Pastor Rafael Cruz. Do we really have to embellish this dude's bullshit? |
Today I was checking my Facebook page and saw a friend
linking to an article regarding statements made by the father of Texas Senator
Ted Cruz, asserting that atheists should be kept in “camps.” My friend was
incredulous. Other friends of his posted outraged comments in response. I
checked the link, read the article, and judging from the ludicrous content (“…if
they step one foot outside the electrified fence we shoot them between the
eyes. Two or three times, just to be sure”), I assumed it to be satire. The
fact that I didn’t recognize the site as a reputable news source, and could not
verify the story on any sites that were more established, reinforced that
belief. It was a cute piece. Not funny enough to be in The Onion (even though
The Onion isn’t what it used to be), but topical and humorous.
My friend is a very intelligent man, and I hope he did not
feel like I was being condescending when I pointed out that the story was
almost certainly a joke, and that in this media saturated age, we all need to
be a bit more careful about checking sources and using critical thinking before
believing and reposting articles. I’m not sure how he felt. He didn’t respond
to my last post.
Maybe he felt embarrassed. I know I would have, but admittedly
I am more neurotic than most. Perhaps he didn’t read the whole article. I find
with most of these pieces that they begin plausibly and escalate into
absurdity.
The thing is that all too often I see people posting links
to articles that were clearly written as satire, but
Jesus celebrating Easter? Even Sarah Palin isn't that dumb. |
What is more interesting is that I have noticed that people
getting called out (usually by someone posting a link to snopes.com, that
famous “debunking” site which has yet to be debunked, as far as I know) tend to
shrug it off. On one more than one occasion I have seen the poster of the
dubious piece defend doing so because it “sounded like” it could be true. This
is not exactly a “eureka” moment,” with a realization that we habitually
inundate ourselves with unreliable information and view it with an uncritical
eye. There is no understanding that we discredit our own positions when we
habitually cite faulty sources.
I understand that there is so much information around us
that it has become difficult to sift through all of it, but that does not make
it less important to do so. One can argue that the news has become stranger
than fiction, and I agree that many public figures seem to be becoming
increasingly cartoonish. However, if we cannot discern satire from news, that
is a huge problem. The purpose of satire
is to get people to think more, or to think differently. Now, all too often
satire is becoming disinformation by being passed on, skipping that whole “thinking”
thing.
Here's a link to the original article for those who are interested: http://www.newslo.com/ted-cruzs-father-suggests-placing-atheists-in-camps/
Here's a link to the original article for those who are interested: http://www.newslo.com/ted-cruzs-father-suggests-placing-atheists-in-camps/
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