Fox Nation Readers Confuse Onion Article With Real News

[Hissyspit]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/fox-nation-readers-confuse-onion-article-real-news/

Fox Nation readers confuse Onion article with real news

By David Edwards
Friday, November 26th, 2010 -- 1:32 pm

Fox News' opinion website Fox Nation and their readers don't seem to know satire when they see it. The Fox News sister site re-posted a joke from the satirical website The Onion Friday about President Barack Obama sending a 75,000-word e-mail to the the entire nation. At no point does Fox Nation note that the story is a satire.

The Onion story joked that Obama had "reached the end of (his) rope" and sent out the "rambling" stream of consciousness e-mail that addressed everything from the war in Afghanistan to his live-in mother-in-law.

The story goes on to say that the fake Obama e-mail was 27 megabytes and 127 printed pages. If Fox Nation knows the story is a joke, they aren't letting on, and many of the comments on the post treat the story as if it were actual news.

- snip -

Janerogers wrote:

OK. Long, rambling tirade typed at 4 am. Judgement impaired as he didn't think twice before sending it. Didn't think of the consequences. Diagnosis: Bipolar Disorder. And we already know he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Omama is mentally unstable and should be removed from office at once. Can't wait to hear what Charles Krauthammer has to say about this psychotic episode.

Freedomfighter2 said he e-mailed The Onion to ask them to confirm the story.

Markejohn commented:

God Help Us . . . what person in their right mind would send a 75,000 word email.
The guy is losing it and we should all be SCARED . . . Obama is unstable and who knows what he might do

MORE

[Swamp Rat]

1. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

:rofl:

[TheEuclideanOne]

79. Conditioning from automatically believing everything somebody tells you

These guys are just fucking dense. This is what happens when a group of people simply never checks a source.... ever.

[Styxiv]

96. It's more like

Because they WANT to believe it. They HATE a Black intelligent man in the white house and want so bad to believe ANYTHING negative they read. I doubt they care EVEN when confronted with the fact it came from a joke site. They'd justifiy it by saying "well the Onion while a satire site they decided to do a real news article" YA RIGHT LOL. These people are sad pathetic excuses for a joke. They keep talking Beck talking points Obama's destroying the country he's gonna ruin us blah, blah. just WHAT has he done to destroy the country? NOTHING!!! But they have conveniently forgot G.W. BUSH huh?

[CatWoman]

Hi Swampy

:hi:

:loveya:

[mahina]

2. Priceless.

I remember Senator Al Franken's take on the decision against O'Reilly: satire is protected speech, even if the target of the joke doesn't get it.

Too, too, too good. I can't wait to see what The Onion does with this. It is a thing of beauty.

[mahina]

3. Maybe one of them will read "God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule"

http://www.theonion.com/articles/god-angrily-clarifies-dont-kill-rule,222/

NEW YORK—Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.

Enlarge ImageGod.

"Look, I don't know, maybe I haven't made myself completely clear, so for the record, here it is again," said the Lord, His divine face betraying visible emotion during a press conference near the site of the fallen Twin Towers. "Somehow, people keep coming up with the idea that I want them to kill their neighbor. Well, I don't. And to be honest, I'm really getting sick and tired of it. Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand."

Worshipped by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, God said His name has been invoked countless times over the centuries as a reason to kill in what He called "an unending cycle of violence."

"I don't care how holy somebody claims to be," God said. "If a person tells you it's My will that they kill someone, they're wrong. Got it? I don't care what religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."

[Turborama]

80. "here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."

:rofl:

GENIUS!

Thanks for sharing.

[tabasco]

4. A nation of idiots.

[Bobbieo]

30. Remember - these idiots are also voters!

[femrap]

73. These people are so stupid

they don't realize how stupid they are.

I'm going to get a bumper sticker that says: REPUBLICANS ARE GLAD THERE IS NO LAW AGAINST BEING STUPID!

[MsPithy]

107. I think you meant your comment to be funny, but it is a provable fact!

It is called the Dunning Krueger effect. Research done at Cornell by Dunning and Krueger proved stupid people are too stupid to realize how stupid they are. Furthermore, the stupider they are, the more convinced they are that they are right.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolved-primate/201006/when-ignorance-begets-confidence-the-classic-dunning-kruger-effect

[femrap]

110. I know about Dunning-Krueger....

it explains so much. I was so relieved to find this evidence. Some people laugh, but I'm serious.

