Pinocchio's Parade: Satire, Parody & Fake News on Avalon

[Curt]

This thread is a space to collect all of the satire/parody/spoof and otherwise 'fake' news stories that we see circulating in our community as though they were real news stories.

I'm a big fan of satire and parody, as many of us are. But sometimes we miss the irony and read these stories as fact. With so much incredible information out there, and with language barriers and cultural differences, it can be very easy to miss irony.

But there’s something else at play as well. There seems to be a new breed of 'satire' making the rounds in the alternative media and on forums like ours that appears designed not to enlighten or to entertain, but to trick people.

In other words, some of this stuff isn't really satire or parody at all, in the strictest sense, but is almost a form of 'anti-parody' or ‘anti-satire,' i.e. it isn't designed to speak truth through irony (as satire does), but instead seems designed to muddy the waters- to find people's blind-spots in order to trick them.

So I'd like this thread to serve as a repository for all the fake and funny news stories that pass through Avalon- particularly the one’s that trick us. The aim of collecting them here isn't to highlight our collective gullibility or to make us all feel silly for making mistakes.

The goal is simply to start to identify some of the news outlets that produce this stuff- and to start to notice some trends. At the very least, it may give us all a good chuckle or three.

With that... ladies and gentlemen of Avalon, I give you Pinocchio’s Parade Rebooted: Satire, Parody & Fake News on Avalon

[Calz]

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e0/a7/7c/e0a77c639e8f45d0a84882dd3913418e.jpg

[Curt]

Here's a story that's making the rounds at present.

It's a 'doctored' version of a Huffington Post article that makes it sound like the Vatican is going to give away all its assets to feed all the poor of the world. It's a satirical version of a real story.

Here's the spoof version of story: http://shrturl.co/b2V59

Here's the Original Huffington Post Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/pope-francis-bank-watchdog-board_n_5451637.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

By the way... in the satire/fake news version, notice the two Pinocchios in the advert right next to the story. ;)

[Curt]

Here's another joke news story that has recently made the rounds on Avalon.

It is a pretty tricky one, too. It's from WorldNewsDailyReport.com, a satire news site.

This story is a tricky one because it sounds so plausible.

But alas, the site is a spoof news site, which they clearly state on their website. Though, curiously, they do not mention they're satire on their facebook page.

The headline reads, Major Victory for Christian Marijuana Smokers in Canada.

Here's the link: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/major-victory-for-christian-marijuana-smokers-in-canada/

[Calz]

Here's another joke news story that has recently made the rounds on Avalon.

It is a pretty tricky one, too. It's from WorldNewsDailyReport.com, a satire news site.

This story is a tricky one because it sounds so plausible. But alas, the site is a spoof news site, which they clearly state on their website. Though, curiously, they do not mention they're satire on their facebook page.

The headline reads, Major Victory for Christian Marijuana Smokers in Canada.

Here's the link: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/major-victory-for-christian-marijuana-smokers-in-canada/


http://www.world-wide-art.com/images/Walt-Disney-Storybooks/Star-Wars-Size-Matters-Not-Yoda.jpg

[Curt]

Here's another joke news story from WorldNewsDailyReport.com

This one even fooled veteran researcher, Joseph P. Farrell until Paul brought it to his attention.

Again, with this particular satirical news site, the headlines and stories seem plausible at first glance- at least to those of us interested in alternative information.

This makes them especially tricky. It can be hard to tell they're satire.

But indeed they are satire.

The story was titled: Former Pope Warns of Vatican Alien Agenda.

It is most definitely not a real news story.

Here is a link to the story: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/former-pope-warns-of-vatican-alien-agenda/

[Curt]

Here's the disclaimer from the WorldNewsDailyReport.com website:

Disclaimer

World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.

And here's a link the disclaimer on their actual site: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/disclaimer/

[Mercedes]

Well!! I never!!!

[Dennis Leahy]

Love it, Curtis!

I occasionally make up a fake news story myself, post it on Faceboog, sit back and watch the fireworks. I have caught people several times, even though I usually end the fake story with such hyperbole or ridiculousness, that I think they are really guilty of reading a single (lead-in) paragraph and no further.

Still, to protect the guilty and gullible from embarrassment, I have taken to including a fake logo from a non-existent publication ("US News & World Retort") that sounds close to US News & World Report - but even that is not enough sometimes.

