Provo, UT- "Who on earth do these researchers think we are? We are rough, tough; break your knees with a baseball bat people. We don't let people talk down to us,” said a New Jersey man. Many Americans like what the new research has shown, in fact they liked to be praised even at the cost of a little dignity, and no one seems to care if it was entirely satirical. A knew study shows that few Americans can tell the difference between real praise and condescension. The traits that they are praised for are considered by most of the world as downfalls. Perhaps this is a way to rebrand all Americans to be more attractive travelers. Some Americans who do not think they qualify for these assumptions were heard yelling random unrelated fragments outside all over the country.
“This article shows a lack of focus and real facts,” said Theodore a local night worker at McDonalds. He continued, “What important things have come from New Mexico anyways?”
Travis, a freshman at University of New Mexico who worked on the project, was overhead to say, “Rhetorically it is very nice to read satirical evidence about anyone including ourselves,” while discussing with fellow researchers. Professor Dixon weighed in saying, “Just wait until the American population makes even more of a fool of themselves trying to maintain these characteristics.”
The above could have been a very interesting article in a style similar to that of the rhetoric that I am analyzing. It would lose steam eventually, but it could be interesting and entertaining to follow up. I think it highlights what was done very well by the writers at The Onion though, their use of satire to talk about social failings. The assumption by the writer is that either the reader is American or they have heard the stereotypes of Americans. Also generalization is a very big part of the paper. Not all Americans are fat, indolent, cookie eating, and sedentary. The point is to laugh thoughtfully and act for change, first to change oneself and then help those around them. I think it is highly effective.
Satire is a big part of American humor, it brings to light things that are sensitive or hard to approach straight on, and It requires a level of intelligence to understand. If everyone got the joke it wouldn’t be funny, it is cool to appreciate how well one can understand themselves by looking through the lens of satire. Each characteristic is brought up and praised, even though all of them are looked at as very negative things. No one really likes the yelling for no reason, or how overweight we are, but if they did this would be less funny.
If there weren’t truth to the stereotypes or if there weren’t Americans this would be much less funny. If we weren’t American this would be less funny. Also if we were the ignorant types that are generalized of all Americans we may not appreciate this as much either. Being willing to laugh at our humanity and our foibles makes us great and easy to get along with, our real intelligence, and cultural understanding is what can help us. Americans can be head strong and ignorant to others, but they can also be appreciative and respectful.
Americans are very diverse, just like all cultures. One could say all the French do is protest, or the Germans only get drunk, maybe that all Japanese are math geniuses, but that would be untrue, it could be funny in the correct context but like this article it has to be taken into consideration. The audience has to be known and able to understand everything that is going on.
Overall this is a very useful piece in seeing how satire and generalizations can make something come to light, to show how funny we each can be. Not only are satire and generalization used very effectively, but the writer also understands their audience very well. The opposite of the stereotype explained is most likely to read this and laugh. The Onion does a great job with this topic.
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