Monday, October 19, 2009

The rich care... oh, no, wait they don't


In some ways, certain angles on stories slam home a point much harder than others. To this do I salute the Onion for another job well done. We may be all too familiar with the hard news reports on the economic crisis and accountants holding “The end is Nigh” signs in offices, but The Onion, through its biting satirical view opens a new window.

French and German governments have recently announced that they will be out of the recession by the end of the year. Fantastic, but what about reforms? What about controlling corporations and lessening the social gap that was promised? “What about it?” says The Onion. While we think that the examples of eating gold truffles and beluga caviar are a bit farfetched, it strategically slaps us in the face too, saying, “Get real kid, the rich only care for themselves.” Nothing will really change, dear optimists and after the laughter has subsided, of which there is a lot, we find that the heightened instances of gross spending are not too far from the truth.

So beware those who hastily damn The Onion. Newspapers like this reach us through the funnybone and leave you with profound thoughts. The recession has become a dead-beat term, trampled into meaninglessness by a tsunami of articles. What better way to reinforce a message than through satire?

By breaking conventions and the standard reports, The Onion reminds us all that meaning can be found in humour and that the rich will always be the rich- for now anyway.

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