Unloads On Right Wing Media’s ‘Death Cult’

[GoodTaste]

Does "unload" mean "remove responsibilties"? The problem for understanding is the use of "on." The headline seems to say John Oliver thinks the Death Cult is acceptable (to revive/ accelerate economy). I am not sure.

What does "unloads on" mean?

================
Updated Mar 30, 2020
John Oliver Unloads On Right Wing Media’s ‘Death Cult’ Over Coronavirus
The host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” shreds conservatives who say older people are willing to die to reopen the economy.


Source: HUFFPOST
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-oliver-coronavirus-death-cult_n_5e8151b1c5b6cb9dc1a29195

 

[GoesStation]

Imagine that the death cult is in a little, parked, convertible car with its top down. Oliver backs up a big truck, opens its tailgate, and proceeds to unload dozens of boxes of criticism into the car. He has unloaded his criticism on the death cult.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

No.

It this context, it means that he says what he thinks emphatically and angrily, leaving nothing out. It could also say "John Oliver Dumps On . . . ."

Unload:

(Cross-post.)

 

[GoodTaste]

No.
It could also say "John Oliver Dumps On . . . ."

If so, I understand it as "John Oliver Vehemently Criticizes..." Am I on the right track?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes. Exactly. You're on the right track on the express train to perfect English!

 

[jutfrank]

I think of the metaphor of unloading a firearm. In this sense it means 'discharge a weapon'.

The death cult is in a little convertible car with the hood down. John Oliver pulls up in a black SUV, winds the window down and proceeds to empty an Uzi of criticism into the defenceless death cult.

 

[GoesStation]

I think of the metaphor of unloading a firearm. In this sense it means 'discharge a weapon'.

That doesn't fit very well because "unloading" is what you do when you remove the ammunition without discharging a weapon.

 

[jutfrank]

That doesn't fit very well because "unloading" is what you do when you remove the ammunition without discharging a weapon.

Oh, really? (I trust you Americans know what you're talking about when it comes to guns .)

Anyway, I'm sure that I've heard unload lots of times in the sense of emptying the weapon by firing it. Is that really not right? I'm pretty sure it is often used in that way.

 

[GoesStation]

Anyway, I'm sure that I've heard unload lots of times in the sense of emptying the weapon by firing it. Is that really not right? I'm pretty sure it is often used in that way.

I'm no expert myself, but it really doesn't seem right.

It sometimes sounds like a war zone here in my otherwise placid little valley. Someone on the other side of the river periodically fires salvos that I can't imagine coming from anything less than an (illegal, even in Ohio) automatic weapon; the nice gearhead by the river on our side is a devoted target shooter (his wife's hens supply our eggs), someone across the highway behind us fires some pretty high-caliber rifles from time to time, and our next-door neighbor shoots inoffensive chipmunks ("They dig up my wife's bulbs") with a .22, but I'm uninfected by their infatuation.

Maybe it works with a qualifier that makes clear which end the bullets are unloaded from.

 

[jutfrank]

Maybe it works with a qualifier that makes clear which end the bullets are unloaded from.

Yes. I guess it's used rather ironically perhaps.

The sense in the OP is similar. The idea is that Mr Oliver was attacking the death cult. Think also of how unload could be used with other kinds of violent discharge. Sexual, for instance.