As Twitchy reported earlier this week, Snopes.com, which calls itself in its Twitter bio “the internet’s definitive #factchecking resource,” once again “fact-checked” Christian satire site the Babylon Bee after it reported that Rep. Ilhan Omar had asked, “If Israel is so innocent, then why do they insist on being Jews?”
Now that’s good satire: it cuts so close to the truth that you’d almost think it’s real … and that’s apparently a problem for Snopes, at least when a liberal is involved. Snopes has also “fact-checked” a Babylon Bee Photoshop of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez guessing “Free” as a contestant on “The Price is Right.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell referred followers to a Snopes fact-check debunking the claim he’d made a serious threat to nuke gun-owners (he’d have to become president first to order that, Snopes, and that will never, ever happen). And Snopes cleared up that whole thing about Hillary Clinton smashing cell phones with a hammer … totally false; it was actually an aide of hers who told the FBI he’d smashed cell phones with a hammer, not Clinton herself.
But what about conservatives, you ask? Brooke Binkowski, managing editor of Snopes, came to the rescue when Tucker Carlson trolled reporters by saying on his show that President Trump looking at the solar eclipse without eyewear was “perhaps the most impressive thing any president has ever done.” Binkowski assured us in a tweet, “This is not satire. This is not satire. This is not satire.”
Narrator: It was satire.
We have a ton of posts on Snopes and their “fact-checks,” but Leon Wolf, managing editor of TheBlaze, put together an epic thread this week addressing Snopes’ latest fact-check of the Babylon Bee.
Hello, people at @snopes. I see that you have “fact checked” another obvious satire article from the Babylon Bee that lampoons a liberal, and I have questions. 1/ https://t.co/kHusXZ1XLu
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
If you guys wanna beclown yourselves fact checking obvious satire that’s your business. But surely you are equally interested in fact checking the Babylon Bee’s satire that lampoons conservatives. Right? You’re not partisan hacks after all. Right? 2/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
So perhaps you could direct me to where you guys fact checked the “claim” that Sean Hannity said that the existence of ice cream disproves global warming, as “reported” by the Babylon Bee? https://t.co/hcTMJaUbIG 3/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
Or perhaps your fact check of whether Ron Paul really has been appointed to the Federal reserve and plans to literally blow it up? https://t.co/2bxwr1hBsU 4/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
Maybe I am just not seeing it but I couldn’t find your fact check of whether Trump really said he wouldn’t let Jesus into his heart after he found out Jesus was from the Middle East? https://t.co/65hSdkpBmi 5/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
I am likewise sure that there is a fact check of the claim that Franklin Graham said that he would get a “God-given anointing” if he touched the hem of Trump’s garment, and I’m just missing it. https://t.co/LO3veMsP37 6/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
Same story with the claim that Robert Jefress said to Trump, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” https://t.co/EqwnoZQmCg 7/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
I mean, I could go on and on but since I know you aren’t actually partisan hacks who are pretending to be objective fact checkers, I’m sure there is a roughly equal number of these Babylon Bee articles lampooning conservatives that you’ve fact checked, and I’m missing them. 8/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
Although admittedly, the search function on your website is possibly giving the wrong impression on that score. 9/ pic.twitter.com/FDnYxIn9mE
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
Meanwhile, so far as I can tell, this is the only one of dozens (hundreds?) of Bee articles lampooning conservatives that I can find that Snopes bothered to check https://t.co/4mt3TO4m1B 10/
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
But maybe I’m doing the search wrong. I look forward to finding out!
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
You have questions… to which you know the answers.
— Gerry (@GerryDales) May 10, 2019
Yea, verily
— Leon Wolf (@LeonHWolf) May 10, 2019
It's a good thing the Weekly World News isn't around any more; Snopes's research department would never be able to keep up. pic.twitter.com/nFYScDk82f
— Death's Guinea Pig 4.0 (@Bernie_Gilbert) May 10, 2019
So @Twitter polices parody accounts that are clearly parodies yet an account that pushes parody content as fact just hums along…
— OldCurmudgeon (@SmartAssSOB) May 10, 2019
Snopes prioritizes fact-checking stories that are spread widely. If they don't fact check as many of BB's satirical stories about conservatives, it's probably because fewer Liberals believe them and share them.
— SofiaMJ (@SofiaMJ2) May 10, 2019
Why would snopes assume a correlation between sharing a story and believing it? I share some things precisely because they are good satire, not because I believe them.
— GSU (@GsuGrinding) May 10, 2019
They *literally* justify it.
— Rich (@its_notrich) May 10, 2019
A whole generation that does not understand sarcasm.
— pam estey (@EsteyPam) May 10, 2019
Snopes, you folks are a bunch of lefty partisans. Just admit it, it's fine.
— Scotty B (@ScottishDuke) May 10, 2019
Here’s another one: “Did Nathan Phillips Falsely Claim He Was a Vietnam Veteran?” Snopes says it’s “Unproven,” even though the people of Twitter posted video of Philips claiming, “I am a Vietnam vet,” and “I was in theater” and remembering how he was spit on when he returned … from California, where he was a refrigerator technician. Twitter got his DD-214 too. But yeah, “unproven.”
Related:
Snopes runs interference for Ilhan Omar by again ‘fact-checking’ the Babylon Bee https://t.co/My286b92AG
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 10, 2019
