Words, words, words
Posted on April 11, 2008
Filed Under Media, Words, words, words | By Ari Finkelstein
The Top-Ten Lists of Squelch
Berkeley’s humor magazine, The Heuristic Squelch, is notorious for being offensive. You might even say it prides itself in it.
One of its most popular offerings is the top-ten list, which, when it pushes the envelope, can have a surprisingly sharp edge (such as the Airport list that landed the magazine in a hotbed of controversy in 2000). What I object to are sloppy top-ten lists that repeat themselves ad nauseam and take the place of creative humor. Take some of the recent lists that have popped up when I’ve visited the site: “Top Ten Pointlessly Exotic Sexual Practices,” “Top Five Things Chewbacca has Mistaken for a Female Wookie and Had Sex With,” Top Ten Sleaziest Pickup Lines,” “Top Five Soft Drink Sponsored Pickup Lines,” and “Top Ten Scientist Pickup Lines.”
I get it. Sex sells. Sex is funny. And it’s on every college kid’s mind. But come on, already. There’s a lot more out there to laugh at than sex, so please, try to take more care when offending people and remember: To live up to your name, you need to be at least a little bit Heuristic and not all Squelch.
Here’s one I liked: Top Fifteen Slightly Less Dangerous Things.
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