John “Hechatfartalot” Junes today shared an article after reading no more than the headline and it went viral. John not only did not click the link to read the article, but did not bother to even read the summary of the link.
After creating a large discussion, one of John’s friends who bothered to read the article noticed that it was satire after being drowned in the thick lavish satire in the article and realizing that after reading even just a few sentences that there is no way that it was anything other than satire.
After complaining about the spread of fake news John said, “How was I supposed to know it was satire? Am I supposed to click and read the articles of everything I share? Now thanks to this stupid satire no one trust me any more and its all The Machineel’s fault. I am certainly not at fault for making assumptions about an article based solely on the headline. I’m a fortune teller and my crystal ball is never wrong.”
Satire is NOT News
The Manchineel maintains that satire is not news, and therefore is not fake news. Fake news is news that pretends to be true – ie propoganda. The articles on The Manchineel are clearly marked and with few exceptions are all satire. Those that are not are also clearly marked.
Fake news is a real problem, but satire is not news. Satire is “believable” humor based on elements of truth. When satire “rings true”, it is at is best and highlights real problems in society.
If that truths rings true with a bit of sting – don’t blame the messenger.