An open letter to The Onion

Hi Onion.

You guys are consistently the funniest thing I see. Congratulations and thank you.

However, you really blew it with Nation Did Not See Mark Wahlberg’s Sex Change Coming.

Trans people should not be a punchline. Not because I believe in prudery or censorship, but because they’re the people everyone shits on, and it’s supposedly acceptable in mainstream humor. And they get beat up and killed, and denied jobs, and abused in every way without recourse. Because everyone sees them as a punchline. Please don’t do that. I know you get a lot of your humor value from extreme statements and foul language, and it’s generally hilarious.

You also don’t do cheap mainstream comedy. Or at least you shouldn’t. That shit isn’t funny.

In the 80s, East Asian and Middle Eastern people were approved targets for comedy. Ching-chong Chinaman and Hilarious Habib jokes were mainstream. It was shocking to me at the time, but everyone else thought it was just great. The results for Asian and Middle Eastern friends of mine were distressing, from constant public mockery to physical violence. I would be surprised to see the Onion do that now, because not only is it despicable but it just isn’t funny.

Bad comedians can always get a laugh with dick jokes. I bet you hate those guys. Don’t join them.

Using trans people as cheap easy comedy is not hilarious. And it gives legitimacy to a world view that gets people killed and badly abused for being who they are.

best,

Conrad Heiney