# Is Conservapedia a parody? Or actually serious? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360 "2010-10-26T00:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@carm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/1 "2010-10-26T00:22:02Z")
I always thought it was just a compendium of right wing lies. But this is too ridiculous (surely) to be taken seriously by _anyone:_ From their Harry Potter entry: > [@](#): > > The books also present witches and wizards as being both normal people and abundant. This deceit causes children to likewise accept magic and witchcraft as normal, and they identify with the children in the books, again furthering their acceptance and witchcraft. _The reality about magic - that witches are evil and, thankfully, not common - is not presented._ It’s gotta be a parody, right? Please tell me it’s a parody. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/2 "2010-10-26T00:28:30Z")
No. It’s meant to be a serious site. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/3 "2010-10-26T00:29:44Z")
No-one knows. In all probabilty, there are both trolls and serious people working together. But no-one can tell the difference between the two. It’s like the ending of Animal Farm. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/4 "2010-10-26T00:29:49Z")
It’s a Wiki run by extremely conservative right wing biblical literalists. Basically, that means if you can spin the bible into any kind of anti- left/socialist/atheist/catholic/moderate story, it stays in. If you try to put any kind of decency or moral thought or even plain facts that contradict the founders’ politics in, your edits will get removed and you’ll get banned. In other words, rest assured that the project is sincere even while it’s filled with parody - it’s just too hard to parody, because only the most extreme parody is taken seriously by the moderators (the rest is rejected for being too “liberal”). ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/5 "2010-10-26T00:32:35Z")
I tend to agree with the “no one knows” set. Like all wikis, it is what the users do with it that counts. If you want to treat it as a parody, go for it. If not, go for it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/6 "2010-10-26T00:35:53Z")
Here’s Andy Schlafly (founder of conservapedia) on the Colbert report > **[The Colbert Report | Comedy Central](https://www.cc.com/shows/the-colbert-report)** > > Stephen Colbert takes on cable news pundits (and everyone else) in this political satire. And yes, his project “to make the bible conservative” is serious too, as far as I can see. He’s a fucking creep. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/7 "2010-10-26T00:38:45Z")
The site was originally sincere, but there is a large subset (probably a majority) that see it as a place to see what inanities they can get away with. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/8 "2010-10-26T00:41:31Z")
[The Conservapedia entry on Poe’s Law.](http://www.conservapedia.com/Poe%27s_law) This may qualify as a [quine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine_%28computing%29). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/9 "2010-10-26T01:08:25Z")
Every time I try to read that site I start out laughing out loud, but end up getting angry at the level of willful ignorance, dishonesty, and stupidity. I can’t stay at that site for any length of time. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/10 "2010-10-26T01:18:04Z")
It’s impossible to tell for certain just like it’s impossible to know any other motive for certain. Additionally, a certain species of commentator on every forum (it seems) thrives on insisting that everyone even a little outside of the norm is ‘trolling’ or ‘putting us on’ or similar; when they do it for Pat Buchanan it’s one thing, as his gains from playing the crowd are obvious, but it’s difficult to tell what Andy Schlafly has to gain from Conservapedia that’s worth all his efforts. So the working hypothesis is that Conservapedia was begun with intentions as serious as the Great Soviet Encyclopedia’s (a triumph in the field of political reference works) were, and that at least some of the current contributors still intend to do precisely what the site’s banner and other statements of purpose declare. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/11 "2010-10-26T01:31:02Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > [The Conservapedia entry on Poe’s Law.](http://www.conservapedia.com/Poe%27s_law) That’s not coherent enough to be an example of anything, for or against. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/12 "2010-10-26T01:44:11Z")
Here’s what the founder had to say about the theory of relativity: > [@](#): > > The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world…See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson’s book about the 20th century, and the article written by liberal law professor Laurence Tribe as allegedly assisted by Barack Obama. Virtually no one who is taught and believes relativity continues to read the Bible, a book that outsells New York Times bestsellers by a hundred-fold [http://gawker.com/5608853/emc2-is-a-liberal-conspiracy](http://gawker.com/5608853/emc2-is-a-liberal-conspiracy) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/13 "2010-10-26T02:03:00Z")
And this is what scientists have to say about the [sanctity of general relativity](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827811.500-unweaving-the-cosmic-web-relativity-goes-large.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news). (Yes, I know that this is shooting fish in a barrel. It’s just that I happened to read this article not ten minutes ago.) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/14 "2010-10-26T03:30:43Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Here’s what the founder had to say about the theory of relativity: > > > [@](#): > > > > The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by **liberals** who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world. > > > > [snip] > > > > See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson’s book about the 20th century, and the article written by **liberal** law professor Laurence Tribe > > [http://gawker.com/5608853/emc2-is-a-liberal-conspiracy](http://gawker.com/5608853/emc2-is-a-liberal-conspiracy) Well, there is historical precedent: ‘[Jewish Physics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik)’ and ‘[Bourgeois pseudoscience](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois_pseudoscience)’, only replace ‘Jew’ and ‘Jewish’ or ‘Bourgeois’ with ‘liberal’. That isn’t enough to guarantee he’s faking, mind you; it might be evidence in favor of it, though, had he not sunk quite so much energy into this low-payoff Conservapedia project. On the gripping hand, it is entirely possible for someone’s stupid behavior and stupid statements to be caused, not by some hidden genius for performance art and a love of trolling, but by stupidity. This can be fairly difficult to get everyone to accept as a viable least hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/15 "2010-10-26T05:35:32Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > That’s not coherent enough to be an example of anything, for or against. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/16 "2010-10-26T05:39:00Z")
Oh, [Schafly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Schafly)’s serious all right. He’s also dumber than a sack of hammers. If I didn’t know who was running it, I’d think it was fake too. As far as trolls – they’d have to be pretty subtle, since he’s extremely anal about that place. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/17 "2010-10-26T05:52:42Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Every time I try to read that site I start out laughing out loud, but end up getting angry at the level of willful ignorance, dishonesty, and stupidity. I can’t stay at that site for any length of time. Coming soon, BibleTropes; keep you clicking and reading for hours. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/18 "2010-10-26T06:18:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Coming soon, BibleTropes; keep you clicking and reading for hours. [The Bible](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBible) is absolutely full of tropes, according to TV Tropes. Seriously. It’s a huge page. Check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/19 "2010-10-26T07:33:41Z")
Dammit, beaten to the punch by reality once again. ---
**Author:** ![carm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@carm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360/20 "2010-10-26T15:24:55Z")
Wow. Scary stuff. Real or not though, it makes for some great reading - I love the wikipedia entry: > [@](#): > > Wikipedia is a online encyclopedia[1] written and edited by an ad hoc assemblage of anonymous persons _who are mostly, according to the Register (UK)[2][3], teenagers and unemployed persons_. And their definition of a liberal is hilarious: > [@](#): > > A liberal (also leftist) is someone who rejects logical and biblical standards, often for self-centered reasons. If it ain’t a joke, it’ll do till the joke gets here! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-conservapedia-a-parody-or-actually-serious/558360.md?page=2)