Every once in a while, some silly link spreads through the world’s message board, blog, and aggregate websites, leading many to despair of a portion of the general population’s apparent lack of critical thinking skills. Every few weeks there’s a new “Whoosh Heard 'Round the World,” creating outrage or bewilderment amongst the gullible herd.
The most recent one that seems to attract a lot of righteous condemnation is the Official Countdown Site to Hermione Granger’s 18th Birthday, which, apart from a consistently over-the-top style which should be pretty much obviously tongue-in-cheek to anyone, contains incredibly subtle clues situated passim, such as this:
[quote]
Here are some crazy wicked-cool fun facts about Hermione:[ul][li]Name: Hermione Jane Granger[]Birthday: September 19[]Hair Color: Brown[]Eye Color: Brown […][]Irony: An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning; a literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect.[/ul][/li][/quote]
Which one of these sort of sites magnifies your estimation of people’s tendency to credulity the most, and why?
Back in the mid- or late-90s, there was a website set up for a mock company that was offering volunteers $500 to have a chip implanted in the back of their hand. This chip was being tested as a possible new monetary system. The website was announced on USENET and from there it was passed on mostly by word-of-mouth.
I recall there was a bit of an uproar amongst the USENET community, with many people lambasting this “company” for doing the work of the devil. A few seemed thoroughly upset that this company didn’t realize it was fulfilling Revalations prophecies and whatnot.
There was one small link that led to the punchline, a page pointing out that it was just a joke.
It even got a write-up in Wired, if I remember correctly, and the fellow that set it up had tons of requests for media interviews. He and I convered a few times via e-mail just about how well the hoax was received.
I’ve never been able to find those original posts in USENET, nor the article in Wired. If anyone knows what I’m talking about, maybe you can point me in the right direction?
I can’t find a cite, either, but there was an entry in the satirical diary column of the Guardian newspaper which ended up being reported as an ‘exclusive’ somewhere halfway round the world.
I believe the Onion article in question reported that Congress was threatening to leave Washington D.C., unless the city built them a new capital building. The PRC failed to reconize that it was a parady of various sports teams wanting new, city payed for, stadiums.
Back then, it was a joke. Now, it’s real, except for the $500 bit. These chips are already in use by Mexican police, and the FDA is considering whether US hospitals can use them in their workers as a biometric security measure. I heard a story that the DoD is considering their use for troops and civilians in dangerous areas as a method of identifying corpses, although it’s possible I misheard or misremember the report.
Anyone here ever read Zelazny’s My Name is Legion? Because, damn, it sure sounds as if parts of the world are trying to get there, fast.
My personal favorite is the Flat Earth Society. I sometimes wonder if these people are serious or not. I hope they’re not, but then again, we all know there are some real wackos out there.
Also not a link inside Flat Earth takes you to another group (?) Operation Dateline Dig. These people state that “the original flat earth was confined, restricted, and twisted into a perverse spherical shape by a conspiracy of TELEVISION BROADCASTERS in an attempt to realize their dream of TOTAL HUMAN MIND CONTROL through subsurviant captive homogonized market share”.
Apparently (I heard on a forum, so could be bollocks) the UK government weren’t very happy about this being about because it could confuse the British public. I don’t know what’s worse, people believing that site’s for real, or the government thinking we will take it for real.
Seems like middle-school humor taken to an extreme. No biggie here, but jeez it gets annoying to see these guys post in just about every slashdot thread. Although, I can’t really see anyone as taking these guys seriously, even accidentally.
I saw one in a copy of Reader’s Digest a few years back. (I was reading it in the dentist’s office because I’d forgotton my book.)
It was a letter to the editor in in response to an article on J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter book series. The writer stated that the magazine shouldn’t have done a piece on Rowling since half of the profits from the Potter books went to the Church of Satan. The writer stated that she had read this in The Onion.
The editor gently replied that *The Onion * is a satirical web site, and that the Potter books have brought joy to children worldwide.
I had a vision of her having no idea what “satirical” meant, and thinking it had something to do with “satan”. It’d be funny, if it weren’t so sad.
I got caught by Hunting for Babmi. Of coarse that was after the local news reported it as the lead story. Basically these guys said you could go on “hunts” and shoot half naked women wih paintball guns.
