Oh, strap yourselves in, dear readers, because today we are serving a delightful dish of irony. The story stars our favorite self-appointed internet sheriffs: Snopes, the fact-checkers who often present themselves as the last bastion of truth and reason. These fearless truth warriors, armed with nothing more than a keyboard and an internet connection, have courageously taken upon themselves the noble task of sorting fact from fiction.
The plot thickened when they aimed their laser-accurate investigative skills at Elon Musk’s Starlink. Snopes diligently fact-checked an accusation that the OceanGate submersible, which went missing at the Titanic wreckage, might have had communication problems due to, you guessed it, Starlink. “Was the missing Titanic submersible using satellites from Elon Musk’s company?” they inquired with the curiosity of a thousand cats.
The so-called verdict of this expedition into the truth? “True.” Quite a sensational reveal, wouldn’t you agree? One small issue, though: the plot doesn’t hold water, literally. Starlink’s signals, much like your standard Wi-Fi, have a slight hiccup when it comes to deep-sea excursions.
Now, before we applaud Snopes for their unwavering dedication to the truth, let’s take a moment to appreciate the intrepid sleuths at HotAir, who managed to do something the great Snopes could not: a basic Google search. This daring act of detective work led them to a Scientific American article, which pointed out the obvious: deep-sea submersibles rely on acoustic links for communication, not satellite signals.
After getting caught with their pants down, our friends at Snopes performed an acrobatic backflip unseen since the Olympics. From “True,” they somersaulted to “Unproven” and then finally landed with a splat on “False.” Quite the triple salchow, wouldn’t you say?
Exclusively for our VIPs: Lost at Sea and Stripped of Dignity: New Republic Dehumanizes OceanGate’s ‘Republican’ CEO
So, there you have it. In this circus of misinformation, the fact-checkers have become the fact-wreckers, leading us on a wild goose chase before finally conceding to the truth. It paints a sobering picture: even the self-proclaimed guardians of truth can’t be trusted.
Moreover, this fiasco shines a light on the rather pathological obsession some have with blaming Elon Musk for any mishap, be it a traffic jam in California or the weather in Timbuktu. It’s a tough job being a billionaire genius who believes in free speech, I suppose.
In any case, sit back, laugh, and take a moment to revel in the delicious irony. The fact-checkers got fact-checked, and guess what? They didn’t pass the test. Thank God there are a couple of people willing to check the fact-checkers.
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