Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 10:19:14 -0500
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Things of Interest
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

ronkean at juno.com wrote:

> Apparently the tabloids have a wide circulation, judging from the fact
> that they are on display in nearly every second grocery checkout aisle in
> the country.  I marvel at the implication that tens of millions of
> American adults actually believe what they read in the tabloids.  But
> perhaps many of the regular readers read them as a form of entertainment,
> regarding the truth of the stories as irrelevant to that purpose.  For an
> online 'news' source wherein none of the stories are true, but nearly all
> are entertaining, see http://www.theonion.com/index.shtml .
>
> Ron Kean
>

My understanding is that the Weekly World News started as a parody of a
tabloid, but the publishers quickly discovered two things:

1.  Tabloids are self-parodying.  In other words, a parody of a tabloid
is another tabloid.  Soap operas are another example of something that
is self-parodying; see Carol Burnett's old "As the Stomach Turns".

2.  It sold like hotcakes.  Hence its continued presence.

My current favorite surce of "real" strange newas items is
http://www.fark.com.  Pointers to weird stuff from all over the world.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."