This made me giggle. Hat tip Bruce Schneier. From a writing perspective, satire can be a great way of making you see the structures that sit below writing conventions. In this case, the authors send up most reporting on terrorism:
- Abuse of technical-sounding catchphrases: “weapons of mass dilution.”
- Selective quotation from experts: in this case Hans Blix and Frank Gardner.
- Unfounded fear-mongering: ‘Homeopathic weapons represent a major threat to world peace,’ said President Barack Obama, ‘they might not cause any actual damage but the placebo effect could be quite devastating.’
- Security theatre (designed to reassure) rather than actual security (designed to protect): “new security measures at airports require that all water bottles be scanned to ensure that they are not being used to smuggle the memory of an explosion on board a plane.”
- Credulity masked by a mistaken attempt at journalistic neutrality: “now we have weapons-grade homeopathy and we demand to be taken seriously”
I’m against terrorism. But I’m also against hyped-up reporting. I think this NewsBiscuit article out-Onions The Onion, which is no trivial thing.
Related posts:
