Too PC? The Onion's "Our Dumb World" is not for the easily offended!

[Bicoastal]

I was GOING to post a rave review of the Onion's latest satirical masterpiece, and then SNL aired the now-infamous "Clinton Halloween party"...and now I hesitate. It must be say, this is not humor for the faint of heart.

No matter who you are or where you live, your state and/or country will be made fun of in this new "atlas." From the South (in Alabama--"Biscuits so moist you'll forget about State's racist legacy") to the Midwest (North Dakota is pronounced "Empty, " with the deathless line "North Dakota's largest city is Sioux Falls, South Dakota"), everyone gets in on the chin. Fortunately, you'll be too busy laughing at the other 49 states' treatment to mind much--I especially like the shot at arrogant Seattlites ("Washington--So Over This Whole 'Statehood' thing") and the fact that New Jersey's entry is just a string of profanity ("Located in you know where the fuck we are...")

But any lazy publication can spoof all 50 states--the Onion staff takes on the entire World with an arsenal of puns, hilarious drawings, and "authoritative" completely made-up facts. At the absolutely least, you have to respect such a task--after all, anyone can make a few jokes at the expense of easy nations like France and Australia, but it takes a great deal of imagination and courage to make fun of obscure countries like Maldova ("Europe's Basement") or nations constantly teetering on the edge of catastrophe, like Sudan ("Carmen Sandiego got raped here").

Is that last one offensive to you? You may want to skip the Middle East, which does not escape countless jokes about the Islamic world, some silly (In Saudi Arabia--"George W. Bush Presidential Library), and some not (Iran--"Women beaten for being naked under clothes"). But if it's any consolation, they don't go easy on Israel (1998--..."the Israel governmnent imposes a nationwide ban on all packages, cars, Palestinians, and sudden movements.") Do you have Teutonic ancestry? Tread lightly on their page, which mentions Hitler or Nazism wherever and whenever it seems funny; likewise, Thailand's entry is pretty disgusting, as the editors get more mileage out of Child prostitution jokes than you would have thought possible.

As a sometime armchair tourist, I personally love Geography. Many of the countries in this book are well known to me by their Wikipedia articles, and it pleases me to see that some (but not all) of these parodies are based on truth. Each entry has a surprisingly accurate-looking map, a facts sheet, a historical timeline, and a flag of said country, complete with analysis. (Sample--"The Tanzanian flag is a piece of shit. There, we said it.") Just don't look for anything particularly complimentary, except for North Korea's entry, which was seemingly corrolated directly from the DPRK department of propaganda. I for one, never realized that strong and glorious leader Kim Jong Il was quite so tanned and musclebound with his shirt off...

Anyway, I'm just curious to see how the DU crowd reacts to this brilliant and comprehensive parody atlas. After all, if hearing Hillary Clinton referred to as a "witch" gets your dander up...well, lets just say you might want to skip the entry on Poland. Or the Vatican City. Or South Africa. Or...

[Rick Myers]

1. We love the Onion!!!

I'm going to get 'Our Dumb World' for my wife!!!

[rAVES]

2. I want this book right now!!

[Didereaux]

3. Freepers & Touchy-Feelies don't like ONION...but I DO!.......n/t

[MoonRiver]

4. It's not PC to say PC!

Been there done that.

Get with the program! :D

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Sounds rather like the 1983 "Smith and Jones World Atlas"

(or "Smith and Jones World Atlas", as the cover says - a pun refering to the TV comedy series it was a spinoff from, "Alas Smith and Jones", itself a pun on "Alias Smith and Jones", if anyone remembers that).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=world%20atlas&rh=n%3A89%2Ck%3Aworld%20atlas&page=1

It had one country per page - so the Vatican City gets a map the map size as the USSR - one having enough detail to show the Vatican radio station, the other nothing between Moscow and Tashkent. It contained real facts, like languages and population, but better 'Tips for Tourists' - like "Lichtenstein: if you want some false teeth, drop into the factory as Schaan. They make them there for export to 100 countries". For the USA, with great foresight it says: "Be careful of the phone. Although there are 550 million calls every day, they are all monitored by a defence organisation called NSA which has a 2 million dollar budget a year" (I suspect that should have read 'billion', though - it's a bit Dr. Evil, otherwise). Also with great foresight, a significant amount of the text about the USA is taking the piss of stupid things American presidents have said.

[KG]

6. the Onion makes superlatives superfluous!

nobody is spared it's satirical golden bullets, which is why it is so great.

[tom_paine]

7. K & R for the Onion

[and-justice-for-all]

8. Love the Onion...nt

[rocktivity]

9. I don't blame you for being hesitant

I haven't forgotten the dustup that this pic caused:




:headbang:
rocknation

[Swamp Rat]

10. LOLOL!!!!!

"cold!" :rofl: