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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums8 INSANELY CUTE Child Soldiers
http://www.theonion.com/articles/slideshow-8-insanely-cute-child-soldiers,31003/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:headline:default#slide-5The Onion hits another one out of the park.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)nick of time
(651 posts)to fight in their civil war.
Disgusting.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)That often times they've watched their families and communities murdered by thugs. You do know that the only choice they are given is fight or die?
Arctic Dave
(13,812 posts)It's a spoof.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)sorry, maybe others will get a huge laugh but I did not find it funny.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Articles like that are supposed to make you uncomfortable.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)maybe it's over my head, but I don't get it. The plight of child soldiers is tragic so could someone explain to me what exactly the message was supposed to be?
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)A lot of what the Onion does is straight-up satirical humor, but in the last year or so they've gotten angrier about some things as well. Every few weeks they'll bust out something like this with the intent of shocking people out of their comfort zone by reminding them of something a lot of us would rather pretend wasn't going on, or being really in-your-face about a problematic attitude or something similar that people like to euphemize.
Put another way, a lot of people are likely to just have their eyes slide over a news article about child soldiers without actually noticing much about it - in part because those articles are often pretty sanitized, unlike, say, the picture the OP included in the article. Something like that in the Onion gets noticed much more starkly - as happened in your case - and that makes the problem mentally just a bit harder to ignore.
You can tell what issues really get people at the Onion genuinely angry, as opposed to the more normal "oh, hey, satire fodder!" reaction, because they channel it into stuff like this or something similarly rain-of-anvils subtle.
A local political cartoonist whose work I follow (Bruce Mackinnon - I'd recommend him to anyone, though probably half his work is very local-relevant) has been working the same way most of his career; he'll do a steady stream of funny, sometimes cutting, sometimes downright venomous political toons around the usual jokes and satire of the field. If something comes along that makes him genuinely angry, he cuts loose in a different style, no attempts at humor (or if it's there it's the very bleakest kind), and the results stick in peoples' heads for days.
I see something very similar in more of the Onion's articles lately.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)Contrary to some posters opinion of what I posted to the OP, I was not being disingenuous or mean when I asked if they were aware of the plight of child soldiers. I think many people are not aware that these kids are torn from their families and communities and forced to fight by the thugs that recruit/capture them.
Some of the captions under the photos led me to believe that the article was portraying these children as eager to kill and I found that a poor attempt at humor.
There is nothing funny about the exploitation of human beings, especially children who are forced to kill against their wills.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)Vietnamese Baby Book back in the '70s, "a vividly anti-war parody of the familiar 'baby book' diary, in which the unfortunate parents fill in items such as 'baby's first shrapnel.'"
http://www.marksverylarge.com/people/mod.html
Or this famous cover after the My Lai massacre:
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)The contrast between the captions and the pictures is about as jarring as you can get working in that sort of medium. The Onion's usually about turning things on their head a little anyway; stuff like that certainly takes it a few steps further than their usual content.
When they go in that direction that harshly, it's usually something they're very aware of, and something they're upset that other people aren't very aware of.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)because others aren't aware of how such an atrocity comes about. These children don't just go and join up with for fun and games or because they want to kill. IMO, the captions in the slide show that The Onion posted doesn't reflect the reality of a child solders plight, and someone who isn't aware of that might get the impression that the article implies that this is something the children want to do. I didn't find it humorous satirically or any other way and I really don't get what the Onion was trying to say.
I wasn't criticizing the OP as some here who read my post seem to think and am honestly taken aback at some of their responses to me for asking someone to explain what the Onion was trying to say. I also think it is ironic that those who accuse me of being critical are so critical of what I post to the point of being downright rude.
So I want to take a moment and thank you for giving me an honest answer.
Thank you
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)If you don't like it you can go back to that head-buried-in-sand thing. No need to be nasty to the OP.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)I said I did not find the slide show funny. I was told I was missing the point. Asking if the OP is aware of the plight or asking someone to explain to me how this satire is humorous is not being nasty to the OP.
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)....chances are probably very good to excellent you'll never understand what they're trying to say.
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)Because I don't understand what they are trying to say. But I find myself beginning to wonder if anyone else understands it either because only one person here has made the attempt to explain what it is the Onion was trying to say.
So are you telling me that you get it but can not explain it, or are you telling me that you don't get it either?
OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)....to you the intent of The Onion by publishing this article and you're still not grasping the basic concept. It's not our fault that you seem completely incapable of understanding satire. If you don't understand the meaning of the word "satire", look it up.
My advice to you at this point is to contact The Onion directly and discuss this issue with the author instead of continuing to play the "righteous indignation" game in this thread.
obamanut2012
(26,080 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)because you are right. I am missing it.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Step Two: Remove from butt
notadmblnd
(23,720 posts)Really?
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Really.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Wandered around with them for a while til he met up with his older brother and they both walked to Costa Rica where he can't leave cause he has no papers.
He didn't even know what "side" the guys were from that took him, either.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)I was afraid at first to click on this!
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Their last year or so has been pretty impressive.
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)They portray combat troops as 'Rambo'--having not a clue about what that costs us--deserved or not.
As a combat vet, seeing children sent to war just breaks my heart.
derby378
(30,252 posts)He's written a book about his ordeal called A Long Way Gone. I've heard him speak before, but I need to get his book.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7519542
Brigid
(17,621 posts)I need to read his book.
Alameda
(1,895 posts).....he was only 14 years old, during WW l he was sent to do trench warfare. He came out with a sever case of "shell shock", from which he never recovered. He was gassed and suffered from the chemicals he was subjected to. Needless to say, he died young.
I look at his photo in uniform, a baby face.....so sad.
sarisataka
(18,663 posts)but child soldiers are no joke. It is estimated in 2007 that there were 200,000 to 300,000 children under the age of fifteen who were fighting as active combatants in wars.
Groups who use young children find them to be among their most effective troops. Opposing forces often hesitate to fire back at children and given the psychological development, the children cannot grasp their own mortality so are among the most fearless on the battle field. They are also known to be the most ruthless not stopping until every opponent is dead.
I see no humor in these photos, just some of the lowest depravity of the human race.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)The trauma is overwhelnming for adults.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Perhaps if it were more direct in its satire, but otherwise, it's just kind of making light of the subject.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)some would cheer their bloodthirsty desires as patriotic and invite them to join our armed services so they can travel the world and kill people who are not like them.
They may have meant for us to point at and "laugh" but instead it is just another fun house mirror,