Literally Unbelievable. May 27, 2011 Jill For everyone who has ever laughed at someone who didn’t understand that The Onion is satire.
This is why The Shins wrote a song titled “Know Your Onion!” But seriously. The lack of media/information literacy education is terrifying. I love you librarians/media specialists. Keep on fighting the good fight.
Too Funny.. I myself have been guilty of doing a double-take and then going “Oh. The Onion. heh.” I’ve actually taken to making sure that mainstream news organizations aren’t The Onion when I read about some of the shit that republicans in congress are trying to pull lately. Because some of that stuff just seems like it should be satire, except that it isn’t.
While this whole thing is one major lollercoaster, this was my most favourite of everything on it: std’s are caused by uncontrolled sex. (Sex apart from Marriage) UNCONTROLLED SEX YOU GET CANCER AND STDS IF YOU USE CONDOMS Control your sex better, please. Get married, because then contraceptives don’t give you cancer or STDs.
Funny all right, but don’t forget that these people VOTE. (At least, some of them do, unfortunately.)
The really terrifying thing is how closely ‘real’ news often approximates ‘onion’ news. So closely, that people actually get them confused!
Feeling a bit nihilist after reading some of those posts. To hell with it all. Because oldlady and Vigée are right: these are actual people who are so easily duped by the media, and then use that “information” when making decisions and voting.
Actual news that seems like it should have been from the Onion: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15716018
It is funny, but I also find it frightening. I mean, really, how do people believe this stuff? Don’t you ever fact check an article that you read? As a scientist, I just. don’t. get. it!
In high school, I once convinced a friend of mine that an Onion article about a mischievous raccoon who wreaks havoc on an international space station was real. I was reading out loud from it and she was like “WHAT how did the raccoon get into space?!?” She was definitely an intelligent person too–it can happen to the best of us sometimes.
LOL I’m going to post that article about the “Abortionplex” just to se ehow many people take it seriously
This is perfect timing. My uncle just commented on an Onion article I posted about how a U.S. official was fired for saying a perfectly reasonable thing about Israel. He told me he combed through 20 pages on google looking for the more information about the article. I even mentioned when I posted it that it wasn’t real.
Great link, thanks! The best (and most frustrating) comments — “omfg i cant belive obama did taht hes so stupied dont vote 4 him”