Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "This is a pretty brutal Onion newscast about Glenn Beck. I've seen the Onion do some gutsy things, but never like this." I just watched that clip and I'm speechless.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I just watched that clip and I'm speechless.<< It took me a moment to realize what had my jaw on the floor. I think it's that they've taken something that normally is very sad, and turned it into humor. It manages to get its shots in at Glenn Beck, but it also mocks news media and those of us who watch it. It turns it all on its head. It's bloody brilliant.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Uh...wow, that Onion "news" clip is pretty harsh. I mean I don't like GLenn Beck, but I'm not wishing he died in a horrible car crash... It was a pretty tasteless way to bash him, if you ask me.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***It was a pretty tasteless way to bash him, if you ask me.*** I don't think they were aiming for good taste. I thought it was brilliant myself. As for the death wishing, it's not the first time for the onion...the last year of the Bush Presidency they "reported" the President in a variety of horrific and gruesome accidents such as getting sucked into the engine of Air Force One and falling down the grand staircase at the White House, smashing his head. At the end of each article, Bush was "resting comfortably" at Bethesda.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I don't think they were aiming for good taste. I thought it was brilliant myself.> I'm not sure. I think I'm with gurgitoy2. I can't essentially wish for a horrible death, even in humor. Consider if it had been an identical parody piece targeting someone you like; Obama, or (just to take two names people have mentioned here lately), Bernie Sanders or Alan Grayson. I could actually see a right-wing group doing something like this on, say, Nancy Pelosi. Let's just choose Sanders. If some right-wing group had done an identical piece, but using Sanders instead, would you consider it funny? Or would you think "there's the right wing actually wishing death on people and if someone takes a shot at Bernie Sanders they'll be partially responsible." Or what?
Originally Posted By Mr X Difficult to say. The right wingers aren't know for being good at comedy. Anyway, the Onion is an "on the edge" kind of site...what can I say? I thought it was really, really, REALLY funny (I generally find MOST of what the Onion comes up with pretty hilarious). And here's the other part, perhaps I'm biased (well okay, SURE I am), but I can't think of anything that Obama, Sanders, Grayson, or Pelosi have actually done that would deserve this level of vitriol. Now, if you look to scumbag democrats like say Lieberman or Blagojevich maybe, I think I could find the humor in a similar piece...so I suppose if Obama were exposed as a bad guy as terrible and corrupt as Blagojevich, then yeah I think I'd find it funny if they (or someone else) ran a nasty piece of black humor against him.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I generally love the Onion as well. <And here's the other part, perhaps I'm biased (well okay, SURE I am), but I can't think of anything that Obama, Sanders, Grayson, or Pelosi have actually done that would deserve this level of vitriol.> But surely you realize that just because they don't deserve the vitriol doesn't mean they don't receive it. Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. etc. give it out all the time. So let's just say they hired someone more clever than they usually do to put a piece like this together. And you had all these people talking about "It was a horrible accident, and I can't believe she died when Nancy Pelosi is still walking around" and "I went to see if she was still breathing, unless it was Nancy Pelosi..." Would you find that funny? Or kinda creepy?
Originally Posted By Mr X I'll just go ahead and stand by my last post...if done in a funny manner, I could probably find it funny (I'm imagining lots of folks wouldn't be too aghast as a similar skit done against Lieberman, or even say Clinton at the height of his sexual escapades).
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Well, YMMV, as they say. I'm just saying that if one finds something like this funny when directed at somebody one dislikes, one shouldn't be quick to claim offense when directed against somebody one likes. Not that you did that. But there's even a difference between "I thought it was really, REALLY funny" and "I could probably find it funny," no?
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf <<Really...I'd love to hear from moderates and people not entrenched in the Right-wing viewpoint. Does any of this behavior totally turn you off?>> Yes, it certainly does. <<Beware ecdc, sadly the right wing is growing in Europe due to disatisfaction about the handling of the financial crisis.>> I think we'll see that in the States as well. As the party in power flexes its muscles it tends to mobilize the opposition. Right now the Dems are shifting the center of power to the left, which leaves a lot of centrists behind - and now to the right of the new center. American politics are like a rubber band - the farther it gets pulled in one direction the quicker it will snap back in the opposite direction.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But there's even a difference between "I thought it was really, REALLY funny" and "I could probably find it funny," no?*** I don't really see any need to feign outrage or be dishonest about my reaction. If I thought it was offensive, I wouldn't have laughed. But I have a pretty thick skin when it comes to offensive humor, I like almost all of it. That's not to say I think there's anything wrong with people who find it unappealing, they're entitled to their opinion too.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But there's even a difference between "I thought it was really, REALLY funny" and "I could probably find it funny," no?*** Meant to add...the reason I wrote "could probably find it funny" was because you asked a hypothetical question and I tried to answer it as best I could. There's no way to know if something would strike me as "really, really funny" until I actually saw it (a LOT would depend on how clever the joke and stuff like that, too...I've read some right wing "humor" and it doesn't amuse me, nor does redneck humor by and large).
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Right now the Dems are shifting the center of power to the left, which leaves a lot of centrists behind - and now to the right of the new center.<< See, I just don't see this at all. Honestly, I think I'm a fairly clear-eyed viewer of American politics, and I think - at least from where they used to be - the Republicans are far right and the Democrats are moderate. I haven't seen anything "left" about the Democrats at all. I mean, they just voted for an amendment to the healthcare bill that will make it next-to-impossible for a woman to get an abortion in this country unless she pays for 100% of it out of pocket. Now, on a personal level, you may like that or you may not. Call it whatever you like, the one thing it ain't is "leftist."
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf <<See, I just don't see this at all. Honestly, I think I'm a fairly clear-eyed viewer of American politics, and I think - at least from where they used to be - the Republicans are far right and the Democrats are moderate. I haven't seen anything "left" about the Democrats at all.>> Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. The right would say that Bush was too far in the center on many things but I doubt many on the left saw it that way. I stand pretty firm in the center and Bush was far too right-wing for my liking, which is why I voted for Obama. But Obama has taken things a bit too far to the left for my liking now so I think a shift in the other direction may be starting. But that's just my perspective... <<I mean, they just voted for an amendment to the healthcare bill that will make it next-to-impossible for a woman to get an abortion in this country unless she pays for 100% of it out of pocket. Now, on a personal level, you may like that or you may not. Call it whatever you like, the one thing it ain't is "leftist.">> That's a fair point - the abortion thing is a bit surprising. You could even add his continuation of the Middle East policies feel's a bit right-wing too. But the economy is the biggest issue right now and Obama's approach to fixing the problems has been very leftist so far. Not to mention the proposed massive spending increases and tax increases.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But Obama has taken things a bit too far to the left for my liking now*** Wow. For instance?
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But the economy is the biggest issue right now and Obama's approach to fixing the problems has been very leftist so far.*** Throwing money at the problem began with Bush, not Obama. I'm not sure I agree with it either, but to me it has become a truly bipartisan method and not a "left wing" thing anymore. ***Not to mention the proposed massive spending increases and tax increases.*** Some taxes are way too low in America today, I hope he increases them significantly. What proposed "massive spending" are we talking here? The only massive spending I've seen have been the wars (another bipartisan effort to say the least).
Originally Posted By ecdc >>But Obama has taken things a bit too far to the left for my liking now so I think a shift in the other direction may be starting. But that's just my perspective...<< I'm genuinely curious, what's he done that you think is too far left? I've already written about this at length on here lately, so forgive me if you've read it. But I consider myself a true liberal. I support social programs to benefit the poor, I oppose the death penalty (though I won't be shedding any tears of John Allen Muhammad today) I support legalization of marijuana, I support safe, legal access to abortions, I want much, MUCH stronger regulation of banks and corporations, I want us out of Iraq yesterday, I want the Biden plan for Afghanistan, I want stronger gun control, I want a single-payer healthcare system, etc., etc. Obama hasn't done a single thing those of us on the left want him to do. Mind, I don't really fault him for it. I see us as a center-right country and I think if Obama governed the way I want him to, 1) He'd never be elected to so much as President of the PTA, and 2) His own party would never go along with it. I've come to see Obama differently than I used to. He strikes me as truly a uniter and not a divider. At least he tries to be - the extreme right nutcases will never go along. But Obama seems all too willing to water-down his legislative goals in the name of compromise and bipartisanship. He just wants us all to get along. The man seems unflappable. I don't know if there's *anything* the far-right could do that would get him angry. I really admire him for that. I like him for it. But whether that makes him a great President or not...I don't know yet. Certainly he's better than the last guy. And compared to all Presidents since Johnson, he's probably tops in my book in some ways, though there's still time left on the clock.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf <<For instance?>> Well, health care for one. According to the House bill, my current health insurance plan would actually be illegal in 2013. It's absurd. <<Some taxes are way too low in America today, I hope he increases them significantly.>> I couldn't disagree more. <<What proposed "massive spending" are we talking here? The only massive spending I've seen have been the wars (another bipartisan effort to say the least).>> Um, healthcare? The government has never operated anything efficiently and we now expect them to magically operate healthcare more efficiently than the private sector? Not a chance. The price tag on that is way understated.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Um, healthcare? The government has never operated anything efficiently and we now expect them to magically operate healthcare more efficiently than the private sector? Not a chance. The price tag on that is way understated.<< But you're not arguing the same thing here. Government inefficiency doesn't equal "left."
