Note:  THE CLIP BELOW IS PARODY, IT IS NOT REAL.

I find the Onion equally funny and distasteful, depending on the subject, which makes them effective neutral in my opinion.

Satire, by definition, should sting.  Wiki says “In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with an intent to bring about improvement.  Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humour in itself so much as an often quite angry attack on something the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit.”

I am of mixed feelings with this, so I cannot say if they lived up to this definition or not, but I can see that it was the intent.

The victims of satire here are both TSA Screeners, who have been criticized for being lax in their duties, and the Main Stream Media, whose quest for sensationalism has sometimes led them to dangerous waters, such as releasing classified information that damages national security, just to get the scoop.

The message is clear:  Screeners are inept.  Their security measures are ineffective.  Reporters are essentially information whores who would exploit even the most awful circumstances just to prove a point.  And the newscaster takes a few hits, as the Anchor reading the story of the events in the parody was full of victorious gloating, callous blame shifting and needless finger pointing with no regard for the actual cost of catastrophe.

The danger here is that all of the insinuations are ever so slightly on target.  Newscasters dto pontificate soberly, devoid of all emotion, over stories that are gross and horrible, reporters do seek stories with an overzealousness that is almost criminal, and the TSA has earned some serious criticism due to mistakes and nonsensical restrictions. 

Hot Air notes:

A trenchant satire on the media’s loyalty in the age of terror? Not from a lefty outfit like the Onion. Call this a commentary on sensationalist stunt journalism — sort of like “To Catch a Predator” but in the national security context.

So here is my questoin: Considering the tragedy of 911, did the Onion go too far?  Was this too insensitive and too callous? Too dark?

Or are all of the targets fair game?

Watch.  Think.  Discuss.

Reporters Expose Security Lapses By Smuggling Bomb On Plane, Blowing It Up

Clip Via Hot Air

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Mark My Words, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Adam’s Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Big Dog’s Weblog, Chuck Adkins, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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