25996

Dennis

{edit} Attachment seems to not work for everyone, so here is the same image:
http://www.leahyguitars.com/Imagez/Two/USNewsAndWorldRetort.jpg

[Curt]

Hey Dennis,

I'm glad you're on board with the idea, brother.

I tried to open the attachment you posted, but I got an error message.

Would love to see your work!

It read, 'Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator'.


Love it, Curtis!

I occasionally make up a fake news story myself, post it on Faceboog, sit back and watch the fireworks. I have caught people several times, even though I usually end the fake story with such hyperbole or ridiculousness, that I think they are really guilty of reading a single (lead-in) paragraph and no further.

Still, to protect the guilty and gullible from embarrassment, I have taken to including a fake logo from a non-existent publication ("US News & World Retort") that sounds close to US News & World Report - but even that is not enough sometimes.

25996

Dennis

[ThePythonicCow]

Here's another joke news story from WorldNewsDailyReport.com

This one even fooled veteran researcher, Joseph P. Farrell until Paul brought it to his attention.

Again, with this particular satirical news site, the headlines and stories seem plausible at first glance- at least to those of us interested in alternative information.

This makes them especially tricky. It can be hard to tell they're satire.

But indeed they are satire.

The story was titled: Former Pope Warns of Vatican Alien Agenda.
To give credit where credit is due, it fooled me too, until you brought it to my attention :).

[Carmody]

Here's another joke news story from WorldNewsDailyReport.com

This one even fooled veteran researcher, Joseph P. Farrell until Paul brought it to his attention.

Again, with this particular satirical news site, the headlines and stories seem plausible at first glance- at least to those of us interested in alternative information.

This makes them especially tricky. It can be hard to tell they're satire.

But indeed they are satire.

The story was titled: Former Pope Warns of Vatican Alien Agenda.

It is most definitely not a real news story.

Here is a link to the story: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/former-pope-warns-of-vatican-alien-agenda/

It didn't quite fool Joseph, as he's used to looking for such things, looking for the truth in the matter. In his original introduction to the data, and his posting of it on his website, he basically said, "IF the data turns out to be true...."

[Curt]

That's a good point.

Joseph wasn't relying upon this information to draw conslusions. It was potentially just another piece of the puzzle. And he did specifically address the fact he didn't know if it was reliable or not.

The takeaway point here is, I think, that this 'story' seemed credible enough to be taken as potentially serious by a veteran researcher with dozens of books and serious knowledge.



Here's another joke news story from WorldNewsDailyReport.com

This one even fooled veteran researcher, Joseph P. Farrell until Paul brought it to his attention.

Again, with this particular satirical news site, the headlines and stories seem plausible at first glance- at least to those of us interested in alternative information.

This makes them especially tricky. It can be hard to tell they're satire.

But indeed they are satire.

The story was titled: Former Pope Warns of Vatican Alien Agenda.

It is most definitely not a real news story.

Here is a link to the story: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/former-pope-warns-of-vatican-alien-agenda/

It didn't quite fool Joseph, as he's used to looking for such things, looking for the truth in the matter. In his original introduction to the data, and his posting of it on his website, he basically said, "IF the data turns out to be true...."

[Carmody]

Some of this stuff is so difficult to discern that we end up engaging the parts of people that are desperately looking for the single lie, the single mistake, the single hole... so they can dismiss the entire thing...and run.

In the same way the deeper animal inside of us looks thorough the millions of blades of safe grass, for the single one out of place and to make out the silhouette of the predator, just the single tiny hint....which is then used as the premise...to bolt, and run away.

This is the actual point that we engage in, in ourselves, in our body/mind, when analyzing difficult to understand or difficult to mentally negotiate data.

If the given author or person trying to show us the difficult and emotionally difficult data or situation..if, in that process and works...we find one flaw...we bolt. We sour and mistrust entirely, for the most part, as trust is yet to be established.

This potential and core way of mind/thought formation in humans, is very much used and manipulated via those who want secrets to remain secrets, those who want people to remain sheep, and asleep. One technique among many.

So they insert the falsehoods that are plausible into the system. they create the websites the stories, and so on. This appears to be the very premise of Sorcha Faal. falsehood data injection into the world space to be held up as lies.... to break people away from looking.