I'm glad you recognized that. :)

[tabasco]

113. Well, sheeeit,

didn't Plato say smart people admit their ignorance?

He didn't need no fancy college study!

[Very_Boring_Name]

5. Wow the comment about the persons "friend" getting the email actually makes me really angry

Demonstrable proof that these assholes are bald faced liars

[nxylas]

63. Or delusional

It's possible that the poster literally willed herself into believing that she had seen the e-mail. Teabaggers think that they actually are entitled to their own facts.

[originalpckelly]

6. I really am worried about President Obama...

He lives in the same nation with these people. :rofl:

I worry about myself too, I live in the same nation with them.

[felinetta]

26. I agree and it explains why they believe Faux News.

[awoke_in_2003]

38. He has a secret service detail...

we are not so lucky :)

[BlueJazz]

7. What is Satire? ....is that something like sata, like when talking about a Hard Drive?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Obviously these nincompoops don't recognize real news when they see it --

otherwise they wouldn't be watching Faux Snooze, would they?

[qnr]

9. So what next? Claims that they were victimized and made to look foolish? n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. OMG those people are stupid

[bettyellen]

16. i have to admit, I belived the Onion story that the Bush bio skipped over 9/11, LOL !

Im sorry but it STILL doesn;t seem implausible to me.

[spanone]

11. faux will print, post or telecast anything that questions the current resident of the white house

[Flubadubya]

12. So this is where Sarah Palin got her little Facebook rant...

Hahaha!! She leads Teh Stupid!




Edited to add link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9631846

[nuxvomica]

13. They are unforgivably stupid

If President Obama could type 120 words per minute (meaning he would be an "advanced typist" according to Wikipedia) it would take him over 10 hours to type such an email. Yeah, the Onion should have been a big clue but simple math might have been another lead. Yet "janerogers" is apparently capable of diagnosing bipolar disorder.

[tblue37]

41. What about this one:

"Freedomfighter2 said he e-mailed The Onion to ask them to confirm the story." Apparently they don't even know that The Onion is all parody and satire all the time!

[Frisbee]

64. And since when...

does 75,000 words or 126 typed pages eat up 27 megabytes? He must have embedded one hell of a lot of images in it as well!

[nuxvomica]

99. Good point

My novel is 95k words but it's not even close to a single megabyte. It's amazing how you can throw wild-ass numbers to people and they just accept them.

[ZombieHorde]

14. They don't even know when they are being mocked. nt

[felinetta]

27. They were royally punked.I think The Onion should do a follow-up about those who believed it.

[Occulus]

68. That's part of what makes them so very dangerous.

That, and their inability to take a joke once they do get it.

[The Hitman]

15. Fox changed it to "The Onion: ..."

But still, most people who read that web site won't know what that is.

Is it just me or is America getting stoopider? I didn't know Idiocracy was a documentary.

Better buy some stock in gatorade.

[qnr]

17. Brawndo! The Thirst Mutilator! n/t

[AsahinaKimi]

18. Fox News

Would print that to make their point, that they think Obama is a scary person who has lost his mind. They totally suck, for being such jerks.

[IDemo]

19. If you believe Archie Bunker was an inspirational dramatic character, it's tough

I dated myself with that one, didn't I?

[boppers]

55. Archie Who?

Wow, googled it.

His show(s) went off the air 3 years before I was even allowed to watch television... and I can't believe they (the FCC, the general public) allowed that kind of racist shit *on* the air in the first place.

[demwing]

58. Do you write for the Onion?

Or has life begun imitating satire?

[donquijoterocket]

97. even though

It was formulated for and because of just such people as we're discussing- the truly fuxated- they keep falling prey to Poe's Law:

Similar to Murphy's Law, Poe's Law concerns internet debates, particularly regarding religion or politics.

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

In other words, No matter how bizarre, outrageous, or just plain idiotic a parody of a Fundamentalist may seem, there will always be someone who cannot tell that it is a parody, having seen similar REAL ideas from real religious/political Fundamentalists.
It's one thing to create your own parallel universe, it's another thing entirely to live completely in it.It's no wonder reality blindsides these folks so often and they can't figure out how and why.I guess this would be a reverse Poe's Law.I tend to see it as a function of excess self-righteousness.

[boppers]

105. You might be on to something...

To me, it's like the idea of:
"Hey, let's make a family show about a mal-adjusted child molester! It'll be funny!"

