Remember When Fake News Was Funny...

Remember When Fake News Was Funny..

I'm looking for it..in the past there'd been plenty to be had..the stories that were almost too good to be true, yet the media ran with them full force...and then found out later they were bunk. The kind of stories that makes one take pause, but you still pass them along because..they are sooo unreal and make for interesting conversation.

A few examples:

Blonds Are Going Extinct, Says Science

The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe.
A study by experts in Germany suggests people with blonde hair are an endangered species and will become extinct by 2202.
Researchers predict the last truly natural blonde will be born in Finland - the country with the highest proportion of blondes.
But they say too few people now carry the gene for blondes to last beyond the next two centuries.

From Cracked.com :

Thirteen-Year-Old Uses His Dad's Credit Card to Buy Two Halo-Playing Hookers

The Truth:
Internet marketer and writer Lyndon Anticliff dreamed up the whole story as part of a ploy to get some quick hits to his site, which according to Wired garnered him roughly 6,000 links. The coverage reached such staggering heights that he had to put a disclaimer on the story that the whole thing was intended to be a parody and satirical, two concepts that are completely lost on news outlets like Fox News.

Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring Fight

The Truth:
Fittingly, the most ridiculous fake news story ever covered by the mainstream media had the most ridiculous beginning. A couple of friends got into a discussion over whether or not a group of 40 unarmed midgets could use the power of teamwork to defeat a fully-grown African lion. The discussion became so heated that the friend on the "pro-lion" side of the argument created a fake webpage

The Paris Attacks Were Planned On A Playstation 4

It was a perfect storm of irrational fears and irrational speculation. The PlayStation Network allows people with a PS4 to communicate with each other via text and voice. It’s the sort of environment that NSA hawks are forever warning us will become a den of terrorists and pedophiles. Forbes’ story seemed to corroborate this. Multiple outlets picked it up and ran with it, turning it into a major news piece.

Someone should have checked the source link. Forbes has an open blogging platform (any URL that starts with www.forbes.com/sites) that is about as reliable as the Onion. They let almost anyone publish there, whether or not they are experts or even know what they’re talking about. In this case, the “reporter” had misread a police report and concocted a whole fantasy out of his own mistake.

Britain Is Running Out Of Garys

In March 2015, the UK found itself facing an unprecedented crisis. No, not an imminent terror attack or a deadly pandemic. The country was running out of people called Gary. According to media reports, scientists had predicted there would be no Garys left by 2050.
Although national papers were largely skeptical, local news outlets jumped all over the story. According to The Independent, Britain’s popular Radio One even hosted a serious phone-in discussing the issue.

(this was a daily mash written article originally)


I dunno..The Gary's and blond thing I can definitely believe .. the rest seem kinda suspicious to me...Needless to say, it has been interesting looking back a bit into "fake news". Seems like it's been there all along. Maybe we are just a bit more connected now, or maybe tech is so advanced that anybody can put forth anything and it can be perceived as real.

I guess it has always been up to the reader to decide what to believe and what not to. Anyhow..I just put these up for some fun and also, to see if anyone had /knew of any others that were interesting/funny.. looking for the real fake news stories.. the ones that were accidentally spread yet they should've never been written in the first place.. and hopefully some funny ones?

Thanks,
blend57

Edit to add this Site

An archive of fake news stories going back to late 1700's.

The New York Sun announced that the British astronomer Sir John Herschel had discovered life on the moon by means of a new telescope "of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle." Creatures supposedly seen by Herschel included lunar bison, fire-wielding biped beavers, and winged "man-bats." The public was fascinated. It took several weeks before they realized it was all a hoax. More…

You didnt mention the Greatest of All fake news site. The site that was set up just for fake news .Their claim to fame ,their flagship
THE ONION
Peace

Gothmog

I think a couple from the Cracked and listverse links originated from The Onion..Not sure though.

I'll go check them out anyways..

Thanks!
blend57

Found a few from the Onion

My favorite being:

Two Bangladeshi newspapers, The Daily Manab Zamin and New Nation, have been forced to apologize to the public today after having regurgitated a news article taken from The Onion website which claimed the Moon landings were faked.

The fake news article in question said Neil Armstrong had told a news conference he had been “forced to reconsider every single detail of the monumental journey after watching a few persuasive YouTube videos and reading several blog posts” by a conspiracy theorist.

Thanks again..I'll keep looking..

a reply to: blend57

you might want to take a gander at some old sunday sport archives, that rag used to be a melody of fake news ;D

funsocks

It's time to muzzle the liars.

I think you should be allowed to say anything you want, but there should be consequences when you lie.

The thing is ... and everybody knows it ... the first word is the most damaging. It's hard to recover from something that was swallowed hook-line-&sinker. Those are the ones that ought'a be paid for. And, while we're at it (going old school), whatever happened to knocking someone's ever-lovin'-teeth down their throat for telling lies? That's the way it used to be.

I hate liars. The words 'fake news' are PC speak for: The MSM are a bunch of liars. Pull their press credentials already ... and with it their license to practice business.

For good laugh at the news you should check out fark . The comments on the news are often hilarious .

originally posted by: Gothmog
You didnt mention the Greatest of All fake news site. The site that was set up just for fake news .Their claim to fame ,their flagship
THE ONION
Peace

The Onion are real news, MSM is satire.

Makes more sense to me.

Remember when fake news was fake and not actually a real story TPTB wanted covering up?

VengefulGhost




I'll check it out..thank you! I dunno if this video is real news or fake! Did she spot a bear and they just made a fun clip? Or is this fake news? Either way..it was funny as hell..lmao

Thanks all for the comments..

blend57

edit to add this one as well:

The Internet Drunk Surfing Bill (1994)
no-beer here

It began as an April Fools Day prank in PC Computing magazine by columnist John Dvorak, but it ended up causing quite a stir. Dvorak wrote in his hoax piece that the US Congress was considering a bill (numbered 040194 — as in, 04/01/94) that would make it illegal to surf the web while drunk, or to discuss sexual matters over a public network.

Of course the bill would be passed, wrote Dvorak, because, "Who wants to come out and support drunkenness and computer sex?" The hoax worked a bit too well, though, and it generated so many angry calls to congress that Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts had to issue a statement denying rumors that he was a sponsor of the phony bill.

and this too..cuz, I can't add to the OP:

35 viral news stories on the web

Doritos could not give you Ebola.
France did not ban working after 6pm.
Nobody was giving away $10,000,000 for retweets.
Pumpkin spice-flavoured condoms were not a thing