Tuesday, March 7, 2017

The Onion Peels Back our Democracy

The Onion, a satirical news company, has recently had a much easier time collecting material due to our current political situation. In the Onion article, "Russian Officials Scrambling As Plan To Delegitimize Western Democracy Moving Way Faster Than Intended", the Onion uses understatement and irony to emphasize Russian involvement in the current presidency, and how it undermines democracy. The article starts off talking about how Trump's presidency is causing their "plan to delegitimize Western Democracy move much faster than expected". It goes on to talk about the causes, perjury allegations against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and a possibility of Trumps impeachment. The article finishes by expressing concern for if Trump is impeached, "Lavrov went on to say he was deeply concerned that Trump’s impeachment would occur well before the president could cause the amount of damage to America that the Kremlin had originally intended."

This article gets at two present issues in our political system. The first is Russia's involvement. By taking a sarcastic tone and using extreme understatement, the article really attacks how much control the Russians have over the United States currently. The second issue is Trump's impeachment. By stating that Trumps impeachment could help stop Russian influence, it provides more incentive to get Trump out of power. Therefore this Onion article does not only satirically attack issues, it also provides solutions, which is different from other Onion articles I have encountered.

No comments:

Post a Comment