TheAgitator.com
Polishing the Onion
Wednesday, March 24th, 2004The Onion’s first post-9/11 issue was apparently seriously considered for a Pulitzer, but ultimately nixed because it was “too different” and “too risky.”
I’m with Neal Pollack, who wrote a while back that for the billions of words written about 9/11, that issue of The Onion will likely be among the few pieces of writing to survive the test of time.
It was brilliant, and put to bed the absurd notion (first uttered by CNN’s Jeff Greenfield, I believe) that with the 3,000+ souls it took that day, al-Qaeda also killed irony, and that it simply wasn’t permissible to laugh anymore.
The Pulitzer folks missed an opportunity.
Bold “prediction” by The Onion…Check the info graphic from the issue. One of the ironic plans it offers to make America safer is to outlaw gay marriage. (http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/infograph_3734.html)
Maybe The Onion has its finger on the pulse of the administration better then we had thought.
Never Forget
The first post 9/11 issue of The Onion was seriously considered for a Pulitzer. They should have done it. It…
I gave it a Special Achievement Award. I’m cooler than the Pulitzer Committee.
Radley, you are correct. Even at this remove, the Onion special issue stands out. The one about the woman baking a cake broke my heart. Still does.
The CNN style graphic - “Holy Fucking Shit!” - nailed it. “Hijackers suprised to find selves in Hell” - some of the best writting ever. Every item was pitch perfect. That issue was the first time I laughed in weeks. Pure genius.
I just re-read it. This issue was something different than the Onion’s usual satire or parody. The writers conveyed so much empathy and compassion for their audience. The issue was definitely funny, but reading it again, I remember how I felt in those days: “Holy Fucking Shit” and wondering what was next.
That’s unbelievable. I’ve said many times (to anyone who would listen) that The Onion deserved a Pulitzer for that issue - I’m amazed that it was actually considered. If anyone out there hasn’t read it…go read it NOW. And I agree, Radley - it will stand the test of time. My favorite is the piece about the woman who baked a cake because she didn’t know what else to do. It hit exactly the right tone of how - I think - many people felt.
That issue was brilliant, as was their treatment of the 2000 Election fiasco.
The cake story is required reading at my house.
It’s never read w/out a tear.
I remember reading that article and thinking how brilliant as well as funny it was. I just re-read it and laughed the same. It is one of the best humor pieces I have ever read.
Personally, I think my favorite from the “Holy Fucking Shit” issue of the Onion was the “God Angrily Clarifies ‘Don’t Kill’ Rule” article…
http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/god_clarifies_dont_kill.html
The Onion is usually pretty well done, and when I remember, I tend to check it out every Tuesday when it comes out… But the September 11th issue was definitely something special and unique. They found a way to capture with humor some of the things that all of us were thinking when this happened. It was definitely something that everyone needed at that time.
One other good piece from that article was the Point-Counterpoint piece about whether we should retaliate against Bin Laden with “blind rage” or with “measured, focused rage”…
The “Holy Fucking Shit” headline, and to a lesser extent the SNL with Guiliani, helped keep me relatively sane. The sidebar Onion headline “Pentagon Attacked (See page 23)” also helped put the magnitude of events in perspective.
I love it when God apologizes for confusing passages in religious books by saying “my bad”..Great stuff.
Nothing can really make you laugh through your crying quite like that issue.
Thanks Radley for reminding me.
Can someone provide a link to the woman baking cake article?
nevermind, got it
I will always remember the Onion’s coverage of 9/11 as one of the rare collections of work that had me in tears of despair and laughter at the same time. Reading those pages again, the pit in my stomach and the tears returned, but just as before, I was smiling through the pain.
It was just what I needed to make some sense of my despair. It was brilliance, plain and simple. What a shame the Pulitzer board was too fearful to acknowledge it.
I always assumed that those first issues of the Onion immediately post 9/11 were a sure sign that the jihadist terrorists of the world were doomed to crack up on the shoals of a free-wheeling society. Can’t you just imagine Osama reading that issue and thinking, “Jeez, what does it take to break the spirit of these people?” The issue that came out a few weeks later was equally priceless:
http://www.theonion.com/onion3745/bandaged_bin_laden.html
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