General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Watching the last few minutes of Chris Hayes and trying not to vomit. [View all]Hortensis
(58,785 posts)long ago. Good humor illuminates truth, but theirs is almost always extremely dishonest. People think they're supposed to give libel a pass because it's funny, as if humor makes up for character assassination and badly misleading people about who public figures are.
The video reminded me of a piece I read some time ago about an Onion writer of 19 years, so I went looking for it. He regretted creating the bumbling, vulgar Uncle Joe character -- but notably not because it was a very wrong thing to do or because he failed to depict a real person.
As he explained, they created a character who'd be "the sort of guy whod wink and say, Dont let your meat loaf! as a farewell" and would wash his trash-filledTrans Am shirtless in the White House driveway. Now, since Biden's running for president, he "regrets not taking him more seriously" and creating a very different, more sinister character. Gee, yeah, I'm sorry you missed that opportunity to depict him as a child molester also.
But he doesn't regret the scummy way he made a living for years, and it's obviously never occurred to him that the way his own mind twists might make him incapable of understanding and accurately depicting people of very different character from his. Even if he was interested in trying.