this post was submitted on 01 May 2025
403 points (93.7% liked)

Not The Onion

17039 readers
1336 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Look, I get it. The gargantuan shit-show that is U.S. politics and the American descent into fascism is on everyone's minds. It's certainly on mine.

But the point of this community is to highlight weird news stories that make you go, "By golly, I thought I was reading a headline from The Onion. You know, America's finest news source." A lot of stories being posted lately don't even remotely fit that.

That doesn't mean political stories aren't allowed here, but they must have headlines that would make people pause and wonder if it's a story from The Onion. Straight up regular, non Onion-y headlines don't fit.

all 32 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

@[email protected] don't you go giving me a safe place to catch my breath as the US falls apart! (Kidding, if that wasn't apparent.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

My removed by a mod post was political and I missed this pinned post. That's on me and I apologize.

The Onion would definitely have thought up a more...imaginative name!

I deleted the post as well. Again, sorry for the slip.

-oleo

[–] MelonYellow 105 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Geez you’re not kidding. All the recent posts are politics with regular sounding headlines. I’m gonna start downvoting headlines that don’t fit.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago

I'll report them all

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They can also just be removed, surely

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 months ago

Yes, but if you report them, I find them faster.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have to say, there have been a few political stories where I've genuinely wondered.

But you're right, it's mostly whingeing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

To be fair some of said stories genuinely could have been onion articles... In what sane world would we deport a 4 year old resident with cancer? How is that an actual headline? The times this year I've had to double check is astonishing.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Fair point. These three aren't great. 1000074464

Since when was "fighter jet falls off aircraft carrier" satirical? This stuff does happen occasionally. It's just an accident.

Most stuff on here belongs on aboringdystopia

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The Alex Jones one actually gave me a good "That's pretty Onion-y" hit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Funnily enough that was the one in the list I least reacted to. It's all subjective I'd imagine: It's all nonsense, without question... but they all still technically fit the bill.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I mean the first two I'd give a pass.

It's like "Yeah that bad thing is good, actually" - which is pretty standard fare for an onion article. Not exciting by any stretch but it technically qualifies.

...And the plane is just funny. Not as a taxpayer, per se - but objectively would get someone to do a double take.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

The Alex Jones one is definitely something you could see in the onion.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

The reason I posted the middle one is because it sounded a lot like a Onion title. It is crazy to me that a jet can just "fall off" something. Doesn't it weight a few tons?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Tens of tons for a modern fighter, and I think the f-18 is a bigger jet, too.

But, if you've ever seen how much a ship leans over in a hard turn, you can see it happening.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Wouldn't they strap it down? Also wouldn't The ship be big enough to not tip as much?

Forgive me for not having a deep understanding of aircraft carriers

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

They were moving it around with a tug at the time, both the tug and plane went overboard. It's also why only that plane went over.

And a bigger ship will move less in waves, but from the footage I've seen, those carriers will lean something like thirty degrees in a hard turn.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Have you seen aircraft carriers? I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No, I've never seen an aircraft carrier

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

They carry aircraft.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

i mean they have wheels

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago

Thanks, the current government did some weird stuff that might have been an onion-like piece in another administration, and I have upvoted quite some of those surprising events in the beginning, but most recent posts are just 'something that happened in America that doesn't usually happen in a functional democracy' and I think it has become too much to be honest.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

I found that my communities stayed on track better when I made robust rules and offered alternatives where content would be a better fit.

[email protected] and [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

good on you, minding the community

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Funny, and I just noticed in my YouTube feed: "Satire Isn't Dead, It's Ineffective"

I wonder why.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I blame '/s'

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

By the nature of this community it will be political. The key is not to use this community as a podium to announce your beliefs from. You can have politics without shouting into the void.

Could we better utilize the down vote system? Maybe make a rule that posts with a certain number of down votes to upvotes ratio will be locked.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Have you tried Kostman’s you know the “The Penis People?”

https://youtu.be/g7efwJwY4KE