The onion is always full of tasteless BS, but this is much worse than usual.
It is NOT even slightly amusing to ridicule our wounded warriors whose devotion to duty does not end because of injuries suffered in battle.

I think The Onion falls into the same category as South Park and Wonkette, where nothing is sacred and everything is ridiculed with equal opportunity. Tasteless if it was coming from anywhere else though.

I'm not sure how tasteless becomes a function of who says something.

A thing is either in good taste or it is not; regardless of who does it. If it treats the subjects (wounded troops) as though they were mindless automatons who are being forced to do something against their will when in fact these guys are doing something incredibly heroic - and something I dare say most of us wouldn't have the stones to do - how in God's name is that not "tasteless"?

Actually, I believe "patronizing" would be a better word. But then that's pretty much been the party line all along, hasn't it?

there is satire... and then there is the point where it crosses completely out of the bounds of comedy into outright contempt disguised (however loosely) as satire. the judgment of whether it is the former or the latter is the sense of the common man -- and this is the latter. only the posers that put this crap together would or could believe otherwise.

Humorous? Hmm, maybe I'll ask some of my brothers what they think.
Cpl. W. lost a leg in OIF I but reenlisted in time for OIF III. I'll see if he finds humor in it.
Sgt. L. lost both legs to an IED and still tried to reenlist before being wheeled into surgery. Maybe he'll think it is funny.
Perhaps I should ask Maj. U. if he chuckled. After losing his left arm in a cordon and search operation, he begged the Pentagon to let him stay in.
Surely they'll all see the humor.
Me? I'm still fighting the VA about my disabilities and I'm too pissed to laugh.
Thanks The Onion you're doing great things for your country.

I am in the middle of doing revisits for Injured Marine Semper Fi fund and so particularly sensitive to crap that dishonors our wounded and injured servicemembers. I think I'll just take your word for it that it's tasteless and beyond the bounds even for the Onion and not actually watch it.

Works better for my blood pressure, sanity and marriage that way...

The Onion dedicated an issue to the war in Iraq. It was a compilation of previous articles. Not a funny remark in the whole paper.

This isn’t the first off-color unfunny thing the Onion has said about the war. When the football player , Tillman, for the Cardinals died while serving in in Afghanistan, The Onion put out a blurb. They quoted him after losing a football game saying, “I want to die. I just want to die.”

Thanks for that update from Anita Lavine. Nice to see the quick reaction, and we'll see what happens next.

Good job on this, Mrs. G.

Looks like it has been taken down
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_how_can_we_make_the_0

Lone message:

You are not authorized to access this page

Thank God

I am a former Marine who served in the Iraq War and I lost one of my limbs in combat.

I thought I should say that otherwise you guys would jump all over me for somehow being "anti-American" or something.

This is clearly satire. It may come off as a bit harsh to you over-sensitive types, but wounded vets are still humans, strong ones at that, and we're not precious, delicate things that need to be given a special permit to be off limits to comedy material. Frankly I was happy to see any media coverage, real or not, on some wounded soldiers.

The fact is many soldiers wounded in combat do wish to keep serving, and those without serious injuries are allowed to do so. The Onion was simply exaggerating this for comedic purposes. Anyone with half a brain can see they aren't making fun of wounded vets.

Believe me, we have been through enough already (physically and mentally) - a silly comedy sketch isn't gonna hurt our feelings. Or at least I would hope not, cause otherwise what are we fighting for after all?

"The fact is many soldiers wounded in combat do wish to keep serving, and those without serious injuries are allowed to do so."

At least, until the Pentagon is forced by public opinion to stop letting them. And that's the real issue here, not whether the Onion is making fun of wounded troops. As you note, they aren't, they're just making fun of "the Pentagon" for returning injured troops to full duty status.

"I thought I should say that otherwise you guys would jump all over me for somehow being "anti-American" or something."

Why would you anticipate that?

I'm a medical guy with a clearly dark sense of humor and when I showed the guys I worked with the video, they laughed too. We're tasteless too, after seeing some of the crazy stuff we have, we joke about some strange things. It made us think of Starship Troopers, clearly something out of fantasy.