Fox “News” Unable to Differentiate Truth From Fiction

There is a certain form sociopathy in which a person becomes so accustomed to lying that he or she can no longer tell the difference between what's true and what's false.

You’d think that at a major “news” organization, there would be too many people to all be affected. Apparently not. Read about how Fox News spent all morning reporting on a parody.

The backstory: Last week in the town of Lewiston, Maine, a group of Somalian Muslim middle school students were the subject of a cruel prank when their peers placed a ham steak next to them in order to personally offend the students. School officials filed a report because the students considered the act to be a hate/bias crime.

This actual story was then spoofed by a parody site called Associated Content, which made up quotes and details, such as the school’s intention to “create an anti-ham ‘response plan.’”

On Tuesday, Fox & Friends reported these parody quotes and details as actual news. Poking fun at the students, hosts asked whether ham was “a hate crime…or lunch?” and showed screen shots of ham sandwiches, starving Somalians, belching, animal noises, and mock “reenactments” of the incident. Ironically, the hosts assured viewers several times, “We’re not making this up!”

Which makes this a good time to bring up one of my old favorites, when the right-wing nutjob blogger went berserk over an abortion story The Onion wrote that he believed to be real. You gotta love the right wing’s inability to recognize satire and their complete lack of a sense of humor.