me* after reading this headline:



/*not really me

"We're really, really sorry, but it's not our fault."

Yup, that's The Onion.

That headline is overflowing with awesome goodness.
I give you the coveted "gold plated win"

Why The Onion has to apologize for what they do? It's a fake news website, if anyone goes there believing the stories are true, don't deserve an internet.

Message for Capt. Rudy - your mom called, wants to know if you're dead.

PS: Call your mom more often.

How is this even mistaken for irony??

Wait, they use real pics for their fake news? What?

tfm_copycat: Why The Onion has to apologize for what they do? It's a fake news website, if anyone goes there believing the stories are true, don't deserve an internet.

While I generally agree with that, you can't really apply that to a 82 year old lady. It just sounds like an unfortunate mix-up.

The Onion Article (new window)

And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

nautimike: And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

Maybe fark was down.

Canadians, especially older ones, do tend to live in a humor-free zone.

/case in point: Lorne Michaels

nautimike: And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

I'm guessing it went something like this:

Old lady's younger neighbor: Hey, I saw your son on theonion.com today!

Old lady: Really? Let me get on the interwebs and see... Oh my God my angel is dead!!!

The_Religious_Left: nautimike: And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

Maybe fark was down.

She was laughed out of Fark for Trolling...

Forgot to say
her Name is Whoopty

I'm still waiting for them to apologize for not being funny.

Even at 82, I would have though that the article using a different name than her son, could have given her a clue.

I could see that she/he could have been curious to why his picture was used, but, to actually confuse something like this.

The first clue would probably be the fact that he was probably next to her, still breathing, or something like that.

_{/hoping that I don't get this easily confused one day.}

Sounds like Mom needs to grow up... what's that? you say she's already 82 but still as naive as that 12-year-old i took to prom? perhaps Mom should STFU and GTFO the internet

/matrix-style octogenarian recycling facility

From the article:

In earlier interviews, however, Capt. Lindia said colleagues who have heard about or seen the article, which was published Sept. 12, 2006, started calling him "dead man walking" whenever he entered a room.

that made me spit coffee.

Rev. Skarekroe: nautimike: And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

I'm guessing it went something like this:

Old lady's younger neighbor: Hey, I saw your son on theonion.com today!

Old lady: Really? Let me get on the interwebs and see... Oh my God my angel is dead!!!

Old lady (sobbing): and he's from Iowa!!!

Kind of makes the future of The Onion as it stands somewhat questionable.

Subby - RTFA.

Everyone else saying things like "I'm guessing it went something like this" - RTFA

His mother "failed to see the humour in the website's story".

He's pissed off because he thought his picture had only been taken for use in recruitment campaigns. The Onion are pissed off because they paid good money to buy a stock photo of a fireman to use in an article and it turns out the guy in the photo is pissed off.

That's it, in a nutshell.

Twats.

/Sorry, just had a couple of beers at lunchtime and have lost patience with humanity until it's time to go home and drink wine.

FTFA:

Castillo, who over the years had become a symbol of courage to countless individuals faced with their own deadly blazes, passed away early Sunday morning at a suburban home, surrounded by family members, neighbors, fellow firefighters, and raging, crackling flames.

Did she think that she just didn't get invited?

i wonder if the onion has a huge farking room full of blackboards with tally marks on it every time they pown someone into thinking their fake story is real

Mom "failed to see humor" in the Onion story.

Columnist implies that it "may have given the impression" the guy died.

Therefore, the mom feared that her son died.

In Des Moine, Iowa. Under an assumed name.

Inbredpoet: The_Religious_Left: nautimike: And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

Maybe fark was down.

She was laughed out of Fark for Trolling...

I was just thinking the other day. If my grandmother were to post on fark she'd be called a troll.

Like my father always said, apologies are for sissies.

Capt. Lindia told the CBC he signed a waiver at the time, but thought it was simply a form allowing the city to use his image.

Yup, cuz reading things before signing them is SO passe.

jmcfarl3: Sounds like Mom needs to grow up... what's that? you say she's already 82 but still as naive as that 12-year-old i took to prom? perhaps Mom should STFU and GTFO the internet

/matrix-style octogenarian recycling facility


You took a 12-year-old to prom?

/so did you get laid?

This reminds me of an old Doug Stanhope bit...

"Old people always tell you: 'When you've been around as long I have, then you can argue.' As soon as they're ripped off, it's a different story."

He puts on a mournful, imploring voice. "'They took advantage of me because I'm old. They called up and said I'd won a new Mercedes, and all I had to do was leave $8,000 in a locker at the bus station. I was sceptical at first, because I've been burned by this 11 or 12 times before.'"


/hilarious

People are stupid.

The one time that the Onion set a story in our little Eastern Iowa town (pop. ~3000), they ran the story in the local newspaper DIRECTLY UNDER a story headlines "Satirical newspaper "The Onion" bases story in Tipton, IA" and put a satire disclaimer directly before the article itself.

The Editor got two calls wanting to know 'who the hell the Sensenbrenners' were, and six calls asking for the recipie for 'war pie.'


