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50 Times People Fell For Fake Satirical Articles And Made Fools Of Themselves Online
Satire is usually meant to be funny. However, it often serves a greater purpose too, providing constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.
In the digital age, The Onion is probably the most prevalent satirical publisher—it produces articles on international, national, and local news. Even though The Onion ceased publishing its print edition in 2013, it has survived online where the company has been operating since the spring of 1996.
Occasionally, the serious, straight-faced manner in which The Onion "reports" on non-existent events, happenings, and ideas has resulted in people mistakenly thinking the stories are real news.
In fact, this started happening so often, it even gave birth to a subreddit, collecting screenshots of these gullible folks' reactions. Continue scrolling and check out some of the top posts of r/AteTheOnion, which currently has over 509K members and has started featuring reactions to satire created outside of The Onion too.
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#1
One Of The Many Reasons To Hate Sea World
One of the moderators of the subreddit, TheCats_Bananas, thinks that satirical news is now as important as any other form of comedy. "News outlets have always favored tragic events over uplifting ones so in a way, I think satirical news helps people see the bright side. Or at the very least it makes them consider that there might be a bright side and not everything is as terrible as it is presented on the news," they told Bored Panda.
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#2
Ate The Onion - Left The Cheetos
Robert "Bob" Mankoff, an American cartoonist who was the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for nearly twenty years, agrees with this statement. To justify mockery that is political satire, he goes back to Aristotle: "By holding bad behavior up to ridicule we might, as it were, 'laugh folly out of existence.' Syllogistically, a la Aristotle, it might be put something like this: 1) Politicians behaving badly will be mocked; 2) Politicians don't like to be mocked. 3) Politicians will stop behaving badly."
However, is that what really happens? Not really. But more than two millennia later, political folly is still as much with us despite the fact that political satire reaches more of the populace than ever before, as part of the entertainment industry. "There's now a veritable satiric-industrial complex. Furthermore, that populace is no longer just a passive recipient of Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Onion or an occasional New Yorker cover or cartoon, but is actively participating by blogging, Twittering and Facebooking their own material. Don't get me wrong, I like political satire and would like to think that it has some effect other than tweaking the mighty and getting laughs. But I think that would be confusing appearance with reality."
#3
The Onion’s Bias Is Showing Again
TheCats_Bananas believes there are two main reasons why people fall for fake political satire. "The first one [is] that people are used to seeing news on their feeds so when they see a satirical headline, they don't even consider that it might be satirical unless it's extremely farfetched, so they just comment on it without much of a second thought," they said. "The second reason is that in recent times, actual news headlines have gotten so unexpected and ridiculous that people have just accepted the fact that most of it is real so there's little reason to doubt anything anymore."
Their insights really make sense—I think r/AteTheOnion isn't laughing at the people in the pictures; it provides multilayered commentary on political communication and mass media. And that's why the subreddit is awesome.
#4
Damn Liberals And Their Fake News About The Sun
#5
Big Bollocks
#6
Please Tell Me I've Finally Found One
#7
Free Kidneys
Marcellus the Third 3 years ago
Did he also deliver a bucket load of fava beans, and a crate of Chianti?
#8
I’m Done
Truth Monster 3 years ago
This one actually could have been cool if real. Auction off the first doses to help pay for the rollout for us normies.
#9
To Be Fair, It Sounds Like Something He’d Say
#10
Dont Worry I Told Her It Was Satire
BlackestDawn 3 years ago
While this one is satire it wouldn't really surprise me if the much more militant and extremist segment of vegans would actually make such an argument.
#11
Poor Christians. Don’t Know What Hit Them
#12
Bunch Of Morons
#13
You Know Who Else Didn't Fight In Vietnam? Obama! Thanks Obama
Athena June 3 years ago
Every time I read news about Trump, I am genuinely not sure if it’s satire or not
#14
I Don't Think I Can Trust You Though
#15
Please Help This Girl
#16
Paw Patrol Gets Too Real For This Atetheonioner
Bettye McKee 3 years ago
Didn't he have to reload a couple of times? Sounds like the black Lab was just asking for it.
#17
The President Ladies And Gentlemen
#18
Spray My Kids In The Eyes With Vinegar? I’m Open To It
#19
Such Disrespect
#20
One Giant Leap For Apekind
Hazel Waring 3 years ago
Haha if you think animals haven't been launched into space to die before you've got another thing coming...
