January 03, 2005
One item concerned a blog purportedly written by Ohio congressman-cum-erstwhile-presidential-candidate-cum-lawn-gnome Dennis Kucinich, which the article predicts will sweep Kucinich to political stardom. It's a funny idea, and the site itself is a pretty nifty and well-done spoof. Here's where it gets interesting, though... a number of readers apparently thought that it really was Kucinich's blog, and were leaving comments encouraging Dennis to keep up the good work.
Admittedly, it's an impressive parody. But one might think that a discerning reader might have been able to spot the fact that it was a phony. Such as the fact that a fifty-something public official is using phrases like, "Hola, compatriots! It's DeeJAYKay! My first post, just testin' the tires on this thing, will rap wit ya lates!" Or the fact that "Dennis" claims to have no children when the real Kucinich has a daughter. Or the fact that he's posting on Blogspot instead of, say, his own Web site. Or the fact that it's planted in the middle of a bunch of other obviously fake items. Nonetheless, a number of real people (I presume they haven't been going to the length of faking comments too) have presumed that Dennis Kucinich is really sharing his thoughts on this site. Some people even took the trouble of e-mailing Kucinich to check.
Now, the readership of Salon is, I'd wager, more educated and politically aware than the public at large. You'd figure that they would get the joke. Instead, we prove once again that unless humorous pieces have the words "THIS IS A JOKE" stamped across the top of them, there are people who will take them as real. Even smart people.
This could spell trouble for me, since I like to joke a lot. I'd always assumed that everyone was getting my jokes, but perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe I need to run a disclaimer. Something to think about.
After the sabbatical, though. Now I'm really going. Really. Seriously.
Posted by: Fred at
09:36 PM
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Posted by: farhad manjoo at January 03, 2005 10:27 PM (z6MAI)
Posted by: Mediocre Fred at January 03, 2005 10:53 PM (e8ST6)
Posted by: Tripp at January 06, 2005 02:35 PM (b4JBG)
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