It could be poor reading comprehension, gullibility, or just a failure to check sources, but many people have a problem with understanding satire. Even when it's not subtle, some folks really just miss the point of satire, or don't want to get it. Sometimes it's funny to see someone react with outrage over a fake story about NASA shooting a chimp into the sun. Other times it's just kind of pitiful, like when someone uses a joke as a source in an actual article.
the onion
Via Morning Consult
If you need to get your news, you could do worse than The Onion, a new poll shows.
According to Morning Consult, “a media and technology company at the intersection of politics, policy, Wall Street, and business strategy,” the satirical newspaper The Onion, which recently ran the headline “Report: Bananas Still Most Popular Fruit For Pretending To Receive Phone Call” is more credible than Infowars, which recently ran the headline “The Shocking Proof That Multiculturalism Has Failed.” No surprise here: The Onion headline is true.
In a shocking upset to conspiracy theorists and screaming men around the globe, 18 percent of people polled considered The Onion (again, the paper put together for laughs) credible, while only 17 percent considered InfoWars credibe. Even more shocking is our new Chief Strategist to the White House Steve Bannon’s former stomping ground, Breitbart, is only considered 19 percent credible. People aren’t just finding white supremacy very helpful these days.
Of course, as the poll points out, this might be affected by the fact that people haven’t heard of Breitbart or Infowars.
“Credibility was significantly lower for far-right sites such as Breitbart and InfoWars, but both were also hampered by being largely unknown. Forty-two percent of people said they “never heard of” Breitbart, and 49 percent said the same about InfoWars. Twenty-six percent said Breitbart was not credible, while 21 percent said the same of InfoWars. Breitbart and InfoWars did better with Republican men, with 32 percent and 27 percent respectively saying the sites were credible.”
You’re still probably better off choosing The Onion. Check out this headline from the other day. Topical!
This 2008 Onion Special Report on the over-use of then Disney star, Miley Cyrus. They humorously discuss Miley Cyrus as a resource, and that by 2013 will have peaked and will be an "...incapable of causing anyone any amusement". Read the full Popwatch article here for more.
The Onion continues it's coverage of Miley Cyrus today in, Let Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus' VMA Performance Was Our Top Story This Morning.
Via The Onion
When it comes to compost-fueled cars: "I'll be your visionary, and you do the things I come up with."
By Unknown
Early Bird Special: Meet Linda Johnston: Guinness World Record-setter for Longest Amount of Time Spent Talking About Oneself.
[theonion.]