#21
Since Posting, Someone Tried To Tell Her In The Comments And She’s Still Arguing
Athena June 3 years ago
Not a James Bond fan? Then why, pray tell, are you so invested in commenting on something about James Bond?
#22
Is There Any Part This Guy Can't Play?
#23
Wake Up And Bite The Babylon Bee
#24
Onion-Like, Still Ate It
Marcellus the Third 3 years ago
Which part of "unbelievable" did they confuse themselves with?
#25
At Least She's Not Wrong
Athena June 3 years ago (edited)
Well... judging by some people’s’ dubious mask wearing technique....quite a large chunk of the population is ‘just stupid’
#26
Found One Today
#27
People Just Can't Accept Facts
PotatoNinja5000 3 years ago
This is obviously fake. Where are the bible-bashing Christians throwing tantrums that they are "totally the nicest and bestest Christian"? 🤣
#28
Dear Old Sarah Here Has Some Interesting Opinions About This Particular Movie Detail
#29
Will Do Anything For Clicks
#30
What In The Hell
#31
How Can You Seriously Think This Is Real
#32
Shared This On Facebook And All Of My Friends Are Freaking Out And Sending Me Frantic DM’s
#33
What A Guy
#34
Eye Enlargement Surgery
#35
Defender Of Truth
#36
I've Found My First In A While. Be Careful On The Roads
#37
The Poster Doesn’t Quite Let The Number “42 Million” Really Sink In
#38
You'd Think The Name Would've Given It Away
#39
Please Be A Joke
Amy Pattie 3 years ago
Oh crap, I too am married to a former teenager. Hope the feds don’t find me.
#40
Go Blow Your Noodle
#41
She Might Actually Be Vegetarian Based On How She Ate That Whole Onion Raw
Bettye McKee 3 years ago
Yes, I'll have the baby back ribs, and make sure it was a white baby.
#42
Americas Team
Truth Monster 3 years ago
if they chopped him in half, that would bring a new meaning to "halftime show"
#43
If I Worked At The Onion, My Office Would Be Full Of Framed Screenshots Like This
Bettye McKee 3 years ago
He should sue them for false imprisonment. He is obviously too tall to be the Ripper.
#44
Idiocracy
#45
I Finally Found One
#46
That Person Who Replied Must Of Felt So Intelligent Writing That
#47
What Are People These Days
#48
That Sweet Sweet Babylon Bee
#49
My Whole Timeline Has Been Quoting This Tweet
Add New Image
What do you think ?
chi-wei shen 3 years ago
Nowadays Onion articles have to be ridiculous to look like satire because articles that sounded satirical 20 years ago became reality.
Lexi Mitchell 3 years ago
The best is still the “‘No way to prevent this’ say officials in only country where this regularly happens” article they put out every time there’s a school shootings (or mass shooting?) It’s always the exact same article with the location name changed. It’s only funny in a sad way, but it gets the point across.
Load More Replies...
Oskar vanZandt 3 years ago
There are WAY too many people out there who don't 'get' sarcasm or satire... unfortunately, these same individuals are those who will believe bold faced lies, told by someone they idolise, even when these fallacious facts completely defy logic.
M O'Connell 3 years ago
The main problem is that we don't seem to teach critical thinking or the scientific method anymore. People can't appreciate satire because they have no internal mechanism to differentiate between logic and humor, so they simply believe everything they read.
Load More Replies...
chi-wei shen 3 years ago
Nowadays Onion articles have to be ridiculous to look like satire because articles that sounded satirical 20 years ago became reality.
Lexi Mitchell 3 years ago
The best is still the “‘No way to prevent this’ say officials in only country where this regularly happens” article they put out every time there’s a school shootings (or mass shooting?) It’s always the exact same article with the location name changed. It’s only funny in a sad way, but it gets the point across.
Load More Replies... Oskar vanZandt 3 years ago
There are WAY too many people out there who don't 'get' sarcasm or satire... unfortunately, these same individuals are those who will believe bold faced lies, told by someone they idolise, even when these fallacious facts completely defy logic.
M O'Connell 3 years ago
The main problem is that we don't seem to teach critical thinking or the scientific method anymore. People can't appreciate satire because they have no internal mechanism to differentiate between logic and humor, so they simply believe everything they read.
Load More Replies...
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