Friend and former colleague Ryan Walton stops by to talk with Tom about several topics (after a few self-congratulatory minutes of back-patting over fantasy football dominance). Subjects of discussion included some reflection on the 2012 election, the current state of politics and compromise in the United States, the extra-presidential duties that the Commander in Chief must fulfill in today’s climate, and Michael Jordan’s intensely competitive nature, as well as his place in NBA history.
Take a listen below!
Download: The Axis of Ego Podcast 02-26-13
We’d get a disposable opinion piece once in a while, and the odd publication here or there would announce with a modest dash of self-congratulation that it would henceforth refuse to use the team nickname in its NFL coverage. Generally, this was the sports equivalent of the intermittent, scary “summer of the shark attack” story: A few people would get riled up, we would worry about it and discuss it for a few weeks, but all was forgotten quickly enough, and the story would be revived a few years later and proceed through the same cycle.
That is, if the last three episodes of The Office are any indication.
I’m not going to pretend that The Office and Archer don’t face an uphill battle tonight.
Reading some cultural tea leaves of late has led me to wonder whether a pillar of American teenage life—high school athletics—will still exist 20 or 30 years from now. With participation levels among high school athletes higher than ever, that may seem like a remote possibility.
Tick-tock. 30 Rock and The Office are close to wrapping for good, and, with them, so is SitCombat. Both seem to be going out in style, as they produced high-quality episodes last week.
Rather than irradiate my readers with my old-fashioned but salient worldview, however, I’ve decided to write about a professional wrestling show.
The Axis of Ego 
About That Onion Tweet
I hadn’t planned on writing about this (I have a couple of podcasts that need editing and that will go up later this week), but two people have already asked me about this story. So, here goes.
Both of these points are major understatements, as any faithful reader of this site knows.
If someone doesn’t like what The Onion posts, the solution is to unfollow The Onion. Problem solved. I’ve certainly done that with more than a few people, especially when entertainers I like consistently get snarky and political.
The trouble that The Onion has is that much of their core fanbase consists of people who are sensitive to certain topics. The Onion gets comfortable being crude or even mean-spirited in some contexts, and their core audience loves it. Stories that touch on issues of gender, race, sexuality, and so on, are acceptable to incorporate into their comedy, so long as the stories seem to emanate from a place that is consistent with the core beliefs of the primary audience.
My take is this: The reason the tweet is funny is precisely because it’s ironic. Quvenzhane Wallis is a charming, sweet little girl who is quite obviously not a “cunt.” It seems to me that the point of the tweet was to contrast the underlying insult with someone who is the farthest thing from that.[1] Furthermore, it lampoons the petty, catty nature of Hollywood and entertainment in general.
I think the only ways to take offense at it are:
1. You object to the use of that word “cunt” in every case, which I think is probably part of the backlash, and you particularly object to it when used in connection with a child. I can’t really argue against this if that’s your belief. There’s no disputing that word is rude, and it was definitely used. Personally, as always, I think context and intent matter a lot more than whether a particular word is a “bad” word.
2. You think that this tweet reflects a sincere belief that this little girl is a bad person. It seems to me that that conclusion is insane, unless you’ve missed the point of the joke entirely.
It’s also worth pointing out that it’s much more difficult to flesh out nuance or motivation in a tweet than it is to do so in a fully-formed article or video. But that’s the line that Onion walks. If they don’t want to risk backlash from their fans, confused or not, the writers should stick to hammering hayseeds and Republicans (and hayseed Republicans).[2] Their core demo (urban, hip) will never take them to task over that.
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[1] It reminds me of Adam Carolla’s frustration with the fact that his back-of-the-book summary passage about his carpentry career, which ended with “. . . just like Jesus, except [Carolla] didn’t gouge the elderly” was so confusing to people who objected, “Jesus didn’t gouge the elderly!” That’s the whole point. That’s what makes it a joke. Just like Wallis—clearly—isn’t a “cunt” at all.
[2] I actually enjoy The Onion much of the time, including their political stuff (even when it goes after people I like), but I think the best content they generate is slice-of-life, everyday satire on modern society.
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