Friday, April 1, 2022

Why April Fools' Day

I remember when April Fools' Day was a day in which tomfoolery could be indulged in, even at media outlets.  In one epic prank, the storied WLIR, a music station, had morning news briefs about an earthquake on Long Island, The first reports were brief and fragmentary, calculated to be plausible, even though no other media outlet was reporting on such a momentous occurrence.  Additional reports became more elaborate, and a narrative emerged that that shifted the borderline between Nassau and Suffolk counties... though such a line is an arbitrary mark on a map.  Subsequent reports contrasted the two counties, with reports that towns that had been shifted to Suffolk County were now inundated with flannel-wearing guys with questionable taste in music.  Individuals who had been listening to the morning show from the get-go eventually clued in that this was a prank, given the increasing outlandishness of the reports.

It was a brilliant prank, a harmless bit of satire on the demographics of the core listening area.  A good time was had by all, even those who were slow on the uptake.  It was a perfect April Fools' Day joke.

April Fools' Day just isn't fun anymore... disinformation, I would even use the neologism malinformation, is ubiquitous these days, and it is killing people.  Besides, what is the point of April Fools' Day when every day of the year is devoted to hoaxes and pranks?

4 comments:

  1. Happy New Year!

    Once I announced on my web-log I'd had it & was giving up. Someone bought it & was saddened, but a more clued-in commenter noted that it was April Fools' Day.

    This yr., I couldn't think of a damn thing, clever or otherwise.

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  2. I didn't do April Fool this year. It would be too cruel. After surviving these past few years, after watching these insane politicians trying to kill my country, after hearing the news day in and day out, it is not funny anymore.
    It seems like something a republican would do.
    They always think it is funny when they tell lies.

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  3. Once I announced on my web-log I'd had it & was giving up. Someone bought it & was saddened, but a more clued-in commenter noted that it was April Fools' Day.


    April Fools' Day is every day now.

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  4. Sad but true we're in a time when a hoax can have earth shaking consequences. The classic BBC April fools prank could only work because they had credibility.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU

    OTOH, kudos to Frances Langum. She had me going until I saw the second picture.

    https://crooksandliars.com/2022/03/marsha-blackburn-debuts-new-hairstyle-fox

    ReplyDelete