The Babylon Bee is under fire from people who think the rest of us are idiots and don’t know the satire site is joking. Twitchy reported that the Bee article called, “Democrats Call For Flags to Be Flown at Half-Mast to Grieve the Death of Soleimani,” has more social media engagement than The New York Times and CNN get in a week on their most popular articles. This has sent the left into a tailspin of hysteria with blue-checked Twitter scolds screeching about “fake news” and “election tampering.”
Former CIA employee Cindy Otis is very upset by the possibility that some of you don’t know The Bee is fictitious. “A post from a satirical website has been shared more than 500k times saying the DNC called for the flag to be at half-mast because of Soleimani. Some family members just called bc their Republican friends on FB are circulating it like it’s legit. We have a lot of work to do, all.”
A post from a satirical website has been shared more than 500k times saying the DNC called for the flag to be at half-mast because of Soleimani. Some family members just called bc their Republican friends on FB are circulating it like it's legit. We have a lot of work to do, all.
— Cindy Otis (Pre-order TRUE OR FALSE now!) (@CindyOtis_) January 5, 2020
Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani https://t.co/MR0FIaFKsv
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) January 3, 2020
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know what The Babylon Bee is. And if occasionally someone falls for the joke, it doesn’t take long for someone else to pop in and explain it’s satire. On the other hand, you don’t see us freaking out and calling our senators when our Democrat friends circulate CNN’s reporting like it’s legit, do you? (We probably should.)
The left doesn’t know what “fake news” is because they continually claim it comes from well-known satire sites. Actual “fake news,” like what they do on CNN, is truly damaging to our republic. The peddlers of fake news take some facts and combine them with lies and then broadcast them as if they are true under legitimate news organization logos, not satire sites.
CNN’s most famous example of a fake news story was when it reported that Donald Trump praised “white supremacists” as “fine people” at the Charlottesville riots. He did no such thing, and in fact condemned them many times, but the fake story persisted because it was the narrative the news media wanted to tell, truth be damned. Fake news is not satire like The Onion, or the even more popular and hilarious Babylon Bee. Fake news is lying to people intentionally to sway opinion and wrapping it up in what looks like legitimate news packaging and serving it to viewers who think they are watching objective news sources.
It’s weird that none of these people are ever concerned about The Onion. Is it because it leans left or because it’s not funny or popular anymore? (Note the 763 people talking about this stinker of a joke.)
Paralyzed Mike Pence Lies Against Bathroom Wall For Hours After Encountering Doorknob That Looks Like Female Breast https://t.co/zZoTQVrYvM #OurAnnualYear2019 pic.twitter.com/C7RftooVUS
— The Onion (@TheOnion) December 31, 2019
What will make you laugh, though, is this tweet from a terribly jealous CNN reporter, Donie O’Sullivan, who can’t dream of getting this kind of social media engagement on anything he’s ever done. “To put this in perspective, this is the same number of engagements the top NY Times and CNN stories on Facebook had over the past week. A lot of people sharing this ‘satirical’ story on Facebook don’t know it is satire.”
To put this in perspective, this is the same number of engagements the top NY Times and CNN stories on Facebook had over the past week.
A lot of people sharing this "satirical" story on Facebook don't know it is satire. https://t.co/HnDjuqw2si
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) January 5, 2020
Baloney. None of these people offer any evidence of how they know we don’t know it’s a joke besides a few comments from Facebook that can’t be verified if they’re serious or not. They need to come to grips with the fact that Americans are ignoring their fake news in favor of satirical news that makes them laugh. It’s a welcome relief from our usual reaction to CNN’s reporting which makes us throw things at our television screens.
One Twitter commenter nailed it. “The problem isn’t that people can’t recognize satire. It’s that the media can’t recognize its own blatant bias. That’s one reason why satire has become so popular.” The demonization of one satire site, The Babylon Bee, which is run by a Christian, but not of others like The Onion, which is run by Democrats, is part of that willful blindness on the part of people so absorbed and controlled by their bias that nothing else exists.
The problem isn't that people can't recognize satire. It's that the media can't recognize its own blatant bias. That's one reason why satire has become so popular.
— The Captain's Blog (@williamnyy23) January 6, 2020
Long live The Babylon Bee! Anything that brings joy in this much chaos and stupidity should be revered.
Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo.” Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter
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