Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the eat-that-suckers dept.
mattsucks writes "Reuters is reporting a story about the Beijing Evening News. Apparently, they too believe that everything they read on the internet is true, republishing a story from The Onion. Or at least one of their freelance writers believes it...." This is absolutely great.
I'd actually like to see someone take the Onion's kids explanation [theonion.com] of why the Sept. terrorist attacks happened seriously.
Good point. This is actually a very serious introduction to some of the key points of modern Islamic fundamentalism. When I first read it I went looked up Qutb. No other major media outlet that I know of has bothered to give people the starting point to actually find out how and why bin Laden came to be.
Ignore The Onion at your peril.
-- A well-crafted lie appears unquestionable - Dama Mahaleo
I'd actually like to see someone take the Onion's kids explanation of why the Sept. terrorist attacks happened seriously.
For anyone who hasn't seen it, the article "Talking To Your Child About the WTC Attack" is online. In fact, their entire "Holy Fucking Shit: America Under Attack" It's the single most brilliant issue of the Onion ever. It captured the fear, the uncertainly, the random lashing out. It reflected America in a way that no other news source had done. It managed to be respectful and sad, yet very funny. It was exactly what America needed.
Slashdot has done this before as well
by
GoatPigSheep
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
More than once Slashdot has published stories from questionable sources which turned out to be completely false. Although it's inevitable for any site that uses reader submitions to sometimes publish hoax stories as it's hard to read every submition that is sent. However I've read many stories in newspapers here (not in china) that came from sources about as or less credible than the onion. China is relatively new to the internet so I suppose they haven't figured out which sites are the joke ones yet.
I guesse we could say: Beijing Newspaper. YHBT. YHL. HAND.
-- GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
Re:Slashdot has done this before as well
by
Rogerborg
·
· Score: 5, Funny
More than once Slashdot has published stories from questionable sources which turned out to be completely false
Yeah, but this is completely different! The Beijing evening news is a for-profit publication with a staff of paid professional editors, whereas Slashdot is... no, wait... what was I saying again?
-- If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Re:Slashdot has done this before as well
by
liquidsin
·
· Score: 5, Funny
No, no, you were right...this IS completely different. As you said, the Beijing news is run by professional editors...
-- do not read this line twice.
Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. The Onion.
by
An+Onerous+Coward
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I remember a hilarious letter to Readers Digest, complaining that they shouldn't be giving any publicity to avowed Satanist J.K. Rowling. The woman's source for her numerous quotes? You guessed it. She gave the URL of the story to anyone looking for further information.
The staff of Readers Digest was kind enough to point out the woman's error.
--
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Not only is it funny, but also deeply insightful, even for an atheist like me.
-- Reality has a liberal bias
Onion founder's former comments on the issue
by
afflatus_com
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
The founder of the Onion was on Jay Leno a while back and discussed the problem at length.
He said that the biggest problem was email forwards from people who consider it a news release, and in the email there is not the rest of the onion's site for context, so people don't know it is a parody.
He said the 2 that generated the most amount of letters from concerned citizens, up to that point in time, was "Chinese woman gives birth to septuplets, doesn't know which one to keep" and "New York to install infant-only dumpsters".
--
----- Cast a Cold Eye On Life, on Death Horseman, pass by --W.B. Yeats' gravestone
Holy Fucking Shit
by
Bonker
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
As you read through it, you can just see the raw emotions in every article in that issue - it reminds me every day I look at it what that day was like.
The Holy Fucking Shit edition of The Onion was one of the finest pieces of literature serious or satirical published about the September 11 bombings. Before the HFS edition, I merely thought The Onion was funny. Afterwards, I respected The Onion.
In the middle of all the hysteria, screaming panic, and horror, The Onion *dared* to go in and examine the ridiculousness of not only what had happened but what was happening because of it.
Good work guys!
-- The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
I'm surprised no one has pointed out how ironic this story is on/.
We're reading a story on a niche news site about a story on a popular news site about a story in a major newspaper (albeit in China) taken from a site that lampoons the news.
-- My Blog: http://nic.dreamhost.com/
If you think the Chinese are gullible, the US is..
by
Easy2RememberNick
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Well if you think the Chinese are gullible then you should watch "Talking With Americans" by Rick Mercer. Rick is a Canadian comedian who interviews Americans in the US posing as a Canadian journalist (which is he is). He interviews regular people, politicians, anyone. He'll stun them with facts like we just got indoor plumbing, paved roads, tv, the 24 hour clock...lmao and the people believe it! It's so stupid how could anyone believe it!!!
Re:Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. The Onion.
by
The+Mayor
·
· Score: 4, Informative
The British are responsible for naming it "soccer". Aparantly, in the 1800s, many games were known as "football"--it referred to almost any sport played with a ball and two teams. The Football Association decided to codify the rules of what Americans call "soccer". Through a twist of abbreviations and name changes, the name got translated into "soccer" (the "soc" was from the word "association", and I guess "soccer" was easier to say than "the Football Association Football". To this day, you'll still find "soccer" stores (using that name) in the United Kingdom.
In case you hadn't noticed, rugby is actually a shortened name for Rugby Football. Football refers to lots of sports. The word "soccer" comes from the UK (I heard this on a BBC program about the sport). The US retained the name to prevent confusion from the other sport Americans played known as "football". Meanwhile, the rest of the world changed the other "football" sports to "rugby" (or any of a number of other names--the name really referred to hundreds of sports in the 1800s).
Since the UK invented football/soccer, and then codified its rules and named it "soccer", then the Americans can claim to be correct in calling it "soccer".