Sad post-script: 2 kids I went to high school with have now been killed in Iraq. My graduating class only had 66.

sombreradoraloca: Kind of makes the future of The Onion as it stands somewhat questionable.

How so?

sendtodave: Mom "failed to see humor" in the Onion story.

Columnist implies that it "may have given the impression" the guy died. Therefore, the mom feared that her son died. In Des Moine, Iowa. Under an assumed name.

Even stranger is that she was reading the Onion, which is fairly clear in its satire, and all-of-a-sudden decided to believe this one, incongruous story. That being said, it was likely forwarded to her from a friend, and entire nations have missed that same point previously. Still lame, either way; the internet may not be the place for blue-haired Betty.

trapped-in-CH: I'm still waiting for them to apologize for not being funny.

Generally speaking, the Onion is a collection of funny headlines, which they take and draw out to obvious conclusions in the articles. I'm not sure why they even bother following up on the headlines - when's the last time you've seen someone quote something from within the story?

TheNintendoKid: The Editor got two calls wanting to know 'who the hell the Sensenbrenners' were, and six calls asking for the recipie for 'war pie.'

I saw that one coming from the opening of your post, but it was worth it. I can't say I blame them, though... people who post on here daily still get burned for missing giant chunks of important story elements. Folks calling newspapers, for their part, don't have the constant reminders to RTFA before spouting off.

Sorry about your classmates; so far the several servicemembers in my HS class (including me) have maintained a homecoming:deployment ratio of 1.

Number41: Generally speaking, the Onion is a collection of funny headlines, which they take and draw out to obvious conclusions in the articles. I'm not sure why they even bother following up on the headlines - when's the last time you've seen someone quote something from within the story?

Oh, I don't know. I've seen references to this one before...

Heh, bunch of laptop quarterbacks in here today.

The solution is simple: kill the firefighter.

The Onion MAKES news.

Inbredpoet: That headline is overflowing with awesome goodness.
I give you the coveted "gold plated win"

The headline must have changed after it was greenlit.

well people are stupid, but its nice to hear the onion apologized for the mixup even though it honestly wasn't their fault...

they could have easily told the old bat to 'fark off' and no one would have cared... but they took a high rode not often seen on the internet...

/can't get too mushy, though, they might soften up too much

sendtodave: Mom "failed to see humor" in the Onion story.

Columnist implies that it "may have given the impression" the guy died.

Therefore, the mom feared that her son died.

In Des Moine, Iowa. Under an assumed name.

Alzheimer's FTW.

When nothing makes sense anymore, suddenly anything can make sense. Especially if it triggers deep memory: family, home, childhood, soup-or-sex...

/better make it soup

Just because she "failed to see the humour" in the article does not mean that she took it seriously. I expect that many people's mothers would fail to see the humour in... well... most Onion articles. For the last couple of years I've failed to see the humour in the Onion. I know it's satire, but they ran out of funny 'round about 2000, picked up a bit with "HOLY SHIAT AMERICA UNDER ATTACK!", and then lost it again.

Nonetheless, the firefighter was a bit of a doofus for not reading the fine print when he signed his photo away.

Bagelox-99: , soup-or-sex...

/better make it soup

I'll take the Super-Sex, please

tfm_copycat: Why The Onion has to apologize for what they do? It's a fake news website, if anyone goes there believing the stories are true, don't deserve an internet.

I think they're doing it to be gentlemen about the whole matter. They've been thrusting into this situation by someone else's jackassery. Someone owes these people an apology, I commend The Onion for being super-grownup and doing for the shameless asshats.

Rev. Skarekroe: Old lady: Really? Let me get on the interwebs and see... Oh my God my angel is dead!!!

Yeah, even though the article is talking about some other guy who lives in Des Moines.

Bagelox-99: Canadians, especially older ones, do tend to live in a humor-free zone.

/case in point: Lorne Michaels
//John Candy (when still with us)
///Brent Butt (wait, maybe I like that show)
////John Candy (still not funny)

The_Religious_Left: Inbredpoet: The_Religious_Left: nautimike: And why was and 82 year old women even reading the Onion?

Maybe fark was down.

She was laughed out of Fark for Trolling...

I was just thinking the other day. If my grandmother were to post on fark she'd be called a troll.

Maybe not, I think it would depend on her pics in profile. Does she BIE?

I still think The Onion has some funny bits. This one made me laugh.

One of my greenlights from years past: Newspaper tells worried readers that just because they read something in The Onion doesn't mean it's true. "Apparently some in the country are less Internet savvy than others"

tuna fingers: Maybe not, I think it would depend on her pics in profile. Does she BIE?

Hell no. She has more self respect than that. If you want to see anything, you better have some beads.

SweetSilverBlues: Capt. Lindia told the CBC he signed a waiver at the time, but thought it was simply a form allowing the city to use his image.

Yup, cuz reading things before signing them is SO passe.

Exactly. So many people just see a line on the bottom of a form and put their sig on their as a reflex.