It may seem funny to those outside the universe where children are molested, but for those inside a universe where they were molested, the "joke" is lost.

You may also be correct about self righteousness, but it may fall on on both sides... "Hey, molesting small children is funny!" may be appropriate for some, but not others.

[boppers]

102. If those are the only two options, then it's the latter...

...as I don't get paid for writing for anybody.

The show went off the air 27 years ago, and I wasn't allowed to watch television until my teens (I'm 38 now).

The "character" sounds pretty reprehensible to me.

[onlyadream]

66. All in the Family shined the light on how ignorant people can be

I loved that show and Archie WAS/IS my dad. I liken Archie to Colbert.

[Tx4obama]

111. +1000 n/t

[IDemo]

67. Unquestionably the most groundbreaking show in tv history

It exposed the ugly American, played off against the idealistic and hapless liberal children, Mike (Meat head!) and Gloria. It opened the door to the use of politics, bigotry, and sex in prime time television and spawned a slew of spin-offs.

A moment I can remember - Archie displays his simplistic idiocy in telling Mike "I could solve your hijacking problem right now. Just give everyone boarding an airplane a pistol." That would be still another satirical line that today's rabid right-wingers would think represented a great solution.

[Zambero]

78. Archie's views never went unchallenged

His family, associates, neighbors, and droppers-by invariably debunked his simplisticly conserative opinions. The audience "got it" then. I'm not sure that today's garden variety conservative sheep would come away with the same message.

[Hissyspit]

86. "All In The Family" was created by Norman Lear, a great American liberal who started

the progressive organization People For The American Way, which still exists.

You should probably watch some episodes of the show before you talk about it. It was a great humanist, well-written. groundbreaking show that was sympathetic to ALL it's characters, illuminated all our foibles, dealt with VERY important issues, but ultimately showed the ignorance and fear and illogic behind Archie's views. Archie's character's habit of judgmentally discussing things he had little knowledge of was one thing that was mocked on the show.

[laughingliberal]

89. +1000 nt

[boppers]

106. Hm, maybe if I could *stomach* it....

I have a hard time with sympathy for racists.

[Tx4obama]

112. +1000 n/t

[dflprincess]

119. Carroll O'Connor also a liberal

(For the young ones, O'Connor was the actor who played Archie).

Maybe Americans were more open to satire 30+ years ago. The only people I can recall who didn't like the show were a couple real life Archie types who had the vague sense that perhaps they were being made fun of in the show (they being too stupid to actually get it).

[TheKentuckian]

109. It was not racist, thinking the program was a showpiece for racism misses the whole point

Archie Bunker was a bigot but the show was the opposite of racist.

Norman Lear is too smart for America.

[donco6]

115. The only appropriate reply is -

[EOTE]

20. They confuse Fox News with real news as well. So this doesn't surprise me. NT.

[pacalo]

21. LMAOROTF!!! I have tears rolling down my cheeks!

"Diagnosis: bi-polar disorder"

:rofl:

[pokerfan]

22. Freedomfighter2 said he e-mailed The Onion to ask them to confirm the story

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[The Doctor.]

87. "Why yes... we did indeed print and run that story. Thank you for contacting The Onion."

"Gosh, I knew it!"

[bleever]

23. "Can anyone say Hitler?"

"What you are seeing folks is the human unraveling and development of a self-delusional, irrational madman becoming unhinged. Can anyone say Hitler?" Mmttomb3 asked.

[madokie]

24. If it wasn't so serious I'd be laughing

there's assholes out there that is taking that all in and no facts will ever change their minds, they heard it on the teevee and thats that. It said what they wanted to hear said so to them it is gospel. yup sad state we're in alright

rec

[pacalo]

29. One nitwit claimed she had been forwarded Obama's e-mail from a liberal

friend of hers who had received it directly from Obama! The nitwit "could have told her so".

:rofl:

[Subdivisions]

25. What do you expect from a bunch of dumbasses? n/t

[SalmonChantedEvening]

28. Just posted this on farcebook.

Should be fun to watch certain reactions. :rofl:

[Dappleganger]

31. I am sorry but if your news source is the Onion you should just turn out the damn lights

and cameras and send everyone home.

Fox is so NOT news!

