am

wow. . .it's things like this that make you wonder how people can have absolutely zero sense of humor at all. well. that and the obvious intelligence of a doorknob.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-04-13 01:43pm

HOORAY FOR STUPID PEOPLE.

Let's send them to their own isolated stupid land.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-04-13 02:02pm

You would have to be utterly, mind-bogglingly stupid to take anything the Onion says or does seriously. And, BTW, that means you, too, China.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-04-13 02:09pm

look! the picture from the original article! lmfao!

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-04-13 02:41pm

OMFG ROTFLMMFGDQQAO!!!

This is precisely what Satire is good for: As a Holy Landmine of Logic for the Tripping-Up and Mockery of Stupid People!

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-04-13 02:52pm

The Onion is a gay paper?

Oni Koneko Damien · Post by **Oni Koneko Damien** » 2004-04-13 03:29pm

Now I want to see the rest of that pamphlet, just to see how bad all the other sources are. I wouldn't be surprised if they accidently pulled something from tencommandments.org, or even landoverbaptist.org.

-Damien

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2004-04-13 04:50pm

neoolong wrote:The Onion is a gay paper?

I'm sure according to her, anything less religous than the 700 Club is "gay".

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-04-13 05:26pm

I really get tired of that fucking "even as a joke it wasn't funny because it made fun of a serious issue that is very very important to me" attitude.

"Ooh you made fun of my movie, well that's not funny because it's a nice movie." Some people have too many sticks up their collectives asses.

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2004-04-13 05:56pm

Once, a long, long time ago on the Left Behind message boards, I managed to convince people the infamous "Harry Potter influences kids to be satanic" article was real.

Actually, didn't have to try too hard. Just cut and pasted and posted.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-16 07:27pm

neoolong wrote:The Onion is a gay paper?

Well sort of, like misenthropes, ogres, intellectuals and gays onions have multipal layers and are not just evil simpletons.......

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-04-16 09:04pm

I suspect this may be less stupidity and more just plain dishonesty. With just that article and photo, how many people who aren't familiar with The Onion (and probably already convinced what's being described in the article is happening anyway) would guess it's a parody, especially if it's surrounded by legitimate news articles?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-17 04:40am

and in other news Fox news and chinese government news sources now rank World Weekly news, and The Onion as sources of the highest credibility....

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-04-17 05:39am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:and in other news Fox news and chinese government news sources now rank World Weekly news, and The Onion as sources of the highest credibility....

/me points up to his "Holy Landmine of Logic for the Tripping-Up and Mockery of Stupid People!" comment.

The Onion and other Satire is Good. It makes life easy for intelligent, mentally agile people by making stupid people stick out like Sore Thumbs, thereby making the smart person's job of avoiding the stupid people that much easier.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-04-17 06:42am

When did Fox News think an Onion article was real? I remember the chinese one, but Fox?

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2004-04-17 07:36am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:When did Fox News think an Onion article was real? I remember the chinese one, but Fox?

Read Y. Bear's post again, he's calling Fox, the Chinese Government, and The Onion sources of the highest credibility.
IOW, he's making a funny.

And I agree with Red Imperator 100%, just because we know what the Onion is, and just because the compilers of that list probably know, doesn't mean everyone knows.
People love to over-react when their worst fears are "realised", this whole thing stinks of being set up to do just that.

After all, how many of you fell for my "E-Mail from Brannon Braga" I posted a couple months ago and were numbed and outraged with the shocking evidence of ST living up to your worst expectations?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-17 12:42pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:When did Fox News think an Onion article was real? I remember the chinese one, but Fox?

About two years ago they decieded to do a serious investigation into an article from the onion, they have also accepted the WWN as a source too...

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-17 12:44pm

in context

They reported Onion Satire on Rosie O'Donnel, and Micheal Jackson, and WWN tabliod speculation on those two as disturbing accusations comming from credible sources.