Reply #24: Texas Supreme Court quoted Onion is case on satire [View All]

[Gothmog]

The Texas Supreme Court quoted the onion in a case dealing with satire. See http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/historical/2004/sep/030019.htm Here is the footnote:
For example, earlier this year, the Beijing Evening News, in a story written by Huang Ke, reported that Congress was threatening to bolt Washington, D.C. unless it got a new, modern Capitol building, complete with retractable roof. Daniel Terdiman, Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11, Wired, April 14, 2004, at http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,63048,00.html (last visited Sept. 1, 2004 and available in Clerk of Court=s file). Unfortunately, Ke's source for this information was The Onion, the satirical publication that bills itself as America's Finest News Source. Id. The Evening News later apologized but blamed The Onion, writing that some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them with the aim of making money. Id. (quoting Beijing Evening News). According to Carol Kolb, Onion editor, People every single day think The Onion stories are real. Id. One piece, called Al-Qaida Allegedly Engaging in Telemarketing, prompted the Branch County, Michigan sheriff=s department to issue an urgent press release warning of the purported practice. Id. In a similar vein, an article entitled Chinese Woman Gives Birth to Septuplets: Has One Week to Choose provoked prayer vigils on behalf of the six babies who would be rejected. Id. Additionally, Deborah Norville reported on MSNBC that more than half of all exercise done in the United States happens in TV infomercials for workout machines, a statistic obtained from an Onion article. Id.