Satire...or Just Plain Fake News?

Yesterday we published an article by the Midnight Rider; at the beginning we asked readers to be sure to read to the end. Many didn't. 

At the end of the story, MR points out that the entire weird tale was satire, yet it was believed by a Nashville television station which did a story on the non-story. Satire and fake news are two entirely different things, but when a non-satirical medium republishes the satire, what does it become?

One quick way to tell satire is humor. Yes, satire is supposed to have an element of humor, but much today seemingly misses the mark by a great deal. As we initially read the story written about a supposedly pro-adiposity group, we noticed the mythical radio station was called the Pig. That's when bells went off.

Another marker of a satirical story is often the status of the main character. Is he/she no longer with us? One can't libel a dead person. In other words, the writer of the radio ban story wouldn't have written it about Willie Nelson or any similar living artist for fear he just might get a letter from Nelson's attorney.

Fake news? These news stories are often about living people. There's no humor in these fake stories which are written to cause discord or to make the author money. 

It's sad that it was a Fox network station that was taken in. It didn't help that network's image.

Mr. Russ Corey was kind enough to point out to us that the Colbert County Commission is not paying for the "Sontaran" monument destined for the court house lawn. All funding is coming from Colbert firefighters.

That brings up an excellent point. Why doesn't the commission match the 7,000.00 in order to upgrade the statue? Many of our readers thought the monument looked like a "pile of dog ****." Again we say that fallen firefighters deserve more than this. 

You can give a Kindle book for Christmas that arrives in seconds:

A Walk Through the Past - William Lindsey McDonald