Friday, October 31, 2008

The Prescience of The Onion

Wonkette pointed out this article from "Our Dumb Century" -- which was published nine years ago.

However, this is not a new phenomenon. The Onion has been frighteningly prescient for a long time. Most famously, in January of 2001, they ran this article (Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity Is Finally Over.'): http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

This article originally appeared in March of 2002, over a year before we invaded Iraq (Military Promises 'Huge Numbers' for Gulf War II: The Vengeance): http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27905

And this item appeared in February of 2004, before the product-marketing trend of razorblade proliferation got completely out of hand (Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades): http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33930

Many of the Onion’s writers used to work for that advertising agency in Madison that created the amusing window signs for Badger Liquor. I believe that is the secret to their prescience. Nowadays, more and more corporations (and governments) turn over decision-making to their marketing departments, so it takes an ad-man (or ad-woman) to realize what’s coming next.
So, does that mean we can use The Onion as an oracle? Which one of this week's articles is most likely to come true in the next several years? My vote is this one (Bill Clinton Starts Own Presidential School): http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/bill_clinton_starts_own

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