Everyday is April Fool in the 'fake news' era
Everyday is April Fool in the 'fake news' era
Every April 1, media and businesses produce supposedly amusing fake stories pranking their audiences but the comedy value in this has taken a hit in the fake news era.
2 min read
01 Apr, 2017
April Fool fake news are no longer funny [AFP file-photo]
Every April 1, media outlets and businesses produce supposedly amusing fake stories pranking their audiences -- and this year is no exception -- but the comedy value in this has taken a hit.
After all, what fake story can beat the very real story that Donald Trump is now leader of the free world, and Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi leader of the most populous Arab nation? What can be more ridiculous than Brexit or that BoJo is now Her Majesty's Foreign Secretary?
What can be more ludicrous than the fact that fake news Breitbart and Infowars have bigger audiences than household names like the Washington Post?
Satire today is just depressing. Comedy is now just something the Russian embassies' twitter accounts do to deflect and obfuscate. Clowning is the regular press briefing by Sean Spicer.
But there is something else, and perhaps even more sinister.
Satirical fake stories are no longer funny. Fake news is a serious offence, and a deliberate tactic that takes advantage of the once-humourous gullibility of some audiences to push an agenda of brainwashing.
The result? Dictators are getting away with murder, and the far right is on the rise, because lying is their best and only strategy.
The fact that people still fall for fake stories means humanity's baloney detector, despite everything we've been through this past year, is still not working, and this line of satire is now a sad reminder of this.
After all, what fake story can beat the very real story that Donald Trump is now leader of the free world, and Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi leader of the most populous Arab nation? What can be more ridiculous than Brexit or that BoJo is now Her Majesty's Foreign Secretary?
What can be more ludicrous than the fact that fake news Breitbart and Infowars have bigger audiences than household names like the Washington Post?
Satire today is just depressing. Comedy is now just something the Russian embassies' twitter accounts do to deflect and obfuscate. Clowning is the regular press briefing by Sean Spicer.
But there is something else, and perhaps even more sinister.
Satirical fake stories are no longer funny. Fake news is a serious offence, and a deliberate tactic that takes advantage of the once-humourous gullibility of some audiences to push an agenda of brainwashing.
The result? Dictators are getting away with murder, and the far right is on the rise, because lying is their best and only strategy.
The fact that people still fall for fake stories means humanity's baloney detector, despite everything we've been through this past year, is still not working, and this line of satire is now a sad reminder of this.
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