"Everything Sucksism" and The Onion Dec 06 2007
24 comments Latest by Adam Norwood
This post at The Onion’s A.V. Club blog rails against “Everything Sucksism.”
Another reason I’m pursuing this project is to refute what I like to call the “Everything Sucksism” afflicting popular culture, a cheap adolescent nihilism that delights in taking down celebrities and pop-culture entities that are already walking punchlines. “Everything Sucksism” reigns on E! and VH-1, where seemingly half the shows (especially those with “Awesomely Bad” in the title) consist of anonymous C-listers making agonizingly banal, snidely delivered comments about tacky celebrities and failed projects. Boy, that K-Fed isn’t a very good rapper! That Britney Spears sure is unencumbered by excesses of dignity and intelligence! Isn’t Paris Hilton worthless!? Wasn’t hair-metal lame?! Milli Vanilli sure was cheesy! And what’s up with The Macarena? What were we thinking?
Everything sucksism is ugly, it’s cheap, it contributes nothing of value to popular culture and worst of all, it’s not funny. Everything sucksism reduces all of human endeavor to a cheap punchline.
Good stuff. But am I the only one who thinks this is a bit pot-kettle-black coming from The Onion? You know, the publication that runs, in the A.V. Club section, a column called “The Hater” — which hates on celebs — and each week features “The Tolerability Index” (“A Guide To What We’re Barely Putting Up With This Week”).
Because, you know, that’s the spectrum of opinions: tolerable to unbearable. God forbid you actually like something. Thank goodness The Onion’s staying away from “anonymous C-listers making agonizingly banal, snidely delivered comments about tacky celebrities and failed projects.”
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24 comments so far
nate 06 Dec 07
When it comes to The Onion though, I think that’s sort of the point, whereas in other “popular” media, maybe not so much.
ML 06 Dec 07
When it comes to The Onion though, I think that’s sort of the point, whereas in other “popular” media, maybe not so much.
Isn’t that like saying “I hate it when other people wear fur” and then throwing on your Mink coat?
Kyle 06 Dec 07
We tend to interpret rules as broadly as possible for folks with whom we disagree or don’t like, and as narrowly as possible for those with whom we do agree or like.
Nice post, and now I have a tag for calling out Everything Sucksism, aka “the class clown in the back of the room mocking everything the teacher does”.
robert 06 Dec 07
isn’t that onion feature a piss-take of the graph in New York Magazine ?
-robert
mgroves 06 Dec 07
The “awesomely bad” shows use bad like “bad as in good”, not “bad as in bad”. Like, “Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?”
Kevin 06 Dec 07
You know what else is silly? This idea that a publication can only speak with one homogenized voice. It’s pretty clear Nathan Rabin is doing his own personal project and that is his personal opinion posted on the company blog.
What is the response should I scour the signal vs noise archives, look for inconsistencies, and point each one out as examples of hypocrisy? Or, when Paul Krugman, Bob Herbert, and Aaron Brooks were indirectly debating about some old quasi-racist Reagan speech some time ago, do we just dismiss the NY Times as a schizophrenic bunch?
Chad 06 Dec 07
The Onion is surely allowed to satirize itself.
Axel 06 Dec 07
“The Tolerability Index” is from the reason-everyone-picks-up-one-and-why-our-circulation-is-so-large-humor section of The Onion, the A.V. Club is from the I’m-a-serious-artist-look-at-these-interviews-and-culture-things-around-town section of The Onion.
Really, the comparison of A.V Club content to The Tolerability Index MAY qualify for taking The Onion’s humor section seriously:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion#The_Onion_taken_seriously
Also, somehow I doubt The Onion writers qualify as C-List.
Nate 06 Dec 07
Major Movie Star! Yay!
ML 06 Dec 07
You know what else is silly? This idea that a publication can only speak with one homogenized voice.
Kevin, it’s good when a publication allows for dissenting voices. But does Nathan think “The Hater” and The Tolerability Index should be canned? ‘Cuz they sound exactly like what he’s railing against.
Should I scour the signal vs noise archives, look for inconsistencies, and point each one out as examples of hypocrisy?
Plenty of other people do. Why not join the party? ; )
“The Tolerability Index” is from the reason-everyone-picks-up-one-and-why-our-circulation-is-so-large-humor section of The Onion, the A.V. Club is from the I’m-a-serious-artist-look-at-these-interviews-and-culture-things-around-town section of The Onion.
The Tolerability Index is in the AV Club actually.
FredS 06 Dec 07
Matt post!!!
Incoming!!!
Don Schenck 06 Dec 07
I’m confused.
No … seriously. I remain both positive and cynical. I am optimistic about the future while I TRUST NO ONE .
I’m a frickin’ enigma. I see your point, Jason … but it leaves me questioning my own attitudes. Heavy stuff.
Don Schenck 06 Dec 07
P.S. But I do remain THE EASIEST person in the world to get along with.
Tim Connor 06 Dec 07
Wait, so you are complaining that a satirical newspaper… I can’t finish that sentence actually. Just the clause itself pretty much sums it up.
Matt Radel 06 Dec 07
I think it’s funny and amusing when the Onion makes fun of the obvious, but I’m really not interested in their higher level opinions on pop culture. I mean, doesn’t the existence of these shows and people only make your job easier?
tom 06 Dec 07
the onion sucks
CW 06 Dec 07
I agree with Kevin, in spirit if not in tone. It’s possible that the blogger is arrogant and not self-aware, but to me it seems more likely that there is a range of views within the publication.
Anonymous Coward 07 Dec 07
Long live the Onion!
Sebhelyesfarku 07 Dec 07
“Popular culture” is an oxymoron.
Matthew Moore 07 Dec 07
Unfortunately right now our pop culture is, “if you’ve heard of it, then it sucks.” Everyone’s trying to be so unique and different in every way possible, which is nice in a way, but some people definitely take it overboard. This “sucksism” stuff is just an extension of that in my eyes…
Icelander 07 Dec 07
Their opinion on organic cotton is typically short-sighted. Yeah, you’re not eating it, but somewhere the environment is better for having been farmed organically than doused with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers to grow your jeans.
RJ 07 Dec 07
Totally. Reminds me of the time you guys told everyone not to make such harsh and overstated opinions about the kindle.
Justin 07 Dec 07
Major Movie Star looks fantastic!
Adam Norwood 08 Dec 07
Where would the Tolerability Index show up on the Tolerability Index? Sometimes I feel that the list itself is pretty intolerable. And then the world gets sucked into a hipster meta-vortex.
The AV Club (I love their movie and music reviews) is definitely guilty of willful everything sucksism. Aside from The Hater / Tolerability Index, it’s my understanding that a handful of the comics they run are included just for their sheer crumminess or ironic value: “Cathy” in Spanish, “The Leftersons”, “The Spats”, etc (these run in the Austin edition, your local copy may vary). Or maybe I’m reading too much into it, or those comics themselves are trying to be ironic and un-funny or…
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