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A thread recently emerged in the Parenting Forum, started by a person who heard about a spoof on The Onion, and passed it around, actually believing that it was an authentic news story.
The OP actually thought this was an actual ex-pedophile, and several other posters responded as if they had just heard some shocking new news.
I have a couple of family membes who circulate all those cutesy mass-mailings that have passed through hundreds of forwardings---and it is frightening how many people's (e.g., my sister) view of real life is based on what they read on these mailings. So, now we have Birthers and Deathers, and who is surprised? Are people now so gullible that it is necessary to keep a disclaimer on the screen over SNL warning people that this is an impersonator, and not really Barack Obama?
PT Barnum is often quoted as saying "there's a sucker born every minute." That was back in the 1800s. It's nothing new - the internet just helps amplify the problem. In fact, even though Barnum still is credited with that quote, it wasn't he who said it, but his competitor, David Hannum. Misinformation and gullibility flourish
I love The Onion spoofs; but almost as entertaining are the comments posted by those who are actually gullible enough to take them as factual. I guess satire is beyond some folks. I've seen satire that can be fairly convincing on first exposure, but The Onion? Come on. I'm laughing myself to tears while some other person is fuming mad as he/she pecks out some venomous response (on youtube) with such force that it is breaking his/her keyboard.
Perhaps your remedy is the only solution: "This is satire. Had it been factual, it may have actually been reasonable and may well have been aired without such an outrageous premise and/or tone. Again, this is only satire. Breathe in a paper bag for two minutes."
I can only imagine how many horrified and outraged readers there were when Jonathan Swift wrote 'A Modest Proposal.' No wonder he published it anonymously!
"A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout." - Swift.
Some of the true stuff I read on news sites sounds like the Onion.
OTOH, the glurge, and the scary hate-filled "warning" emails make me ill.
My brother has a work friend who keeps sending him crazy stuff, and every now and then he'll pass it along to me. Sometimes I fact-check it on Snopes, but of course the reaction to this is, who fact-checks Snopes?
Well, FWIW, a fact-checking organization did. Fact-checking the fact-checkers: Snopes.com gets an 'A'
That's the problem with the internet, you can type anything you want. References can be anything, it's low cost to set up a domain and claim anything anyone wants. Most people reference things that support them, legitimacy is often over looked as long as it does...or people don't fully read something and go nuts. I had a friend who went berserk over "petsorfood.com" where you could get puppies delivered for dinner, though there was no way to place an order.
My own opinion is that if it's not referenced to a legitimate news site it never happened. The Onion and Dilbert are things that are partially credible, even though it's comedy...no matter how crazy they make the story at some point many things in there seem to come true.
I had a friend who went berserk over "petsorfood.com" where you could get puppies delivered for dinner, though there was no way to place an order.
You people are dangerous This happened last week too. I'm sitting here (at work) laughing so hard at you petsorfood link that I'm crying. Coworkers think I'm nuts... luckily I'm not on the clock!!!
I can't believe your friend took this seriously! Yeah, I'll take a couple of doberman flank steaks and a koala please. Ha. gonna have to try the New Born Golden Retriever Bourguignon or the Kitten Livers with Onion Marmalade... (OH, DISCLAIMER: before you send me hate male, I'm kidding and the website is a joke). There. Better...
A thread recently emerged in the Parenting Forum, started by a person who heard about a spoof on The Onion, and passed it around, actually believing that it was an authentic news story.
The OP actually thought this was an actual ex-pedophile, and several other posters responded as if they had just heard some shocking new news.
I have a couple of family membes who circulate all those cutesy mass-mailings that have passed through hundreds of forwardings---and it is frightening how many people's (e.g., my sister) view of real life is based on what they read on these mailings. So, now we have Birthers and Deathers, and who is surprised? Are people now so gullible that it is necessary to keep a disclaimer on the screen over SNL warning people that this is an impersonator, and not really Barack Obama?
The only difference between these things and all of the conspiracy stuff (moon landings, 911, Lady Diana, HIV created to kill blacks.....blah blah blah) is that after it's been pointed out to people (oninon article) that they've been had at least those people don't still believe it.
There are several threads here over the years the follow the same thing. Obama is banning guns, signed reparations bill secretly, Bush is going to declare martial law so he won't step down after his term ends. Then there are all the oil price conspiracy threads, blaming corporations for making us fat...it never ends.
I'm glad people are writing about this. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who believe the jokes on the internet without checking first to see if they're serious or not.
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This happened last week too. I'm sitting here (at work) laughing so hard at you petsorfood link that I'm crying. Coworkers think I'm nuts... luckily I'm not on the clock!!!
