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Thread: Snopes vs Babylon Bee

  1. #1
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    Snopes vs Babylon Bee

    I’ve just come across this odd feud between a fact checking website, CNN and a few others and a newish satirical website called the Babylon Bee. Apparently they are concerned that people will believe their stories are genuine. One piece reported for instance that CNN had purchased an industrial washing machine to “spin the news”. Both CNN and Snopes felt the need to fact check the story less it be taken seriously. I don’t ever recall the Onion getting that treatment.

    I looked at the Bee, and it seemed about as unevenly funny as any other site of its kind, although probably of a more conservative leaning than others. Are the media that humor-challenged or insecure? Do they have that little faith in the public? Or is it just an ideology thing? Or do you just set yourself up for this kind of thing when you appoint yourself the guardian of the truth?

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    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    “You set yourself up for this sort of [humorless] thing when you appoint yourself guardian of the truth.”

    you said it, buddy.

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    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    I'd never heard of Babylon Bee, so I looked it up. There at the top of the site was this: Fake news you can trust, delivered straight to your inbox. I suppose people might miss that if they click a link directly into an article or whatever, but yeah, they are pretty upfront about what they are.

    I suppose snopes feeling the need to snope them is just a sad indicator of how common and prevalent real seeming fake news is. I guess we can thank, at least in part, Mark Zuckerberg with his "we'll leave fake news up there for everyone to look at" business strategy for this state of affairs.

    I also question the need for another satire site. The real news is absurd enough that I imagine The Onion is having trouble remaining relevant. Adding another satire site to the universe seems unnecessary.

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    Senior Member kib's Avatar
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    anyone else an Andy Borowitz fan? I think he walks the line between the plausible and the ridiculous so well!

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    Quote Originally Posted by kib View Post
    anyone else an Andy Borowitz fan? I think he walks the line between the plausible and the ridiculous so well!
    I like those little fake news bits he does for the New Yorker.

  6. #6
    klunick
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    I have seen a few Babylon Bee headlines and they seem pretty obvious that it's all in jest. People need to get a sense of humor and stop feeling attacked all the time.

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    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    A FB friend recently posted a link to a Babylon Bee article, "Democrats call for flags to be flown at half-mast for death of Soleimani." The comments below his post were from angry, indignant people who apparently didn't even bother to click on the link and read the clearly satirical article. I see this sort of thing happen often enough to be worrisome.

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    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rosarugosa View Post
    A FB friend recently posted a link to a Babylon Bee article, "Democrats call for flags to be flown at half-mast for death of Soleimani." The comments below his post were from angry, indignant people who apparently didn't even bother to click on the link and read the clearly satirical article. I see this sort of thing happen often enough to be worrisome.
    I'd hate to see the art of satire be punished because people are too clueless to recognize it.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

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    I liked their story about the new Prius being equipped with virtue signals as standard equipment.

  10. #10
    klunick
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    I liked their story about the new Prius being equipped with virtue signals as standard equipment.
    I saw that too!

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