The Onion and Apologies

 

Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but The Onion is kind of a cunt, right?

For anyone who’s missed the controversy surrounding the satirical publication, it began over an Oscar-related tweet that called the nine-year-old star of Beasts of Southern Wild a cunt. Within an hour, the tweet was deleted, but by then of course millions of The Onion’s followers had already seen it, and many had retweeted it. People like Wendell Pierce and many others criticized the paper, and the next morning its CEO issued an apology for the tweet.

Now, I should say that I don’t think the joke was very good: It was crude and simple and basically relied on the shock value of calling a little girl the c-word, so I can see why many found it offensive. But I also think the ideas behind the joke—that Quvenzhané Wallis is so adorable and beloved BUT that Hollywood often turns quickly and cruelly on child stars—-are perfect subjects for The Onion’s brand of satire. The product wasn’t good, but the thought behind it was fine.

Monday Medley

What we read while pondering the benefits of open marriage…

• The Giants are going to the Super Bowl! Get ready to see this play a thousand times (which still isn’t enough).

• Etta James passed away at the age of 73. Though known primarily for her song “At Last”, she released an album last November. She was a prominent figure in the West Coast R&B scene, and if you are wondering what will.i.am or Hayley Williams thought about her, click here.

• So Wednesday’s Internet blackout, which included Wikipedia and a long list of other sites, in protest of the SOPA and PIPA bills was largely successful. Several lawmakers withdrew support and the bills have been put on hold. Nevertheless, Democrats remain committed to some version of the laws, and the MPAA is threatening lawmakers who oppose it, despite the benefits of online piracy. The government did go after Megaupload last week, shutting it down in an uncomfortably draconian manner. There is hardly an anti-copyright/intellectual property trend about it.

• A terrifying story about female infanticide. Though, on the plus side for women, Jay-Z is going to stop saying “bitch” in his songs!

• Andrew Sullivan wrote an impassioned defense of President Obama for The Daily Beast. It’s somewhat compelling, but many liberal critics are quick to point out Sullivan’s omissions, like an atrocious record on civil liberties.

• In other political news, Chuck Todd criticized Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC, while  Molly Ball wondered how serious Colbert is.

• A fascinating account of how Apple makes iPhones, and how it relates to American manufacturing.

• Bill James lists the 100 best pitchers’ duels of 2011.

• Dane Cook had a rough set last week…

• The Onion was catering to Josh’s interests this week, with articles on the Supreme Court and Miranda July.

• NPI-favorite John Mulaney will be doing a Comedy Central special next week and he accordingly gets a Big Profile.

Monday Medley

What we read while wondering if the winners of the Lingerie Bowl play the winners of the Puppy Bowl…

• Michael Weinreb explores the American bacchanalia that is the Super Bowl…

• Michael Kruse starts examining the constitutionality of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd’s sting operations, but doesn’t dive deeply enough into the crux of the issue for our tastes.

• Over in the movie world, Stephen Tobolowsky explained how Groundhog Day changed his life, while Tara Reid apparently announced plans for a nonexistent sequel to The Big Lebowski. The Writers Guild Awards happened (on two coasts!) and Kristen Schaal hosted the east coast version.

• Speaking of comedy, Dana Carvey was back hosting SNL. Also, old people don’t understand why David Brent is funny.

• Our favorite part of FOX’s NFL broadcasts–referee majordomo Mike Pereira–did an online chat with the Wall Street Journal, hinting at possible changes to the league’s challenge system.

• Chris Jones goes after Jason Whitlock! And Phil Simms goes after Desmond Howard!

• The Onion strikes again, this time on puppies. Man, we love the Puppy Bowl.

• Tyler Cowen enters the fray on the Chinese mother discussion. He also has a controversial new book out.

• We stumbled upon two websites that attempt to explain the endings of two notoriously impenetrable TV classics.

• Michael Lewis went to Ireland to figure out why the country’s going bankrupt.

Monday Medley

What we read on our $200 million-per-day Indian vacation…

• The titular mission of one of NPI’s favorite former blogs has finally been accomplished, as ESPN has decided not to bring Joe Morgan back to Sunday Night Baseball (Jon Miller’s gone too, but we’ll miss him). Morgan himself claimed he wasn’t surprised by the move. Deadspin’s Tommy Craggs reprinted a 2005 story he wrote for SF Weekly on Morgan. And, of course, Joe Posnanski offered his thoughts on the farewell.

