I’ve often used this space to cite strange news stories from
around the world in an effort to point out that odd and humorous behavior is a
basic human trait but also to avoid having to come up with an original humorous
thought of my own. I never knowingly use fake news; I don’t need to, the world
is a far funnier place than I can create.
Now it seems I’ve been going about this all wrong.
Recently there’s been a lot of buzz about “fake news” and
it’s impact on world events. Liberal media claims that fake news sources helped
elect Donald Trump (and they are right) while conservative press outlets claim
that fake news is an excuse used by the liberal media to explain the legitimate
election of Donald Trump (and they, too, are right.) The saddest part of this
paragraph is that we all concede that we have to chose between liberal and
conservative press….how pathetic is that?
It’s important here to recognize that as a humor columnist
and a semi-pro smart ass I don’t have a dog in this hunt. Politics is not my beat,
but human behavior especially outrageous human behavior is and I think these
fake news peddlers have strayed on to my turf. This is where I call bullshit…on
their bullshit….so to speak.
It turns out that both the liberal and conservative media
are dead wrong about the source and motivation of a large percentage of the
fake news. I know, right? MSNBC and Fox News are equally wrong ….knock me over
with a feather! The professional bullshit artists like Brian Williams or Chris
Wallace aren’t the real fake news problem; they dutifully spout the party line
scripts they’re given and we expect it.
It’s those crazy headlines we see online that make us want
to shout, “I knew it” because we want to
believe it! We click on it and share it so all of our right-thinking friends
who also suspected that Hillary was the test-tube baby of Hitler and Tokyo Rose
can finally be vindicated too. We don’t bother to read the story….if there even
is a story….the headline says it all
anyway, right?
First of all, the election is over so it’s OK to admit that
you never really believed that all of those politicians (who just happened to
be from the party you don’t like….fill in the blank, the headlines were there
both ways) were all secretly meeting on some kind of sicko pedophile Fantasy Island.
You knew they were just making that stuff up right?
Oh, and the FBI agent in charge of Hillary’s email leaks
didn’t mysteriously die in a house fire that just happened to destroy all of
the best evidence against her…you knew that too, right? And no, Donald Trump
did not molest Punky Brewster….it didn’t happen. But that stuff about Elvis
being alive and working in a carwash in Poughkeepsie is all true….I saw the
pictures.
Until recently you had to go to the checkout aisle at the
supermarket to find those kinds of headlines but now, thanks to the Internet,
you can get the real scoop without ever leaving home. What’s more, there’s some
real money to be made in making up news…like I said, I’ve been doing this all
wrong!
It seems that there is a group of kids in Veles, Macedonia
who figured out that if you make up a legit sounding website, write an
outrageous headline then pay Facebook to boost it you can get rich when
gullible Americans share it with their friends. There are Macedonian school
kids who can’t drive yet bringing in over $50K a month for writing “Hillary
linked to Anthony Weiner’s naked seal clubbing excursions for the super rich!”
I really wish I was making this up but it’s true…well, not
the headline I made that one up, but these Eastern European punks have figured
out that all they have to do is write a scandalous headline, cut a paste a few
quotes from blogs and wait for Americans to click “Like” and “Share” and the
euros will roll in. They learned earlier this year that headlines that were
favorable to Trump were shared far more often and paid better so Hillary
bashing became a Macedonian gold mine.
A BBC reporter asked a well-dressed young man who was
sporting a new Rolex and a serious case of acne if he was worried that he and
his mates might have influenced the American election he laughed. “Teenagers in
our city don’t care how Americans vote. They are only satisfied that they make
money and can buy expensive clothes and drinks.”
I was immediately reminded of Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd
doing their famous “wild and crazy guys” routine on SNL. Think of it, back then
we were laughing at their failed attempt to “cruise hot foxes with their large
American breasts” Now who’s laughing?
I’m clearly in the wrong business, there is so much more
money in writing bogus headlines than writing mediocre humor columns. Besides,
I think I may have more of a knack for writing that kind of utter horse crap
than my normal brand of mildly amusing horseshit. Try this:
“From Fake Wrestling to Fake President!” or “Reality TV
Becomes Actual Reality.” Never mind….I suck at this.
I’d better stick to my own brand of almost clever nonsense
and leave fake political news to those wild and crazy guys from Macedonia where
it belongs. Remember, if you click it and share it often enough it actually becomes
true. I think Abe Lincoln said that…it must be true, I saw it on Facebook.
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