She Said, He Said: Satirical News

The following is the ninth entry in “She Said, He Said,” a new series of articles seeking to compare and contrast the various views, political, social or otherwise, of Millennials in today’s world. Elizabeth Lane is a 2016 Carson-Newman University graduate with a BA in Creative Writing, and has worked at the Jefferson County Post as a journalist and feature writer since shortly before her graduation. Jake Depew is a 2014 Carson-Newman University graduate with a BS in Philosophy. He is the assistant editor and a columnist for the Jefferson County Post, and is the Editor for the Gatlinburg Daily Post.

This article’s question: “Satirical news sites have become extremely popular. What is your opinion on a news site that exists solely as satire?“

Elizabeth Lane

She Said…

There’s a lot of news and facts being thrown at us nowadays, and the whole thing is frankly more than a bit overwhelming. Somehow, we are expected to take it all in, process, and maybe have some sort of opinion formed before our break at the water cooler or next possibly-controversial family gathering.

What about the news making fun of the news? You know, those sites that poke fun at all that is going on in the world and decide to put their own humorous twist on it? Almost like what SNL and the late night comics do all the time. I can’t say that I, myself, have been on too many satirical sites, but I will say that there are some that are held in higher regard over others in the opinion of millennials like me.

The general favorite site is, of course, The Onion. Here you can find anything, from the hot button topics of the day, to whatever President Trump has decided to blame or accept for that particular week. Now I know that some people might say that if we are trying to find the real truth about things, why would we go on sites like The Onion and look around. Isn’t that ultimately going to end up hurting and skewing our opinions, rather than setting them right?

I would say that, yes, we should not completely base opinions on what we read on sites like this. However, I will say that sites like this keep us in check. No matter what our views might be, we stop, take a look, and laugh at ourselves and our, most of the time ridiculous, notion that we have the world around us figured out.

We really don’t, plain and simple. I have expressed several times in my writing here that I believe people should be informed, but should also take the time to research most of the stuff put out by media organizations before running off with an opinion. The Onion allows us to take our opinions and not be so hard on ourselves or others, and we need that nowadays. Satire is meant to inform and entertain. Why not enjoy both?

That being said, do not take satirical sites like Buzzfeed for gospel. They are usually just trying to get a rise out of the hungry masses with most of their posts and advertisements. If you want something that will in the end be good for you and your political and social sense of mind, do not go looking there. If you want to know what flavor of pizza that you are or what emoji describes your love life, go looking there.

In the end, I will say this. Sites like these, and so many more, can be easily found on the internet. You will not know which ones you like or which ones you don’t if you don’t get out there and engage with them. Test the water and see what other people are talking about, as well as what the sites themselves are talking about. It might just lead to a better view of the world and a notion to take life a little less seriously. Just this once.

Jake Depew

He Said…

We live in a strange time. I can only imagine our ancestors would have loved (if they could even imagine) a near-constant stream of world info being in their pocket. They could look up the weather forecast to better take care of crops. They could check their GPS so they never get lost on the way to the port cities. The ones that survive the plague could stalk each other’s social media pages because that little Capulet girl is showing her ankles at the beach again and I just don’t think she’s right for our son, Montague.

But who knows? Maybe they’ll spend their time arguing in political forums with sixteen-year-olds who lied about their age and made an account. That’s what we seem to do, after all. We are bombarded with every political update, opinion, quip, quote, blunder, and meme, often within seconds of its creation. I have always said that you need to take your news from all sources, but what about those satirical sites like The Onion? How do we regard those?

There’s a fair number of people who dislike the entire concept of satirical news sources. With so many sources of information making themselves obnoxiously known to us, it can even be easy to take a piece of satire and run with it as fact. This can lead to some embarrassing family gatherings, kind of like when grandma got you that cool new Nintendude 64 (made in China) you wanted for Christmas last year. As far as the “confusion,” issue goes, things like the National Enquirer have existed since before World War II. I’m pretty sure we can all learn which sites to trust, if we put our minds to it.

I’m actually a big fan of satirical news. It can be a fun way to read the political mood at the moment, and sometimes it serves as a hilarious remind of how stupid our politics can be. I think Millennials are particularly fond of these sites because the show, in a roundabout way, how absurd some public statements or stigmas can be. These sites parody everything from the president to fashion, so there’s almost guaranteed to be an article that will make you laugh. We could all use more reasons to laugh, don’t you think? Comedians have, historically, brought people of all backgrounds and political stances together to laugh at the system at large. Comedy is funniest when it is true, or is presented in a way that mirrors real-life fervor. George Carlin knew it. Lewis Black knows it. The Onion knows it. These groups are comedians for the internet age.

Ultimately, I think most big satire sites are doing everything right. Many of these sites are, disturbingly, more bipartisan than our mainstream news outlets (not Buzzfeed). If anything, I think twisted syndicates like Fox and CNN should emulate the satirical news sources. At least Fox is up front with their bias, as much as they make me cringe at their concept of “fact checking.” If you’re going to sell me volcano insurance, then have the common decency to wear a tweed suit and give me a Rodney Dangerfield impression.