People's minds and how they form thoughts, how they think in difficult situations, this is being manipulated, in this exact way, for the purposes of misdirect and societal control.

I'm paraphrasing here, but those who have our trust are given multiple, multiple, multiple chances, before we believe that they have lied to us.

Conversely, those who are not known, have to do things correctly, IIRC, approximately 8 to 10 times before trust is begun to be established.

This is all happening under our conscious thought, underpinning our mind's formation of thoughts.

So....if those who wish to BREAK the establishment of trust, BEFORE it actually happens....all they have to do is finally score ONE solid point in establishing a point where the given person to be trusted - has made a mis-step. Then they drive that point home, working like hell to always bring it up, in any context, anywhere.

Thus the psyops people inject and create false backdrops of lies and fabrications, trying to blur the lines between truth and fiction, working like hell to trip up those who are trying to illustrate realities to those who are in need of being shown how they are being manipulated.

This is "internet psyops 101", as a play into and on people's minds and how they work. Taken straight from the elitist societal control playbooks of yore. These techniques are thousands of years old, and are still used in the internet age as they are so very effective.

For all of our technology, the monkey inside, how the gears work and move, that has not changed much, if at all.

[Carmody]

"The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later."

There you go, Paul, I just got that one, for about 5-10 minutes.

I had to come in via a search engine.

[Curt]

Me too. But I blame Carmody. :cool:


"The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later."

There you go, Paul, I just got that one, for about 5-10 minutes.

I had to come in via a search engine.

[Curt]

I take these points very seriously. Nearly 100% agreed on all counts.

It doesn't take much to blow a wide gap in someone's credibility based on a single solitary 'mistake'.

And of course that is 'their' exact agenda.

Being aware of it helps. :)

I suppose it's a continuing struggle.

So be it.


Some of this stuff is so difficult to discern that we end up engaging the parts of people that are desperately looking for the single lie, the single mistake, the single hole... so they can dismiss the entire thing...and run.

In the same way the deeper animal inside of us looks thorough the millions of blades of safe grass, for the single one out of place and to make out the silhouette of the predator, just the single tiny hint....which is then used as the premise...to bolt, and run away.

This is the actual point that we engage in, in ourselves, in our body/mind, when analyzing difficult to understand or difficult to mentally negotiate data.

If the given author or person trying to show us the difficult and emotionally difficult data or situation..if, in that process and works...we find one flaw...we bolt. We sour and mistrust entirely, for the most part, as trust is yet to be established.

This potential and core way of mind/thought formation in humans, is very much used and manipulated via those who want secrets to remain secrets, those who want people to remain sheep, and asleep. One technique among many.

So they insert the falsehoods that are plausible into the system. they create the websites the stories, and so on. This appears to be the very premise of Sorcha Faal. falsehood data injection into the world space to be held up as lies.... to break people away from looking.

People's minds and how they form thoughts, how they think in difficult situations, this is being manipulated, in this exact way, for the purposes of misdirect and societal control.

I'm paraphrasing here, but those who have our trust are given multiple, multiple, multiple chances, before we believe that they have lied to us.

Conversely, those who are not known, have to do things correctly, IIRC, approximately 8 to 10 times before trust is begun to be established.

This is all happening under our conscious thought, underpinning our mind's formation of thoughts.

So....if those who wish to BREAK the establishment of trust, BEFORE it actually happens....all they have to do is finally score ONE solid point in establishing a point where the given person to be trusted - has made a mis-step. Then they drive that point home, working like hell to always bring it up, in any context, anywhere.

Thus the psyops people inject and create false backdrops of lies and fabrications, trying to blur the lines between truth and fiction, working like hell to trip up those who are trying to illustrate realities to those who are in need of being shown how they are being manipulated.

This is "internet psyops 101", as a play into and on people's minds and how they work. Taken straight from the elitist societal control playbooks of yore. These techniques are thousands of years old, and are still used in the internet age as they are so very effective.

For all of our technology, the monkey inside, how the gears work and move, that has not changed much, if at all.

[Rocky_Shorz]

Me too. But I blame Carmody. :cool:


"The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later."

There you go, Paul, I just got that one, for about 5-10 minutes.

