Bear in mind buying it to ruin it is a very real public service. Alex Jones was hoping a conservative ally would buy it and then just continue to let him do what he wants.

Jokes aside, The Onion is basically spending a giant pile of money to burn the website down.

The original goal was to put money in the hands of the Sandy Hook victims without the website continuing on to another set of deplorable owners.

The Onion's humor is like that drawing of the angry crying guy wearing a laughing face mask. It's only "funny" if you're pissed off about something.