Republicans accuse Obama of using position as President to lead country - Page 1

[winston89]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 2:06pm

My brother was sending this article around. The subject of the email was " Doesn't this read like an Onion article?"

It turns out that this is an article from The New Yorker about how Republicans are annoyed that the president is well....being the president. I got a good laugh out of this and wanted to share it with others and wanted to see if you all though that it read like an onion article.

Hope you enjoy
Republicans accuse Obama of Using positon as President to lead Country

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 2:12pm

For the love of GOD! It's The Borowitz Report - it is a satire site much like The Onion. Read some of his other articles.

Posted: 1/17/13 at 2:17pm

The congressman quoted (Stockman R-Texas) yesterday announced Obama should be impeached for attempting to control guns. And two Sheriffs announced they would arrest anyone attempting to enforce federal gun laws. So it is hard to spot the satire.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 2:24pm

Which is why I pointed it out, Joe. Sometimes Borowitz makes up quotes, sometimes he doesn't. I love his work, but I don't want to see it taken as straight journalism - which is happening a lot, especially with this article.

[winston89]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 2:35pm

I spoke to my brother just now, and he is far from stupid ( no one makes Georgetown Law Review if you're dumb) and he admitted that after further review he realized that it was indeed satire but it didn't come across that way at first glance.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 2:47pm

Again my point. Maybe we should look into the things we read, rather than just taking them at face value, especially at first glance.

[winston89]

Posted: 1/17/13 at 5:26pm

Ghostlight,

The point that I was trying to make is that because Borowitz does seem to use a combo of actual quotes as well as fictional ones, it can be hard to figure out that he is satire. Specially if he is using a quote that one has seen elsewhere. This is different from the Onion, for example, which neve uses real quotes and therefor is hard to be misleading.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 1/18/13 at 1:28am

Yes, and this is why we shouldn't discourage critical thinking. It's hard, y'all!

I'll be done beating this dead horse after this, but (A). you're wrong about The Onion not ever using real quotes, not to mention many people have over the years taken their articles seriously, and (B). You're making my freakin' point again. Your brilliant brother thought it sounded like an Onion article, you thought it sounded like an Onion article, you're asking us if we think it sounds like an Onion article, but you both posted it as though it were the real deal.

Don't take everything you read as gospel. Read critically and with skepticism. Question and verify through other sources before reposting something that you found "off" to begin with.

How's the song go?

"Believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear..."

Updated On: 1/18/13 at 01:28 AM