I had to come in via a search engine.

it was my bad, I was sharing info on the GOZeus recovery info, I think we have an AI behind these attacks...

blew up an awesome post, I decided not to retype... for now...

[Carmody]

I've taken to highlighting all and then cutting, before I try to get it posted. An old precaution, but a good one. If it gets lost, I can then 'paste' the post back in, as I'm still holding onto it...

Also, my style of constantly re-editing, and adding bits in. this helps cut the given potential lost posts.

[Rocky_Shorz]

I can play the lotto for a year and the one day I don't my numbers come up...

it always happens the times I don't take the precautions...

that's why that lil AI bugger knows when to hit...

yesterday I was invited to join a news broadcast in London on fracking and twitter communications were jammed between us... posts showed up hours later...

must be it heard my comment, we can still unplug the AI...

[ThePythonicCow]

Me too. But I blame Carmody. :cool:
Yup - definitely his fault :).

For anyone interested, Amzer Zo started a separate thread on this brief, five minute, server slow down event, over at Server Too Busy -- Try Again Later (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?72024-Server-Too-Busy-Try-Again-Later).

[Dennis Leahy]

Hey Dennis,

I'm glad you're on board with the idea, brother.

I tried to open the attachment you posted, but I got an error message.

Would love to see your work!

It read, 'Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator'.


Love it, Curtis!

I occasionally make up a fake news story myself, post it on Faceboog, sit back and watch the fireworks. I have caught people several times, even though I usually end the fake story with such hyperbole or ridiculousness, that I think they are really guilty of reading a single (lead-in) paragraph and no further.

Still, to protect the guilty and gullible from embarrassment, I have taken to including a fake logo from a non-existent publication ("US News & World Retort") that sounds close to US News & World Report - but even that is not enough sometimes.

25996

Dennis
Hmmmmm.. it worked/works for me (when I click it) but doesn't show up...

I'll edit it into that previous post...

Here it is:

http://www.leahyguitars.com/Imagez/Two/USNewsAndWorldRetort.jpg

Dennis

[Tyy1907]

Personally I don't find it ha ha funny to muddy the waters of the internet more than they already are. Total psy-op. I think it is a way of climbatizing people to future orchestrated events and/or distracting the real truthseekers out there. There's enough entertainment all around us for crying out loud. Why waste everyones time?

[Dennis Leahy]

Personally I don't find it ha ha funny to muddy the waters of the internet more than they already are. Total psy-op. I think it is a way of climbatizing people to future orchestrated events and/or distracting the real truthseekers out there. There's enough entertainment all around us for crying out loud. Why waste everyones time?Well, I disagree. Deliberate satire and parody are enlightened forms of comedy, and were used by (who I think of as) the most brilliant comedians of my lifetime (Bill Hicks and George Carlin.) The fact that there are so many brane-ded idiots in our society is primarily of their own doing, and just maybe being embarrassed by gullibility might make a few of them more discerning. I'm not suggesting it is OK to openly mock and berate individuals for their gullibility (or stupidity), but in our compassion toward these people and the world that they have an effect upon, we do them greater service by providing them with intellectually challenging material to sample, analyze, and accept or reject.

Several years ago, I saw a blurb from an article posted somewhere. It upset me, and in reactionary mode, I made public comments about it. Shortly thereafter, I realized it was re-posted from The Onion. It was embarassing to me. I fell for it without vetting the article, without doing proper research. I had to laugh at myself, both privately and publicly, admit that I had gotten fooled... and I learned a powerful lesson. I'm not immune to having it happen again, but I do a lot better research now than I did a few years ago. Plus, I think it's good to laugh at myself and not take myself too seriously.

Dennis

[Tyy1907]

Don't get me wrong, I've been duped plenty of times before. My openminded ess has been played on before! I guess I'm just critical of everythi g I read now, even a lot of avalon threads. Seeking the truth isn't easy.

Point taken.

[Strat]

Laughter is a communal weapon of mass destruction. Not everyone knows how to use it though, not everyone has the firing codes.


Some of this stuff is so difficult to discern that we end up engaging the parts of people that are desperately looking for the single lie, the single mistake, the single hole... so they can dismiss the entire thing...and run.

Yeah this is why I generally don't talk about anything outside the mainstream when I'm out and about. If I'm hanging out with a few friends though then I don't mind discussing it so much.


