Episodes
Monday May 18, 2015
Monday May 18, 2015
The Libertarian Republic writer June Lapine posted a joke anti-capitalist meme to the Internet... but the Internet didn't know Shoe!
Lapine, AKA Shoe0nhead, a critic of extremist feminism, posted a photograph of herself last week that was a parody of anti-capitalist liberals who whine about capitalism from the comfort of their $600 iPhones.
Shoe's troll went mega-viral, with most people believing that she was being serious. But who can blame them really? According to Skeptic's Dictionary, Poe's Law states that it's difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between parodies of fundamentalism and their genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane. Truly anti-capitalist weirdos and economic illiterate leftists made June's satire hard, but not impossible, to spot.
And since it wasn't impossible, doesn't this just make old Mark Twain's adage even more true; that a lie can run around the world twice before the truth can put on its... Shoe?
Prominent conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson of Prison Planet shared the meme, without any indication that he knew it was satire. And while it's not quite certain whether or not he saw it as such, he later admitted he did, his credulous truther fans certainly were hornswoggled by it. Heck, even a fellow writer at The Libertarian Republic was taken in by the prank. So what sort of responsibility do we have to let people know that we're making a joke, if any?
This episode of the Freedom Report podcast is sure to make you laugh, cry, and make you think twice before sharing the latest meme. Oh who are we kidding, we know you're gonna share that stupid sh*t anyway.