I have always loved reading the Onion for it's witty, satirical, and up-to-date view on American and worldly affairs. Logically, the Onion would soon weed out and use people's fear of the new plague, Ebola, as a source of one of their humor articles. In said article, the author discussed some ways that a person can avoid catching ebola. The main rhetorical device is humor in the form of hyperbole. In one of the suggested ways to avoid ebola, the article claims you should "regularly examine your DNA under an electron microscope for any indications that Ebola has attached itself to your cell membrane." By showing the ridiculousness of trying to find out if you have Ebola, the panic of the disease is lessened. Now some would argue that laughing at a very dangerous disease is blasphemous and just plain rude. But those people have obviously not close-read anything before. When looking at the suggested ways to keep safe from ebola, such as "boil all bodily fluids before consumption" or "avoid eating bat soup", one realizes that the Onion is not parodying the disease itself; no, it's parodying peoples reaction to the disease. Whenever an epidemic breaks out, people tend to panic, even with no logical or factual evidence to constitute worry. The article is saying "look, Ebola is scary. We get that. But unless you live in Africa or in Dallas, Texas, you should be fine. Also, don't eat bats (the means you Ozzy) and avoid drinking blood (that means you Edward). That's what humor's job is. To calm the masses when they fall into panic. Humor makes us reexamine our false ideas and makes them seem ridiculous. I know I am a lot less scared knowing exactly how to avoid Ebola. To bad that soup tip didn't come one day earlier though...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/how-to-protect-yourself-against-ebola,37085/
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