Oh, you haven’t seen the comments on The Onion’s facebook page.
The point isn’t that Babylon Bee is as good as A Modest Proposal. Rather, both are examples of satire. Good grief, even that has to be explained.
As for claims that fact-checking satire is needed for readers of such, that makes no sense at all.
It amuses me that it’s the Washington Examiner running that story.
Not for those who read it on purpose, but for those who do things such as choose “Born in the USA” for their walk-in song or “Every Breath You Take” as their first dance… yep.
It’s not needed for the people who read it intentionally, it’s needed for all the people who clicked a link on Facebook, or didn’t click a link and just read a headline.
There’s a dude here on the boards who totally bought an Onion story about Biden tearing shit up on his Harley, cussing and drinking with iirc Sarah freaking Palin on the back. Needless to say, that dude ain’t the brightest bulb. That story even featured an obviously photoshopped picture.
Wrong. Everyone knows people have been getting stupider over time. It’s a matter of dogmatic fact, and bringing up facts to the contrary merely proves you have no respect.
“Satire” being “Whatever blatant lies I can spread to get clicks, whether or not they’re funny, just so long as I can accuse you of being humorless when you call me on it.”
These days, jokes are harder to get than a Christian cheerleader.
It would help if they weren’t flat on their backs.
The Bee seems to be an attempt by white evangelicals to be hip. They probably succeed, relative to white evangelicals generally, which probably suffices for them. Stories like:
and
pretty much give the game away.
In this case, you don’t fact-check but just point out that it’s a satire.
Anyone who reads it intentionally will either see it as fact or do something ridiculous like fact-check. Just say that it’s made-up info meant to make fun of others.
It’s worth repeating that lies — and let’s face it: “satire” is just another term for lie when it’s humorless and intended to gull the dumb — degrades American discourse even if everyone figures out that they’re lies!
Why? Because when lying is expected, truth no longer even seems truthy. It does no good to explain to FoxPotatoes that the cutesy blondes are lying at them: “Sure! They have to lie in self-defense. CNN lies, NBC lies, Everybody lies. I watch FoxNews because their lies are truthier.” :smack:
Who decides what is humorless or not? Who decides who is dumb, and who decides on the measure for that? If the reader sees the satirical piece as humorous and is not dumb (which is probably why he saw the piece as humorous because he knows it’s made-up), then is it still a lie? (Perhaps you meant an intentional lie?)
This might be the first time that the Babylon Bee (indirectly) made me laugh. 
The Babylon Bee needs to convert to a political cartoon format as a hint that, in theory, it’s intended as irony. You know, like Mallard Fillmore or Prickly City.
Jonathan Swifties:
“I’ll have another Po’ Boy, please,” he said hungrily.
That is generally what a fact check in these cases amounts to. Snopes tracks the rumor back to the satire site, so they can say it’s satire.
The problem is that many who spread these things don’t include the source. That’s how they become something that has to be fact-checked.