This is "internet psyops 101", as a play into and on people's minds and how they work.

How annoying is it when the nightly news randomly reports on a UFO sighting? Dripping with bias till someone cracks a joke. How 'bout let me have a news channel?

[Roisin]

I love parody sites and currently I'm in an excellent position to send a family member, who I might be driving to Washington D.C. with to visit relatives, the following link about the "New West Wing Bunker" that's on the, er, "official" White House website.

http://whitehouse.gov1.info/tunnel/

http://whitehouse.gov1.info/visit/white-house-tunnel-map.jpg

When I first saw that site a couple of years ago, it fooled me and I KNOW that it's going to fool this relative of mine too because she only uses her laptop for emails and is pretty much in the dark about parody sites like this one.

We were talking about going on some tours around the Capitol and even though they no longer allow tours of the White House anymore, I'm going to suggest in the email that I send to her with that link in it that maybe we can even hop on the Metro and connect to the secret train that runs between Union Station and Mt. Weather to see how far along they are with that secret tunnel system they are building that connects to the West Wing at the White House too! http://smiley.nowdararpour.ir/innocent/5.gif

[Curt]

Here's another player in Pinocchio's Parade....

It's another 'Satirical' News Outlet, The Daily Squib, http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/

On it, you'll find fake news stories about Michelle Obama being a man, and a spoof story about Terry Wogan saying 'David Icke was right all along'.

That particular story (about Wogan) was put up on Project Avalon a couple weeks ago.

And members here quickly identified it as satire- long before it could do any damage.

It's helpful to remember that Good satire cuts through layers of B.S. and speaks truth through irony.

But the sort of 'satire' on display at Daily Squib isn't really satire at all.

It's purpose is different. It could more aptly be called anti-satire.

Because it does just the opposite. It muddies the waters and makes things less clear and more confused.

That, to me, seems to be Daily Squib's operational purpose.

There are a rash of these, what I would term, anti-satire sites doing this kind of thing.

They're taking a powerful medium for truth-telling and turning it into a noise creation tool.

A popular theme we can see in the controllers is to co-opt and pervert the real- whether nutrition, spirituality, culture, economics.

One trick ponies, these guys.

Too bad it's a damned good trick.

[Carmody]

The lowest lifespan expectation in the European theater of monarchical operations, was always that of the court jester. They were there for a reason. A very powerful pointed barb, that could entertain and also kill. Which backfired, at times...

[Curt]

Here's another piece of satire making the rounds on PA. It's a story about human meat being found in McDonald's hamburgers.

Here's a link to the thread. And thanks to PA member, Jean-Marie for pointing this out: http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?74024-Think-twice-before-eating-at-McDonalds-

The piece originated on the satire news site, Huzlers.com. It's being presented here on PA as a real story.

And I can understand why: with all of McDonald's evil deeds, the story is almost believable.

But alas, it's not.

Here's a link to the spoof story and video. http://huzlers.com/mcdonalds-exposed-for-using-human-meat/

[Curt]

Here's another player in Pinocchio's Parade, a satirical news site called, The Daily Currant.

It seems mainly to focus on lampooning right wing political figures and their points of view, i.e., Sarah Palin and Anne Coulter, the usual suspects.

Here's a story on their site about Sarah Palin saying Mexicans should be put on boats and sailed back to their country. http://dailycurrant.com/2014/11/20/sarah-palin-send-immigrants-back-across-ocean-to-mexico/

From their 'About Us' page:

The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide - now including South Sudan.

Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence - which presses forward.

Thanks to Ulli for pointing this out.

[Curt]

Here's the latest entry in Pinnochio's Parade. This is the satirical news outlet, National Report.

Here's a link to their site, which is 100% satire/parody/humour: http://nationalreport.net/

Here's a recent 'spoof' news article from National Report making the rounds in the alternative community. It's titled: FEMA’s First Concentration Camp Officially Opens In Arizona (http://nationalreport.net/femas-first-concentration-camp-officially-opens-arizona/)

Here's another story from them that is more obviously satire: In an Effort to Appeal to Younger Voters, Hillary Clinton Endorses Bernie Sanders (http://nationalreport.net/effort-appeal-younger-voters-hillary-clinton-endorses-bernie-sanders/)

And here's an interesting note: nowhere on their website do they mention they're a satirical news outlet.