[rucky]

32. The commenters refuse to believe this is not real.

It's like meta-satire in there:

http://nation.foxnews.com/barack-obama/2010/11/26/frustrated-obama-sends-nation-rambling-75000-word-e-mail#comment-103554089

[Hissyspit]

37. Well, it is important on the Internet to take advantage of the feedback from multiple sources

concerning credible sources and explore the strands of plausible denial...er...

Nah, they're just fucking idiots.

[tblue37]

42. ?? That URL doesn't lead to any sort of "meta satire"--just to a front page

with nothing on it that concerns this story.

[Hissyspit]

48. Looks like Fox has taken it down?

[herbm]

71. In some ways that's even funnier. BTW: Hissy I know your threads are always gold. Keep at it!

[herbm]

72. I'm waiting for Onion to print one of Fox's fables as the truth.

[herbm]

70. They removed the whole thing. Thanks for getting the address anyway.

[blondeatlast]

101. They seem to have pulled it--I so hope someone, somewhere

got a screen cap.

[fascisthunter]

33. hell, those idiots think FOX News is real news

[EC]

34. This isn't the first time this has happened.. n/t

[Hissyspit]

35. Nope, it isn't.

[Truth2Tell]

36. Words I never imagined could ever cross anyone's mind:

"Can't wait to hear what Charles Krauthammer has to say..."

[emulatorloo]

91. LOL - you owe me a new keyboard. . .

EOM

[awoke_in_2003]

39. And Joe Biden...

washes his car shirtless in the White House drive- how vice-presidential is that?

http://www.theonion.com/articles/shirtless-biden-washes-trans-am-in-white-house-dri,2718/

:)

[pleah]

40. It isn't the first time and it probably won't be the last.

:rofl:

[Ebadlun]

43. It's gone now

Returning a 404 - still, screenshot lives on here, along with some quite spectacular RW spinning:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/foxnation-com-repurposes-anti-obama-article-from-the-onion-forgets-to-mention-its-a-joke/

[emulatorloo]

92. Thanks for that link - glad somebody did a screenshot! n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

44. small minds can't grasp sarcasm, this has happened before and it will happen again

and still they won't understand



Many also think Stephen Colbert is a Conservative because they just can't grasp the sarcasm

[laundry_queen]

45. I'm just going to sit back.

And have a really giant laugh at their expense. Unfreakingbelievable. :rofl:

[Sabriel]

46. I can't wait for the complaints about the Al-Qaeda marching band

I'm sure they'll find that a total affront to American decency:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/alqaeda-marching-band-to-join-macys-parade-after-i,18508/

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

47. These are the same people who think Stephen Colbert is a conservative

and really love it when he "sticks it" to liberal guests by using the Right's talking points. Then Colbert allows the person to fully explain their position -- and the supporting facts -- which makes it obvious how dumb the Faux News crowd are.

[nolabear]

49. "Janerogers" can sure throw that DSM IV terminology around!

Too bad she doesn't know what the hell she's talking about.

[Initech]

50. I can see it now: Fox News Viewers Mistake Network For Real News Network

[Lugnut]

51. Stupid is forever. Oy. n/t

[krispos42]

52. The past few years it's been the other way

Note the date...

[msanthrope]

56. My favorite Onion article, ever. It was spot on, unfortunately.....n/t

[Politicalboi]

93. So then one day Obama WILL write a ranting e-mail

:sarcasm: I had to see the date too. Amazing isn't it.

[sakabatou]

53. LMAO

[EFerrari]

54. LOLOL!

:rofl:

[bobburgster]

57. Someone titled their post....

"A Nation of Idiots" sadly, I agree.

[Enrique]

75. that should be the name of the website

:rofl:

[hobbit709]

59. People that watch Faux don't watch real news to start with

so they can't tell the difference.

[greiner3]

60. "Long, rambling tirade typed at 4 am. Judgement impaired as he didn't think twice before sending it.

Hell that describes my 6 month old cat.

[spicegal]

61. This is what happens when people get daily doses of

fantasy news. They believe anything and can't distinguish the difference.

[Perfect Ten]

62. It would be funny...

If it wasn't so goddamned scary...

[90-percent]

65. Prescient Onion Article

http://www.theonion.com/articles/bush-our-long-national-nightmare-of-peace-and-pros,464/

This one was so spot on it leads me to believe the Onion Editorial Staff are higher ups in the military-industrial-congressional complex and are part of the tiny cabal that controls everything our government does.

How else could you explain such and accurate prediction of the GW Bush years?

