What happens when your narrative meets satire?
Yesterday morning, the the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (Official) Facebook page posted the following bombshell:
According to the new laws, revealing or receiving confidential Vatican information is now punishable by up to two years in prison, while newly defined sex crimes against children carry a sentence of up to twelve years. Because all sex crimes are kept confidential, there is no longer a legal way for Vatican officials to report sex crimes.
The only problem is that this article came from a parody web site (similar to the Onion) called Newslo. (source)
This happens from time to time when over-the-top satire intersects with a negative narrative. It is just funnier when the self-identified “brights” who live by “pure reason” fall for a satiric story.
Still it is a good reminder for all of us to check the source of an article before committing mouse-click to post. I know over the years I came close to stumbling regarding this before realizing something was satire. I use to run a parody blog with a progressive nun persona called “Thoroughly Modern Mary” and their were a number of comments responding that fell for the satire. Even my “Moloch Now!” parody blog got comments from people who didn’t catch on.
4 comments
I think speaks to our very human tendency to believe many things because we want to believe them. Sadly, this impulse leads many to conclude that there are multiple truths, intend of the one truth.
(((VATICAN CITY — Few eyebrows were raised last week when Pope Francis brought the Vatican’s legal system up to date by criminalizing leaks of official information and formalizing laws against sex crimes. But now that the laws have been made public, a closer look revealed that the pope has made it illegal to report sex crimes against children.)))
Long story short, I’m sure that good people believe that “His Holiness” soul and spirit wants U>S (usual sinners) to accept in any way that sex crimes is what GOD (Good Old Dad) approves of so “IT” must be that those who truly know that evil has occurred, they should be prepared to serve at least two years in hell, “I” mean jail if need be to stop “IT”, because too many innocent people have been unjustly treated and……
END YA SAY sinner vic?
Go Figure! 🙂
For what “IT” is worth! Don’t get discouraged Jeff cause you really are doing a good job.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPW9xYEyijQ
Peace
Of course, it does not occur to these idiots to ask “WHAT prison?” There is no “church prison”.
Oh Will but there is, and there are many ways in but only one way out.