I just got the tragic news this week that the Weekly World News is about to close up shop. I'd always had fantasies as a college student of writing for them. Alien babies, Sasquatch in love, mutant children hiding out in caves...all from the "world's only reliable newspaper." My friend in college knew a guy who posed as a dwarf in love with a giant woman for the WWN. Not surprisingly, he was neither a dwarf nor did he know the woman in question. The WWN is/was so over the top it was one of the most entertaining rags ever. In truth, you could rely on its "news"--you always knew what you were getting: you always knew you'd see the worst Photoshopping ever; you always knew you'd read about literally in-credible stories of at least one supernatural event/creature; you always knew you'd have something to laugh about that you would repeat to your friends later. WWN created a "humor community" that had a stable of "reliable" parameters and touchstones, common language and values--if you could call them that. I don't think The Onion ("America's Finest News Source") would be what it is without the WWN. Would Stephen Colbert be as popular? Would The Daily Show?
I raise my glass to the finest in fake news as it breathes its last. Someone at work told me they saw one last copy in a Rite Aid--I'll have to run out and try to beat the masses that must be clamoring to get at it! Wish me luck!
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