Satirizing the Torture Debate

Max Fisher 10 Views Aug 31, 2009

Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?

With tensions rising on torture and both the Daily Show and Colbert Report on vacation, there's been a depressing levity vacuum lately. Enter The Onion. Typically happy to wallow in irreverence at a safe distance from the front pages of real newspapers, The Onion focused its devastating satirical talent on the heated, complex, and difficult debate over torture.

"Who will be held accountable for authorizing the Minotaur maze?" asked the moderator of a fictitious debate panel. After that, it hews pretty closely to the real torture debate, skewering politicos and media figures alike.

Tellingly, the video has been approvingly linked by Ben Smith, the National Review, the Columbia Journalism Review, and Little Green Footballs--as ideologically diverse a consensus as there's been in politics in years. Everyone, it seems, loves (and, lately, needs) a good laugh.

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