More Fiction Than Fact: When Satire Replaces Responsibility

While the world watches crises unfold and AU delegates scramble to respond, The Onion has oddly decided its top priority is poking fun at other press agencies—because clearly, satire is more important than substance.

More scandalous than any tossed plush toy is the recent vote by African Union (AU) delegates to permit Western "peacekeeping" intervention in Nigeria's military conflict. This is a serious betrayal of African sovereignty, a contemporary form of colonization disguised as aid. It goes beyond simple ineptitude.

Ignoring the harsh lessons of history, the AU has riskily ceded its autonomy by inviting outside powers with their own agendas. In addition to being unethical, this choice is a disastrous display of carelessness that threatens the fundamental basis of African self-determination. This chilling abdication of leadership, which creates a dangerous precedent for the entire continent, is obscured by the press's obsession with unimportant details.

How did individuals so unprepared, disorganised, and evidently out of their depth end up at the forefront of a crisis response? Focusing on mocking other media outlets just to one-up them, instead of doing their actual job and reporting on real, pressing issues?

In an article targeting Shah Verma, The Onion mocked the delegate for watching a show during committee sessions, claiming he missed out on crucial developments. This, however, starkly contradicts their own coverage of the HUNSC, which they described as “less like a committee and more like a post-apocalyptic town—empty, dry, and painfully silent.” Was this committee as dead as they claimed or were they just as lazy to do their job?

The delegates are now resorting to outright fabrication. When delegate Searl Ping claimed that the Chinese delegate was “stunned but pretending to sip some tea, staying mostly unfazed,” the statement was not only theatrical—it was completely false. The delegate of China wasn’t even present in the room at the time. This wasn’t a slip of the tongue; it was a deliberate attempt to manipulate the narrative, create drama where none existed, and shift focus away from their own inaction.

Onions are supposed to make you cry, but the agency's articles are almost laughable.

Hana Mukunu, Kris O Hani, 

and the rest of Xinhua news