Too Soon?

This is one of those rare posts where I put the stupid crap aside and actually talk about something.  But this is a controversial topic that has to do with a humor publication, so it still fits the genre.

As I'm sure you've all heard, NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died this morning at age 80 of a heart attack.  Death is a somewhat serious matter and of course your heart has to go out to his friends and loved ones.  However, some may say the best thing to do in a time of woe is use even more humor than usual. Is there a tasteful way to joke about a person who just died less than a few hours ago?

National satirical news paper The Onion, from which much of my writing inspiration comes, took no time to have their say about the baseball mogul's death.

They posted a picture of Steinbrenner with the title of the Picture, "George Steinbrenner Dead After Firing Underperforming Heart."  I have to admit as soon as I read it, my gut reaction was to laugh.  Was that insensitive of me?

From what I've seen on Facebook, the internet AA meeting site, this article has caused many split opinions on the tastefulness of this article making light of the still-warm corpse.  So far the article has generated 114 FB comments, each one contradicting the last.

Among the negative comments made were, "Major poor taste," "Well that didn't take too long.. too soon," and "Hey, let's make jokes about your dead dad after he passes."

And of course there were many loyal fans of The Onion who came to its rescue with such remarks as, "This made me lol out loud [hmm.. redundant?]", "Too soon? How about not soon enough?", and probably my favorite and my pick for sarcastic comment of the month, "Shame on you, Onion bastards, for not respecting the global death etiquette ruling that states you must wait at least 72 hours (and 13 minutes) post-mortem before firing off the gags!"

Now it's quite possible if you're reading this post, you are thinking the aforementioned article is the most disgraceful thing in the world, and I respect your opinion.  The question that comes to my mind, though, is this: If you are able to see The Onion's postings on your FB front page, that means you are a fan of theirs.  I feel that this is nothing unexpected for this publication, whose mission is to make light of everything and anything.  I would think all fans would know that.  So if you are one of those people who are offended, I hope at least you don't claim to be a fan of the self-insistent 300-year-old news source.

FIN