Report: Only 40% Of Celebrities End Up Marrying Their Stalkers
In this piece by The Onion staff, satire is used to portray the ridiculous nature of some celebrity fans. They use rhetorical devices such as an appeal to logos, a ridiculing tone, and extremely formal diction. The appeal to logos can be seen right from the start of the article when it states that, "UCLA’s Department of Sociology found that only 40 percent of celebrities ultimately end up marrying their stalkers". This statistic makes the article more credible and easier to agree with. The use of such evidence also makes fun of how serious fans take their relationships with the celebrities they adore. The idea that scientists would focus on something so irrelevant is almost laughable. It makes readers consider how ridiculous the situation actually is as well. Readers also get the writers' perspective through the ridiculing tone throughout the article. For example, when the article claims that, "a narrow majority of pop stars opted not to spend the rest of their lives with those ex-convicts and former fan club presidents who were intercepted by bodyguards before having the chance to deliver a tattered notebook containing hundreds of hand-scrawled poems detailing their undying devotion" it is obvious that they are ridiculing the obsessive fans. The tone makes it clear that the piece is satirical, and lets the reader understand the argument better. Without the obviously ridiculing tone, readers may be confused or not understand the articles underlying argument. The diction makes the article much more realistic and strengthens the satire overall. Using phrases such as, "pathological obsession", "pursue courtships" and "assured outcome" was extremely strategic for the writers. Not only does it boost their credibility for the reader, but it also strengthens the underlying, mocking argument. Overall, this satirical piece about obsessive fans relationship with celebrities achieves its argumentative goals through its tone, diction and logos.