As we’ve learned from Brian Stelter, The Onion is a great news parody site — probably the best — and The Babylon Bee is a fake news site that calls itself “satire” (the scare quotes are Stelter’s). He knows this because someone tweeted him asking if a story in The Bee was true, and because one of Stelter’s followers can’t discern satire from real life, it’s a fake news site.
The Bee is fighting back, though, seeing as social media’s official fact-checking site, Snopes, has also decided it’s a fake news site, not a parody site … because too many people get confused — which in our opinion means it’s good satire.
But don’t listen to us … listen to the sad tale of a man whose relationship with his dad was ruined by The Babylon Bee.
You can't make this up. This guy does a whole thread that blamed @TheBabylonBee for ruining his relationship with his dad.
He was busted over a fake Twitter thread about a McDonald's drive-thru worker that went viral. (H/T @GScottSays) https://t.co/wQsmTyrplf pic.twitter.com/xgETpHMVdl
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) July 31, 2019
It’s an epic thread and we’re not going to post the whole thing — not to do any “deceptive editing” but just to get through it. It was this tweet by Erick Erickson that set him off, though:
Interesting how @TheBabylonBee upsets a lot of people who view themselves as journalists. The site engages in satire and parody, but more often than the Onion, it pokes at the sacred cows of the left. The contempt it generates is revealing and not of the Bee.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 31, 2019
I’d like to take a moment to talk about The Babylon Bee and the role it played in ending my relationship with my dad. https://t.co/7Kp1RfQbTq
— Josh Raby (@JoshRaby) July 31, 2019
My dad is 100% the audience for The Babylon Bee. So are his Facebook friends.
So let me tell you how that worked out 13 months ago, and how it ended our relationship.
— Josh Raby (@JoshRaby) July 31, 2019
In short, Dad posted a meme on Facebook based on quotes pulled from The Babylon Bee, and all his friends believed it.
Now, I normally ignore political posts from family. And dad’s caption was vague enough to at least give me comfort that he knew it was a gag.
Then I saw the comments from his friends.
— Josh Raby (@JoshRaby) July 31, 2019
Dozens of replies. All older, rural, low-income white folks like him. Just uniformly horrified. Every single one totally believed these quotes were real. Some were even typing prayers for our country.
— Josh Raby (@JoshRaby) July 31, 2019
So I, foolishly, waded in.
“Just a heads up: these aren’t real quotes. This is a joke post. Saw some of your friends confused about that, so thought I’d make it clear. I know you don’t want anyone taking satire as fact. Love you, Dad!”
— Josh Raby (@JoshRaby) July 31, 2019
My dad is 77 years old. And he’s chasing online likes at the expense of truth. Nearly 80 years old and so insecure that he needs the affirmation of wrong, dumb strangers more than he values his own kid.
My dad is Trump.
— Josh Raby (@JoshRaby) July 31, 2019
OK, we see the problem. The guy’s dad is Trump. You know, it’s funny … we’ve never ever seen a parody or fake meme or a late-night skit about Trump. Weird.
Oh, and yes, Raby did get written up in USA Today and The Daily Mail in 2016 over a fake Twitter thread he posted about a trip to McDonald’s.
— Greg Scott (@GScottSays) July 31, 2019
“The one who was relieved was Eric Larson, owner and operator of McDonald’s restaurants here, who said no employees would be losing their jobs” after the thread went viral.
This sounds like a Babylon Bee article
— ?️? K a t e (@KateVsTheWorld) July 31, 2019
This is satire, right? https://t.co/J06ilRjN6v
— Adrienne (@AdrienneRoyer) July 31, 2019
And let me tell you how The Onion ruined my relationship with my Mom…. https://t.co/eZHQgpeAzz
— Mickey White (@BiasedGirl) July 31, 2019
SNL's Weekend Update turned my wife into a crack whore.
— Passably Affable (@tbrusletten) July 31, 2019
I’d like to take a moment to talk about Mad Magazine and the role it played in ending my relationship with my dad. 1/250
— American Polack (@HardPolack) July 31, 2019
I am so sorry this is happening to you
— Tipping Odds Podcast (@TippingOddsLV) July 31, 2019
This is from someone unfamiliar with the Bee and the fact it's pretty critical of Trump at times. They ran this today: https://t.co/RpXV8e4NPf
The rest of thread is unduly ad hominem judgment about the Bee's audience. (But hey, sorry about you and your dad.) https://t.co/KSf94I8PIC
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) July 31, 2019
Geez, I feel so bad for this guy. Imagine ending your relationship with your dad because of your compulsive need to correct people on the internet. This guy is ill.
— Irenaeus Lyon (@IrenaeusLyon) July 31, 2019
Extremely sad that a guy can't cut his elderly father some slack and wants to blame a satire site for the last straw in what was clearly a very tenuous relationship already.
— William F Spengler (@WilliamFSpengl1) July 31, 2019
It's not ok that a clearly declared satire site makes jokes that some people misinterpret because only on the right is there an "anti-truth culture" as he puts it. Laughable.
— SwampFox (@RSBodaway) July 31, 2019
I’m sure this Twitter thread will bring you great comfort when your dad has passed in the future. Bookmark it, keep it close. Being right is what is important, not maintaining a relationship with the man who raised you.
— Your future Press Secretary (@sobossme) July 31, 2019
So, I get what you're saying. But I remember in 2012 a lot of political types I'd run into, especially young women, believed that Romney wanted to ban tampons because of a satire site's article.
It might have actually influenced votes. *shrug* But what can you do?
— Friendly Neighborhood Crazee™? (@Crazizzle) July 31, 2019
Absolutely true. Romney also wanted to ban hair weaves and the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s.
This is a very sad thread about how @joshraby's parents don't understand satire&how Josh is a product of that environment. Josh, old ladies from my church send me "outrageous" Onion articles every week. Some ppl don't get it. That's all. Sorry bout ur dad https://t.co/OzgQYHnLJb
— Dark, Pscychic Force (@RealKiraDavis) July 31, 2019
This is so sad. I can’t imagine looking at someone’s income level, or their education to determine their value as a human. I’m so thankful that my children will love people for their character, and not their race or income. My heart breaks for a parent who experiences such hatred
— Stephy Wilson (@stephywilson83) July 31, 2019
you seem incapable of mature relationships with other adults who don't agree with you.
— Dad Bod Mike (@bod25mike) July 31, 2019
1. This didn't happen
2. If this did happen, your dad is better off. https://t.co/BrJ9O2BDVh— Ordy's Amish School of Coding (@OrdyPackard) July 31, 2019
Please tell your father I'm sorry he has a kid like you. Thanks. https://t.co/qMtij7T6Ns
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) July 31, 2019
* * *
Update:
So we all missed the point that conservatives don’t get satire and we’ve all disappointed Raby by missing his point:
— Andrew Lynch (@GentlemanRascal) July 31, 2019
OMG he’s going to pretend that thread was about conservatives inability to understand comedy?!?!?! https://t.co/yjmA8vRjPz
— Heather (@hboulware) August 1, 2019
Related:
Stephen Colbert ‘does NOT get to rewrite his original take’ on the bogus Jussie Smollett narrative (but he’s still trying) https://t.co/O4ssj6rZpx
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 23, 2019
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