"The Onion News Network," a 30-minute, weekly television program, will debut on IFC on Friday. The show comes on the heels of "SportsDome," which premiered on Comedy Central and satirizes the round-the-clock coverage of sports channels like ESPN.

Last week in this space, I mused about how quick we can be to over interpret events and ascribe tenuous meaning to actions that so often defy explanation. Less than 48 hours after I posted that column, 19 people…