Congratulations to Nafis and Chichi who had the courage to post their views on the ONN report from the Department of Transportation! I hope others at least tried to watch the video. Double congratulations to Chichi for correctly identifying the real meaning of the video. Yes, this is a joke. ONN stands for Onion News Network. “The Onion” is quite a famous newspaper in the U.S. (see http://www.theonion.com) in which 100% of the news is fake.
This news story (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxgkHQp8Pds if you missed it before) is, as Chichi pointed out, making fun of people who think they can drive faster by honking a lot in traffic. It is also making fun of many Americans who easily get angry at other drivers. Two of my sisters are like this! They often use “swearing and fist shaking” as a preferred method of getting through traffic. (I hate being in the car when they drive!) The word “fist”, by the way, is what you make with your hand when you want to punch somebody. The announcer did not say “fish shaking”, although that would be a pretty funny idea, wouldn’t it?
In my opinion, this video is also making fun of both CNN and some government workers. The graphics on this video are so simple. Do we really need to see a dummy pushing its hand against the car horn? Sometimes it seems TV stations think viewers are stupid and so use very simple stories with simple graphics. The Onion takes this attitude to an extreme. As for the government worker, the great line that Chichi mentioned - “Honk! Honk! Honk! It’s that simple”, is totally ridiculous! For me, the funny thing is looking at the people standing around him, with serious looks on their faces. I think politicians often DO make ridiculouse statements, but many people take them seriously.
Go back now and watch the video again. Even if you don’t think it is so funny, see if you can at least understand the intention of the video. And again, leave your comments here!