[RunningDeer]

Are you dying to create your own fake news to see if you can get a hoax to go viral? Try Global Associated News (http://www.globalassociatednews.com). They let you plug in a name and choose from different locations and professions to auto-generate a hoax story. If you can't beat 'em, may as well join 'em. Right?

The 9 Worst Fake News Sites (http://factually.gizmodo.com/the-9-worst-fake-news-sites-1681729157)

(Note see original article (http://factually.gizmodo.com/the-9-worst-fake-news-sites-1681729157) for their reference links.)

Are you dying to create your own fake news to see if you can get a hoax to go viral? Try Global Associated News. They let you plug in a name and choose from different locations and professions to auto-generate a hoax story. If you can't beat 'em, may as well join 'em. Right?

A joke without a punchline is just a lie. And there sure are a lot of missing punchlines on the internet these days.

You've probably seen these "fake news" websites floating around on social media recently. You might have even shared a story from one of them yourself! But don't be ashamed. We all make mistakes. And hopefully this little guide will help you keep an eye out for the worst of the fakes.

9) World News Daily Report

Remember that story about loggers accidentally cutting down the world's oldest tree? It went viral in environmentalist circles, but turned out to be a fake put out by the "satire" site World News Daily Report. The weird part is that the real story that it was clearly inspired by is actually better.

With articles like First Rehab Center For People Addicted to Apple Products Inaugurated in New York, the site doesn't always seem intent on deceiving people. But it's still not very good. Not very good at all.

8) Free Wood Post

Stories like North Korea Unable to Access Their AOL Dial-Up pretty much say it all about the Free Wood Post. It's basically The Onion, if The Onion were written by fourth graders digging through USA Today for story ideas.

7) Empire News

Did you see a story making its way through Facebook recently about the accused Boston bomber getting beaten up in prison? It was a fake news item created by Empire News, a painfully unfunny site with other gems like Toddler Hospitalized With 2nd Degree Burns From Radiant Heat Flooring. Hilarious, right?

6) Huzlers

Stories like Huzlers' Subway Discovered To Be Using Cockroaches In Food, FDA to Close U.S. Subway Restaurants might be obviously fake to some people. But there's always someone who thinks it's real. Especially your aunt who already thinks fast food is a government-run conspiracy to keep the population docile. Which it is, by the way. Makes you think.

5) Betoota Advocate

Look, it happens to the best of us. Unfortunately our good friends at Deadspin were recently taken in by a fake story from the Betoota Advocate. The Olympics is not going to have 3-on-3 basketball. But why not? Sillier things have been Olympic sports in the past.
Frankly I'm just waiting for the day when I uncritically re-report some story from a fake news site. It's bound to happen. It's only a matter of time. Let's call it Actually's Law. But yeah, the Betoota Advocate is generally not funny, which is part of the problem.

4) Lightly Braised Turnip

If you read a story last year about an enormous giant squid that washed up on the shores of Southern California, you can thank/blame Lightly Braised Turnip. Admittedly, the name Lightly Braised Turnip is kind of a fun play on the world's most famous (and actually funny) fake news site, The Onion. But far too many of LBT's stories are clearly just meant to deceive people for viral shares.

3) The Borowitz Report

Humor is subjective, so I don't doubt that there are plenty of people who take pleasure from reading The Borowitz Report. And more power to them. But there are way too many stories that are simply too plausible, which often leads them to go viral because there's not a single joke in the story. Day Old Congress Most Hated Ever? Yeah, that's pretty much true. Obama Urged To Apologize For Anti-Fear Remark? Is there anything in that headline that strikes you as implausible or funny?

Perhaps The Borowitz Report is an indictment of modern politics in the most crushing way. Maybe Borowitz is using his platform as a kind of long con that ultimately makes us realize we live in a world that's simply beyond parody. But for the time being, it seems to serve primarily as something to get passed around and mistaken for real news.

Stories like Joni Ernst Says She Used to Wear Bucket On Head For No Apparent Reason honestly give me pause. The post is so incredibly absurd and infantile that I suddenly think I might not be smart enough to understand it. Is The Borowitz Report working on an entirely new level? Is it so bad that it's good? Probably not.

