Just looking at the New York Times Dealbook blog, I was skimming the comments under the post and noticed 61 total comments on the possible Onion/Viacom linkup. That tops the comments on the other most commented-on post of the day by 30-1, though to be fair, of the 51 posts on Dealbook today, only 5 (including the Onion story) received comments.
Counting comments on the other posts:
* J.P. Morgan Reports Record 2nd-Quarter Profit received one comment
* YouTube Hit With Copyright Suit received three comments
* Alwaleed Calls for Drastic Measures at Citigroup received one comment
* And Why Didn't Microsoft Just Buy Nortel? received two comments
People are definitely passionate about their fake news.
--Kevin Depew, Minyanville.com
Guess when the Onion was last talking about selling out to Viacom’s Comedy Central unit?
If you guessed 2000, you are exactly right. That’s the logical guess from a socionomic perspective because that’s the last time the culture was basking in the strange afterglow of a large-degree peak in social mood. Wikipedia notes that it was in 2000 that the Onion, which was founded in the wake of another big peak in 1987, finally broke “through to the mass market. Before that, it was the Madison, Wisconsin-based equivalent of an alternative press, weekly run by campus cut ups. But in the wake of the 2000 peak , the paper “was approached by Comedy Central for a buyout that would broaden the scope and reach of The Onion's satire.” The “deal was ultimately scuttled,” but it’s back now because social mood is at the same weird juncture. Parody is so popular that one of the world’s largest media companies is in serious negotiations with a truope of Monty Python wannabes. As The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast noted with an Onion story, “Species Of Blue-Green Algae Announces IPO,” in December 1999, this is what happens when a big shift from up to down is at hand. We think it is because so many manifestations of the rising trend are so perfectly positioned to be turned on their head that the immediate response of many is to laugh the whole thing off. For some history and another example from a bestseller at the time of the NASDAQ 100’s January peak, see the entry and Additional References of January 18, 2006. |
