# Very entertaining reading - people on Facebook who thought articles from 'The Onion' were real **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503 "2013-11-09T13:14:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/21 "2013-11-12T22:43:17Z")
There’s another site, [The Duffel Blog](http://www.duffelblog.com/) (“The American Military’s Most-Trusted News Source”) - similar to The Onion, but for the military. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/22 "2013-11-12T23:21:34Z")
There is a new(ish) Australian version, [The Shovel](http://theshovel.com.au/) which is slowly finding its feet. It’s had a few good ones lately: > [@](#): > > **New Science Discoveries To Be Taken To Manus Island For Processing** > > Any Science found trying to enter Australian institutions would be held in detention on Manus Island before being permanently removed, under tough new regulations revealed by the Government today. > > The proposed laws are part of the Abbott Government’s broader commitment to put an end to Science, which Prime Minister Tony Abbott said was already showing results. “Since the new Government has come into power, there hasn’t been a single instance of Science trying to enter our shores. Previously, it was running unchecked, it was out of control. Under my government, Science will never be settled”. > [@](#): > > **Putin And Abbott Bond Over Bare-Chested Tiger Wrestling** > > Any animosity between Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Russian President Vladimir Putin at yesterday’s APEC meetings was put to one side last night, as the two leaders went out for some casual tiger wrestling. > > “It was an opportunity for a couple of blokes to take their shirts off, put aside their differences, have a tussle with some wild animals and get the testosterone pumping,” Mr Abbott said. “He teased me about my cycling – he thinks it’s a girls’ sport. I had a very, very gentle prod at his human rights record. Very gentle – I’m actually not sure if he heard. So it was really just a lot of fun”. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/23 "2013-11-30T14:32:17Z")
It’s funny but my friend N. just posted the onion article about 42 million dying in black Friday, and his aunt and someone else posted about how insane and how it “had to be fake.” I told him about [UB.org](http://UB.org) and he submitted it so it should show up soon. Literally Unbelievable may be even better than The Onion itself. I read it every week now. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/24 "2013-11-30T15:24:20Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > There’s another site, [The Duffel Blog](http://www.duffelblog.com/) (“The American Military’s Most-Trusted News Source”) - similar to The Onion, but for the military. I think that the writers at The Duffel Blog are even better than the Onion. Which is amazing because they have a much smaller pool to draw from, all of them are veterans. I think the humor is lost on most people because it is so inside. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/25 "2013-11-30T15:51:04Z")
The best part about the Harry Potter witchcraft scare was Concerned Citizens saying about how it was especially dangerous because children often have a hard time telling fiction from reality. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/26 "2013-11-30T18:37:17Z")
I’ve been reading the site almost daily for a couple years. The best ones were about Planned Parenthood opening an Abortionplex in popular malls conveniently near Starbucks. [One congressman fell for it-- Louisiana (R).](http://literallyunbelievable.org/post/17153265749/how-exactly-did-you-get-elected) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/27 "2013-11-30T18:45:32Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Yesterday, it almost got me. A friend posted a link to a story about an elementary school having cross-dressing day for LGBTQ awareness. My jaw dropped until I read the URL & then breathed a sigh of relief. Yep, I almost fell victim to POE. > (I would not be surprised if some school in some really far-Left district did this in the near future.) [Berkely high-school has “Skirts for Sasha” day to support student who was set on fire on bus.](http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Berkeley-High-School-Students-Wear-Students-to-Honor-Sasha-Fleischman-231140321.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/28 "2013-11-30T18:52:25Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > There is another site [nationalreport.net](http://nationalreport.net) that focuses on fake conservative news. It’s the source of President Obama personally funding a Muslim heritage museum (a Fox News staffer was taken in by that) and him naming November to be Muslim Appreciation Month. Once a week, someone on my FB links to that site. Sometimes, they are close friends who I know to be intelligent people. A very similar one caught one of my right-wing/no-brain friends: [I’m the one in dark blue](http://i.imgur.com/YbaFavT.