• Rachel Maddow had an extensive (and interesting) interview with Jon Stewart.

• Could you have solved this Wheel of Fortune puzzle with only one letter? Chris Jones of Esquire explained how Caitlin Burke actually did.

• Why are Publius, Rick Reilly, and Bill Simmons discussed in the same article? Find out!

• How Slate has failed to keep up with the Internet. Meanwhile, Charlotte Magazine takes an in-depth look at the state of the Queen City’s newspaper, the Charlotte Observer.

• The Onion basically sums up all the problems with democracy that John S tried to explain in his long post. Meanwhile, the evidence that democracy doesn’t work keeps on mounting…

• We would try to avoid linking to something as super-specific to our (read: Tim and Josh’s) tastes as an analysis of divisive Mets’ managerial candidate Wally Backman, but Ted Berg’s starts with a David Foster Wallace epigram! As a counterpoint, a study on what we all know: Managers don’t mean much of anything. And, another statistical analysis on the importance of managerial experience.

• Not quite Caden Cotard. Paul DePodesta, now assistant GM for the Mets, explains why his character will not bear his name in the Moneyball movie.

• Manny Pacquiao, Boxing’s Great Hope for Continued Relevance, was dominant again on Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in beating Antonio Margarito. That reminded us of Andrew Corsello’s April profile of the Philippine for GQ.

Monday Medley

What we read while forgetting to vote:

• We would enjoy Jane Austen if she had written more about “foot-ball” or if Doonesbury were more appropriately referred to as the “Fiefdom of Metonymy.” And we also wonder what issues arise for a male author with the unfortunate last name of Paglia these days.

• We’ve made a little habit of writing defenses of things that were pretty popular to begin with (the designated hitter, grammar, Brüno, and of course, Barenaked Ladies, just to name a few). That’s why we’re a little upset two things we would defend on our site were covered by other ones. First, Slate explains why jaywalking gets a bad rap; second, Dissent Magazine gives its defense (from last summer) of the more or less irreproachable television series, The Wire. No dissent from us on that one.

• Our alternate video of the week is one sure to please both Yankee fans and haters alike.

• Now that Halloween’s over, it’s high time you start thinking about Christmas. Especially since these E-meters don’t last long.

• We’ve already linked to The Onion‘s absurdist lampooning of the Jaguars from Week 1 last year, but the Jags (and their fans) are the focus of another scathing analysis from The Onion this week. But don’t worry: Those boos could have (should have?) been louder.

• Sign you’ve lost credibility as a network: Sesame Street mocks you, and doesn’t even try to be subtle about it.

Monday Medley

What we read while getting nostalgic about driving the New York State Thruway in the Summer of ’69:

• Two months ago, John S wrote about the unclear future of television; this week, Slate did the same thing. WITH NO HAT TIP! All we want is an apology, our 75 cents back, and for Seth Stevenson to be fired! (We’re also excited for Slate to continue to be two months behind our intrepid reporting: in October, a careful pondering of the legacy of Funky Winkerbean.)

• We’ve already talked about our fascination with Brewers’ utility infielder Craig Counsell (if parenthetically); apparently, we’re not alone.

• The Economist discusses the rise of home-schooling in America and what that says about the citizenry and the school system. If you hadn’t noticed, we’ve had a few things to say about “Education” ourselves (and by “we,” we mean “Josh”).

• We basically should just tell you to read the New York Times Magazine each week, but when Political Science gets a feature-length article, it merits additional mention: Check out this article chronicling Political Science Professor Bruce Bueno de Mesquita’s impressive modeling to predict Iranian nuclear behavior, among other interesting tidbits.

• Want to know why to you have to shut-off your iPod during take-off? If you’ve ever flown on a plane before, you should find this series of interviews by the Freakonomics blog with an anonymous commercial pilot quite interesting.

• We’ve previously mentioned the NPI-consensus best announcing trio in baseball, but our feelings about this recent Neil Best subject are, shall we say, more nuanced. Yankee fans have a much more intricate relationship with broadcasters, sometimes involving/requiring alcohol.

• You may have noticed by now that two of NPI’s favorite things are rankings and literature. Rankings of literature, then, are a rare and precious thing, like this list of the 100 greatest writers of all time. So we can forgive a few egregious mistakes, like Faulkner at #1 and Shakespeare at #3.