The Onion Blog: "Pros And Cons Of IDF Soldiers Posting On Tiktok"
In the article, “Pros And Cons Of IDF Soldiers Posting On TikTok,” the author criticizes and satirizes the morality of the actions being performed by IDF soldiers and their apparent indifference to the value of human life by talking about the social media activity of these soldiers. The author’s intention of criticism is clear from the beginning of the article, where they state that IDF soldiers “brag about…destroying Palestinian homes, universities, and hospitals.” Any sane person with an ounce of a moral compass would conclude that based on this basic description alone, the actions are cruel and inhumane. While these actions are already horrible enough, the author adds to this by mentioning how they post these acts with pride and almost giddiness. Thus, they clearly desire to criticize this behavior and their brutality.
Therefore, the author uses humor and adopts a comedic/sarcastic tone to showcase the ridiculousness and the extent to how cruel this behavior is by portraying how little the IDF soldiers think of the consequences and impacts of their actions. The author uses pop-culture references and trends that an avid TikTok user would instantly recognize when they discuss a “con” of the social media activity. The author claims that the actions of the IDF make “flossing on rubble super difficult,” undermining their cruelty and almost adapting a similar mindset to these soldiers and how little they think of the people that suffer because of them.
Additionally, the author also adapts a sardonic tone, as they criticize the mindset and actions of people not directly correlated with the current situation between Israel and Palestine. The author claims that the posting on TikTok “erodes the attention spans of viewers who used to watch long-form propaganda.” Thus, they are criticizing the fact that people worldwide don’t necessarily care about what is going on and are essentially turning a blind eye to the conflict, as they are already used to watching and being brainwashed/manipulated by even longer forms of propaganda. This once again makes the author’s stance and purpose clear, as they wish to criticize the actions of those involved and aware.
I really liked how you went through each tone the article presents and how it criticizes the mindset of the IDF soldiers. Also, I found it interesting when you shifted the focus to people worldwide as it is important to show how the author is criticizing the lack of actions people worldwide are doing.
ReplyDeleteI love how you add your own commentary in a funny way with “any sane person with an ounce of a moral compass.” Mentioning how the authors mimic their mindset was also a good addition. Maybe discuss more about how it is propaganda since it is on an entertainment app, so it’s shocking to see literal destruction as if it were meant to entertain. Overall great job!!
ReplyDeleteThis is Natalie Tallu by the way!
DeleteI liked how you broke down each of the pieces tones separately and how they each criticizes the aforementioned soldiers. I also liked how you not only showed how it criticized the soldiers in specific but the world aswell.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talk about the multiple things that this article is criticizing, like posting videos of serious things like the War to going to the level of people's attention span when watching content. It diversifies the issues as well as highlighting the big problem of posting on TikTok.
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