Our Dumb Century

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source
LC Class
PN6231.N6 O95 1999

Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source is a

Robert D. Siegel, Maria Schneider and John Krewson. It was awarded the 1999 Thurber Prize for American Humor.[1][2]

The book, spun off from The Onion weekly-newspaper format of dryly satirizing current events, features mocked-up newspaper front pages from the entire 20th century, presented as though The Onion had been continuously in print since before 1900. The publication of the book is in itself a parody of other end of the century retrospectives that had been published in 1999, notably Time magazine and The New York Times.

Summary

The book satirizes many common beliefs, trends, and perceptions. For instance, in response to the

Teamsters, Freemasons" and that he was shot "129 times from 43 different angles."[3] This is later followed up by an article proclaiming that the "Warren Commission admits to killing JFK
."

The book often takes a cynical look at American foreign policy over the ages, describing past events with revisionist, modern-day perspectives. For example, the Pearl Harbor attacks are described as being an attack on a "colonially-occupied US non-state" and President Woodrow Wilson encourages Americans to fight in World War I in order to "make the world safe for corporate oligarchy." The article on the 1920 granting of women's suffrage states "Women Finally Allowed to Participate in Meaningless Fiction of Democracy." The article on the beginning of World War II is "WA- (headline continued on page 2)," with "WA-" in especially large print.

Articles on major historical events are often preceded by ironic articles criticizing the irresponsibility that led to such events: For example, an issue dated a week before the

Archduke Franz Ferdinand
(whose assassination sparked the war) declaring that "no man can stop [him]".

Smaller stories in the book satirize social and pop-cultural trends of their respective eras, such as the faux-

advertisements and gimmicks that abound in the top and bottom corners of the pages. For example, from the 1920s: No, No, Nanette Fever Bonus! Sheet Music from "Tea for Two
" Inside.

Since the book was written before the year 2000, its prediction for that year satirized Y2K and religious prophecies, including "Christian Right Ascends to Heaven," "All Corporations Merged Into OmniCorp," and a small graphic listing meteors headed for Earth by size.

Occasionally, Our Dumb Century happens to be also a good prelude for the next century. The title devoted to the establishment of Israel cites

David ben Gurion: "In Israel our people will finally have safety and peace." The subtitle adds: "Jordan welcomes new neighbors with celebratory gunfire, rock throwing." The article opens: After 2000 years of persecutions, the Jewish people at last find "a place of safety and peace nestled between Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt." Here in Israel, adds ben Gurion, "we are far away from those who seek to destroy us… The only gunfire we shall hear is that which lingers in our minds from troubled times long past." Ben Gurion looks for "years of harmony" with the neighboring states. "Last night from my window, I could hear great explosions coming from the Gaza Strip
. How wonderful of the Palestinian peoples there to celebrate our arrival with fireworks." (November 9, 1948).

Running gags

There are a number of running gags through this supposed history of the twentieth century, which are not immediately apparent. One is the existence of a piece of farmyard equipment called 'The Chicken Raper'. Another is that every major celebrity trial, from

Spaniards, Nazis, and hippies) sexually assaulting the Statue of Liberty
.

Three consecutive pages show a fictionalized end to Richard Nixon's presidency which loosely parallels the end of Gary Tison's life. First, Nixon is arrested for his connection to the Watergate scandal; the next week's headline says he then escaped and is on the run; the third says he was gunned down in a shootout with cops (but Spiro Agnew is still at large).

A more subtle satire is the rise of a (fictional) company called 'Global Tetrahedron', which first appears as a small business in the first decade of the century and gradually grows into a multinational behemoth.

Publisher Emeritus, T. Herman Zweibel, writes frequent editorials, growing more and more erratic until he's removed from power by the board of directors in the 1950s.

Article titles from 1905 and from 2000 both read 'Arabs, Jews Forge New Age of Peace.'

Cultural references

Several events from the classic film

Savings and Loan scandal. Also present is the frequent theme of moral outrage at the amount of sex in popular culture, beginning with a depiction of women's undergarments reproduced from a Sears catalogue, then extending to jazz music (also thought to have sunk the Titanic), Clara Bow
appearing sleeveless in a film, and culminating in "Hippies Celebrate Fuck Summer '67".

The space race is repeatedly covered, including such articles as "Bleeping Two-Foot Tin Ball Threatens Free World" about the

Sputnik launch, "Soviets Ahead in Dog-Killing Race" about the flight of experimental animals, and finally "Holy Shit, Man Walks on Fucking Moon", a recreation of the Apollo 11
landing, complete with a radio transcript filled with profanity.

Critical reaction

The book became a number one New York Times best-seller shortly after its publication on April 1, 1999.[4]

Other formats

An audio version of the book was produced by Scott Dikkers and adapted by Tim Harrod, and was presented as excerpts from the (real-life) nationally syndicated The Onion Radio News throughout the same time period and covering many of the same subjects.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Thurber House — PAST THURBER PRIZE WINNERS AND FINALISTS — Literary Center and James Thurber Museum". Thurber House. Archived from the original on 2022-11-25. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  2. ^ "Our Dumb Century". NPR.org. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  3. ^ "November 22, 1963". The Onion. 2005-11-23. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  4. ^ "Best Sellers: Paperback Nonfiction". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-12-06.