-90% Jimmy

[subterranean]

95. My favorite line in that article:

"An overwhelming 49.9 percent of Americans responded enthusiastically to the Bush speech." :rofl:

[Bette Noir]

69. "Janerogers" might want to note that the inability to recognize humor

is diagnostic of any number of mental disorders.

And that she should use a more opaque screen name, if she's going to post idiocy like this.

[BrklynLiberal]

74. How much confirmation do we need to prove what maroons these lemmings are??

[kestrel91316]

76. I thought EVERYBODY knew about The Onion........

this is beyond pathetic, lol.

[Richardo]

81. The ones in the media cartainly should.

:dunce:

[Zambero]

77. The same ones who confuse Fox News with real news

The seemingly solid line between absurdity and reality was somehow blurred long ago.

[egoclothes]

82. good laugh

[Turborama]

83. K&R! I hope they make a video report for YouTube about this and mercilessly mock them

Thanks for posting!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOnion

[Xenotime]

84. Wow! Talk about a bunch of idiots.

[Exultant Democracy]

85. It would be really funny is people on DU didn't also do it all the time. I've lost track the number

of times someone has posted something from the Onion here and people haven't gotten the joke.

[tabasco]

116. Never seen it, myself.

That's an exceptional experience you've had there, pardner.

[Exultant Democracy]

118. It is the reason that people here generally now put "The Onion" in the headline when posting

rather then just the title of the article as we do with almost every other publication. People would read a paragraph or just the headline get pissed and post without bothering to look at the link.

[tuckessee]

88. The Onion dupes everyone, including DU'ers.

Heck, your thread is competing with a thread based on spoof-ad by the "Soda Pop Council" that many DU'ers thought was real.

[Iris]

90. Just went to raw story and there's a note: "Editors scrub article, comments from site"!!!

Thanks for preserving some of the better parts here!

[Turborama]

100. There's a Google cache of the page but no comments, sadly

Here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=cache:http://nation.foxnews.com/barack-obama/2010/11/26/frustrated-obama-sends-nation-rambling-75000-word-e-mail

[blondeatlast]

103. There's a screen capture upthread but the comments are

a little hard to read--but well worth it!

[Agent William]

94. the first thing that popped into my head was

How the hell does the President have all the email addresses of everyone in the country? It seems that these 'tards looked past this enormous plot hole and just assumed it to me true even though the notion of a 75,000 word email to 310 million people is absurd. hmmmm, not surprising really.

''Freedomfighter2 said he e-mailed The Onion to ask them to confirm the story''

hahaha, OMG, this 'Freedomfighter2' actually asked for confirmation. Again, not to surprising that this person would view the Onion as a news source since this person sees Fox 'News' as a real news source.

Jokes all around

[rasputin1952]

98. Dolts...

:rofl:

[blondeatlast]

104. You just can't make this stuff up! Congratulations, RW, for confirming my suspicions

that you are dumber than a box of rocks and with even less of a sense of humor.

Thankk goodness for The Onion.

[alp227]

108. Baa! Baa! What idiots.

Way to go Rupert Murdoch! As if Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity didn't deliver enough brain melters.

[47of74]

114. I wonder where these people were when we had Bush...

After all he was a dry drunk psychopath. Were they all worried about Bush's mental health?

[renate]

117. in all seriousness, isn't this the kind of thing that should get reporters' press credentials yanked

I mean, I could start a website full of plagiarized bullpucky and, on the strength of that, call myself a journalist, but that doesn't make it so.

Not checking sources is worse than amateurish. How come Fox is still considered--by anyone, but especially the FCC--a news organization?

[annabanana]

120. The right wing NEVER *gets it*. . There is severe irony impairment

over there.

[SmileyRose]

121. I can't believe I haven't gotten this as a FWD FWD FWD from my mother in law.

Could it be she's finally tripped over a brain cell?

Naaaaaaa. Probably the dolts that FWD FWD her haven't gotten theirs yet.

[tanyev]

122. God help us. . . what person in their right mind doesn't know The Onion is satire?

[tjwash]

123. Here's the batch of comments before faux pulled it...precious, to say the least.

[Brewman_Jax]

124. Saw the comments

from the same class of idiots that can't tell the difference between fact and satire, news and not-news, and incompetence and intelligence, and they luurvve GW Bush*. They do know ONE thing--they hate the fact that a black man is President.