Embedded in America: The Onion Complete News Archives Volume 16 (Onion Ad Nauseam)
FromSaturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" toThe Daily Show, Americans have a hunger for fake news. Moralists might say it's laziness, claiming fans would rather laugh than learn, but there may be another reason: when the real news is preposterous, it helps to know we're not alone in our incredulity. TheOnion, a free weekly newspaper in some cities and a Web site everywhere, bills itself as "America's Finest News Source," and although the stories are either complete fabrications or inventive riffs on real events, the headlines have a way of getting at the truth of situations in ways no legitimate news source can: "Iraqis Arming Selves for Independence," "Gay Couple Feels Pressured to Marry," "OutKast Universally Accepted," "Nation's Liberals Suffering from Outrage Fatigue," "Day Job Officially Becomes Job." The jokes can grow stale by the stories'ends, but, like real news, you don't need to read the end to get the gist. This compendium includes fake news from October 2003 through November 2004 but doesn't include theOnion's fine--and fact-based--A.V. Club arts section.Keir GraffCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved