What does a humor publication do when tragedy hits?
'U.S. Vows to Defeat Whoever It Is We're at War With.'
'Massive Attack on Pentagon Page 14 News.'
'Report: Generation X Irony, Cynicism May Be Permanently Obsolete.'
The Onion, the online and paper publication that ironically bills itself as 'America's Finest News Source,' returns today. Last week, following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the highly regarded source of humor posted only old stories.
'Our reaction wasn't 'Let's sit down and start cranking out some jokes,'' said editor Robert Siegel, who arrived in January from Wisconsin with his staff, partly to start a New York paper edition. That was to have debuted by now, but is being put off until next month.
'Most of us were walking around in a daze, like everyone else' immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, Siegel said. 'We smelled smoke. We saw ambulances.'
On Sept. 17, however, the staff met to plan this week's issue, and decided they had to address the issue'not the deaths but 'peripheral things,' such as how the event has 'changed people's attitudes about the government,' he said.
'We parody current events. It would look pretty ridiculous if we discussed shark attacks, Gary Condit and Britney Spears. ... It's difficult to make jokes about this right now, though we're doing it.'