Here's a link to the origins of football/soccer. I can't find a reference as to when the name was assigned. You'll have to take my word on it (or do your own research). But the name definitely did not originate in the U.S.
-- --Be human.
Word Choice for Title!
by
ArcadeNut
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Not to be picky here, but they were not "SPOOFED" by The Onion, they were "DUPED".
If they were Spoofed then you would have seen an article on The Onion about Beijing and not an article about some news station in Beijing using a story on The Onion.
-- Visit the Arcade Restoration Workshop @ http://www.arcaderestoration.com
Slashdot Mirror
At least they weren't fooled by stories like "This Just In: Bill Gates Buys Evil From Satan" or "Death Star Opens Day Care Center."
I can imagine them running through the streets of Beijing saying "Look at the size of that thing!" and "That's no moon!"
"Chances of RHIC-induced Armageddon are exceedingly rare, but... you never know." - MIT Physicist Bob Jaffe
I'd actually like to see someone take the Onion's kids explanation of why the Sept. terrorist attacks happened seriously.
One of these days/I'm going to cut you into little pieces.
Mr T to pity fool. Don.
Slashdot - The Home of the Tortured Analogy
In my high school...
Teacher: Gambit, you didn't write this!
Gambit: uh, well...
Teacher: You COPIED this, didn't you?
Gambit: Well, maybe a little...
Teacher: That's PLAGIARISM! Where do you think you're going to end up if you just copy other people's article??
Gambit: Hopefully on Slashdot?
Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her
CowboyNeal, Q.E.D. 20%
a^2+b^2=c^2 17%
algore 0.41%
(source:slashdot.org)
More than once Slashdot has published stories from questionable sources which turned out to be completely false. Although it's inevitable for any site that uses reader submitions to sometimes publish hoax stories as it's hard to read every submition that is sent. However I've read many stories in newspapers here (not in china) that came from sources about as or less credible than the onion. China is relatively new to the internet so I suppose they haven't figured out which sites are the joke ones yet.
I guesse we could say: Beijing Newspaper. YHBT. YHL. HAND.
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
I remember a hilarious letter to Readers Digest, complaining that they shouldn't be giving any publicity to avowed Satanist J.K. Rowling. The woman's source for her numerous quotes? You guessed it. She gave the URL of the story to anyone looking for further information.
The staff of Readers Digest was kind enough to point out the woman's error.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
After all, the poll was about the most popular mathematical al-gore-rithm.
--
If you moderate this, then your children will be next.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/god_clarifies_do nt_kill.html
Not only is it funny, but also deeply insightful, even for an atheist like me.
Reality has a liberal bias
The founder of the Onion was on Jay Leno a while back and discussed the problem at length.
He said that the biggest problem was email forwards from people who consider it a news release, and in the email there is not the rest of the onion's site for context, so people don't know it is a parody.
He said the 2 that generated the most amount of letters from concerned citizens, up to that point in time, was "Chinese woman gives birth to septuplets, doesn't know which one to keep" and "New York to install infant-only dumpsters".
-----
Cast a Cold Eye
On Life, on Death
Horseman, pass by
--W.B. Yeats' gravestone
As you read through it, you can just see the raw emotions in every article in that issue - it reminds me every day I look at it what that day was like.
The Holy Fucking Shit edition of The Onion was one of the finest pieces of literature serious or satirical published about the September 11 bombings. Before the HFS edition, I merely thought The Onion was funny. Afterwards, I respected The Onion.
In the middle of all the hysteria, screaming panic, and horror, The Onion *dared* to go in and examine the ridiculousness of not only what had happened but what was happening because of it.
Good work guys!
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
I'm surprised no one has pointed out how ironic this story is on /.
We're reading a story on a niche news site about a story on a popular news site about a story in a major newspaper (albeit in China) taken from a site that lampoons the news.
My Blog: http://nic.dreamhost.com/
Well if you think the Chinese are gullible then you should watch "Talking With Americans" by Rick Mercer. Rick is a Canadian comedian who interviews Americans in the US posing as a Canadian journalist (which is he is). He interviews regular people, politicians, anyone. He'll stun them with facts like we just got indoor plumbing, paved roads, tv, the 24 hour clock...lmao and the people believe it! It's so stupid how could anyone believe it!!!
here
and here
The British are responsible for naming it "soccer". Aparantly, in the 1800s, many games were known as "football"--it referred to almost any sport played with a ball and two teams. The Football Association decided to codify the rules of what Americans call "soccer". Through a twist of abbreviations and name changes, the name got translated into "soccer" (the "soc" was from the word "association", and I guess "soccer" was easier to say than "the Football Association Football". To this day, you'll still find "soccer" stores (using that name) in the United Kingdom.
In case you hadn't noticed, rugby is actually a shortened name for Rugby Football. Football refers to lots of sports. The word "soccer" comes from the UK (I heard this on a BBC program about the sport). The US retained the name to prevent confusion from the other sport Americans played known as "football". Meanwhile, the rest of the world changed the other "football" sports to "rugby" (or any of a number of other names--the name really referred to hundreds of sports in the 1800s).
Since the UK invented football/soccer, and then codified its rules and named it "soccer", then the Americans can claim to be correct in calling it "soccer".
Here's a link to the origins of football/soccer. I can't find a reference as to when the name was assigned. You'll have to take my word on it (or do your own research). But the name definitely did not originate in the U.S.
--Be human.
If they were Spoofed then you would have seen an article on The Onion about Beijing and not an article about some news station in Beijing using a story on The Onion.
Visit the Arcade Restoration Workshop @ http://www.arcaderestoration.com