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/29 "2013-12-01T22:21:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I think that the writers at The Duffel Blog are even better than the Onion. Which is amazing because they have a much smaller pool to draw from, all of them are veterans. I think the humor is lost on most people because it is so inside. Just looking at their front page right now, I think I get pretty much all the stories, and I would definitely miss any genuine military inside humor. I mean, take these stories: General Indifference Assumes Command Of Afghan War Effort Navy Solves Budget Woes By Selling Ship Naming Rights, Launches USS Ford F-150 Amber Alert Issued For Missing US Foreign Policy Applebee’s Declares Bankruptcy After Offering Free Alcohol For Veterans Day WWII Veterans Storm DC Memorial, Take Park Rangers As Prisoners Of War and, of course: Female Officer Acquitted For Sexual Relationship With Enlisted Female Because Honestly, It’s Kind Of Hot ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/30 "2013-12-02T09:46:34Z")
I particularly like the one posted by someone at a news station who then actually defended her choice to post it, still thinking it was real. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/31 "2013-12-02T16:07:10Z")
Here’s one that I keep thinking HAS to be from the Onion, but apparently is real: > **[Amazon Developing Drone Delivery Service (VIDEO)](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/amazon-developing-drone-delivery-service-video?)** > > Amazon is getting in the drone business, the online retail giant's founder and CEO revealed in an interview that aired Sunday. During a segment on "60 Minutes," Jeff Bezos unveiled for the first time… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/32 "2013-12-02T16:17:45Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Just looking at their front page right now, I think I get pretty much all the stories, and I would definitely miss any genuine military inside humor. I mean, take these stories: > > General Indifference Assumes Command Of Afghan War Effort > > Navy Solves Budget Woes By Selling Ship Naming Rights, Launches USS Ford F-150 > > Amber Alert Issued For Missing US Foreign Policy > > Applebee’s Declares Bankruptcy After Offering Free Alcohol For Veterans Day > > WWII Veterans Storm DC Memorial, Take Park Rangers As Prisoners Of War > > and, of course: > > Female Officer Acquitted For Sexual Relationship With Enlisted Female Because Honestly, It’s Kind Of Hot Well sure, those are just the broad topics. But just like The Onion, some of the best lines are buried deep in the stories. And some of the jokes that most may find mildly amusing work much better to the target audience. Some of their articles deal with broad topics that most might fully understand like US foreign policy. But many are very inside jokes like, “Deployment Queen Expecting Royal Baby,” “Deployed Submariner Wakes From Army Nightmare,” and “Outgoing Company Commander: ‘I Hate You All’.” When you read them I’m sure you could find humor and understand the context. But they are much more effective if you have witnessed a Deployment Queen or know the hell that a CO can be put through by his troops. Coincidentally the Washington Post has a write up about that [website today](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/duffel-blog-makes-fun-of-military-absurdities--and-has-the-pentagon-laughing-too/2013/12/01/ab5e817c-514e-11e3-a7f0-b790929232e1_story.html). ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503/33 "2013-12-02T16:36:52Z")
In response to [this Daily Currant](http://dailycurrant.com/2013/11/30/woman-kills-three-for-last-x-box-at-chicago-wal-mart/) article, a relative posted this today: > [@](#): > > This is pathetic, sad and ridiculous!!! What the fuck has this world come to when people are KILLING for material things that can be easily bought later…WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR TEACHING YOUR KIDS!!! Apparently statements like this didn’t tip her off: > [@](#): > > According to Wal-Mart, America’s largest retailer, the company admits that more than 5,000 shoppers will be killed at their stores this holiday season. > > “We include people killed from Thanksgiving to Christmas, so it’s not like they are all dying in one day. Besides, more kids will die making this junk than they do buying it, we see that as a positive,” Wal-Mart spokesman Charlie Hass said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-entertaining-reading-people-on-facebook-who-thought-articles-from-the-onion-were-real/673503.md?page=1)