2) National Report

Banking on political outrage is generally a safe business bet. Just look at cable news. So when you see fake stories from The National Report like Planned Parenthood Proposes Mobile Abortion Services, it's pretty clear who the target audience might be.

The question becomes how long the outrage economy might last with Facebook's new automated tags calling out fake news. My guess? We have plenty of good viral fake news years ahead of us.

1) The Daily Currant

Over and over again the website Daily Currant has succeeded at getting its terrible fake stories shared by people ready to believe that Rick Santorum was on Grindr or Sarah Palin had joined Al-Jazeera. The latter was even picked up by the Washington Post.

In fact, a number of respected news outlets have re-reported stories from the Daily Currant. They even caused one of the best New York Times corrections of all time. After a dumb story wherein Kanye West says that he has a better ass than his wife Kim Kardashian, the Times lifted the quotes for their own story about Kardashian's butt.

The correction from the New York Times:


Editors' Note: November 22, 2014

An earlier version of this column was published in error. That version included what purported to be an interview that Kanye West gave to a Chicago radio station in which he compared his own derrière to that of his wife, Kim Kardashian. Mr. West's quotes were taken, without attribution, from the satirical website The Daily Currant. There is no radio station WGYN in Chicago; the interview was fictitious, and should not have been included in the column.


Yep. That was a real thing that happened in America's paper of record. And it's inexcusable coming from news outlets that aren't doing their homework. But somewhat understandable when there's not a single joke in the entire story.

This list doesn't even count the fake news purveyors that only exist on Twitter. Like that terribly unfunny North Korean government account. There are plenty of other fake news sites out there like The Onion that are actually funny. But sadly, people still mistake these for real news outlets. There's even a website called Literally Unbelievable that tracks people who still think The Onion is a real news source.

Are you dying to create your own fake news to see if you can get a hoax to go viral? Try Global Associated News. They let you plug in a name and choose from different locations and professions to auto-generate a hoax story. If you can't beat 'em, may as well join 'em. Right?

Factually is Gizmodo's blog of fun facts, debunkings, and weird trivia. Join us on Twitter and Facebook.

[Curt]

@Paula, Many thanks for that! :highfive:

Several of the news outlets featured in that article have shown up here on PA and in other alt media locations, and have been reported in this very thread.

But I had never seen them all mentioned in one place like that. Glad others have noticed the sudden rise in this sort of 'anti-satire/anti-parody.'

And wow, even the New York Times got stung by quoting one of these fake sites.

Now we definitely shoudln't feel so bad.

The game is afoot....

(We definitely need a Sherlock emoji)

This will have to do for now: :spy:

[Curt]

Here's another piece of satire making the rounds on PA. It's a story about human meat being found in McDonald's hamburgers.

Here's a link to the thread. And thanks to PA member, Jean-Marie for pointing this out: http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?74024-Think-twice-before-eating-at-McDonalds-

The piece originated on the satire news site, Huzlers.com. It's being presented here on PA as a real story.

And I can understand why: with all of McDonald's evil deeds, the story is almost believable.

But alas, it's not.

Here's a link to the spoof story and video. http://huzlers.com/mcdonalds-exposed-for-using-human-meat/

This story is making the rounds again in the alt community. This time from this site:

http://www.secretsofthefed.com/horor-human-meat-found-in-mcdonalds-meat-factory/

So I guess we can add secretsofthefed.com to the list of faux-news peddlers.

In this case they appear to have scraped a satirical piece off the web and reposted it as though it were real.

Draw your own conclusions there...

[PurpleLama]

They took down the article....

[Curt]

Wow, that was some quick shootin' wasn't it?

Interesting...

Edit: I had the link incorrect- an extra forward slash. Thanks to Purple and Pauler for pointing out the glitch. It's fixed now.



They took down the article....

[RunningDeer]

Wow, that was some quick shootin' wasn't it?


They took down the article....

Link was goofed up. One more time. MickyD-Meat (http://huzlers.com/mcdonalds-exposed-for-using-human-meat/)

[Curt]

Just fixed the link in the post above. It should direct to the article originally on Huzlers, and repurposed by secretsofthefed.com

[PurpleLama]

Looking at the secrets of the Fed site, they are mixing some good info with the bad, it appears.

[Calz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0