That goes to show how close I was reading that article: I actually thought Jeff Beezus actually did purchase the Washington post… So what.
1
As my favorite commentator Bill Maher would say, What could be a bigger boner to pull than having fake news compounded by being lost in translation - and then being delayed on top of it
If the shoe fits......
1
It's no more absurd than what we hear from Sean Spicer's podium and Trump's early morning tweet ravings.
2
And fifty million Frenchmen thought Jerry Lewis hilarious. Maybe Voice of America could beam old Bob Hope and Milton Berle shows at them so they could get a taste of true American humor rather than NYC political snark.
2
Borowitz's satire has a great similarity to truth, so the Chinese should be forgiven. Trump I will never forgive.
1
I have a bit of a reverse problem with news items involving Trump: I tend to glance at actual news and assume it's satire. We are living through a bizarre chapter which tends to distort reality, making it more difficult to discern what is real and what is not.
1
The author here leaves out the fact that since December or so, Borowitz's columns have been clearly marked as "Satire"--at least that's what I've seen when I pull them up.
1
How Americans are duped by the fake news in our own newspapers?
1
I sympathize with the Chinese media. With this guy and his team of deplorables in the White House, I have a hard time distinguishing satire from "reality". And Andy Borowitz is a genius.
3
There is no fake news as long as Trump is president. Everything should be presumed to be true till it's disproven. The age of satire is over; nothing is impossible if Trump can be president.
3
I would posit it does the Chinese government no harm to circulate spurious or satirical 'news' items to its people. All such misinformation continue the narrative of the West and the U.S. in particular as being in decadent chaos.
1
Trump is terrific, I tell you. He makes anything be possible and credible (by himself).
1
Eons ago, in the district where I taught senior English (AP) our year-round organization required a re-ordering of programs which allowed the English Dept. to create one-quarter length courses with continued emphases on literature, composition, et al. We designed a course in "Comedy & Satire." At our college-style registrations, students who not academically inclined, would rush to sign up for this course with obvious appeal of comedy being entertaining. After a a couple of years, we learned that the average student in this course could not comprehend the satire selections, always inferring from them that the selections were serious. We dropped the satire and the course became simply comedy. Looks like the Chinese have the same problem. And we know Trump has the same lack of comprehension, likely because he is NOT a reader. Were he to read Jonathan Swift's classic,"A Modest Proposal," likely our illegitimate president would mourn the devouring of those poor babies. Thanks to Andy Borowitz, some of us are able to keep our tongues firmly implanted in our cheek. And how refreshing to catch New Yorker editor David Remnick as a guest on Rachel Maddow, discussing an article in the current issue of the superb magazine with two other staff writers as co-authors on the background to the Russian/Trump debacle. Frightening. Confident Bannon has banned it from the White House, the State Department, Homeland Security, and the Defense Dept.
4
The word is that when Trump read about it,he noticed there was no tinfoil on his ,phone and had Kellyanne Conway searching the White House for the culprit who took it.Luckily for Kellyanne the president's ADD allowed her to end search in less than 3 minutes.Never a dull moment with the new boss.
1
I bet there ARE no satires of Chinese leadership, in China. So, a journalist there, when reading Borowitz, would have no frame of reference.
1
Wrong the netizens on social media do it all the time having developed a (monetarily) censer free language – and there are millions of them having fun with the Establishment any given day.
Satire works because of the truth behind it.
3
Agree, a Pulitzer for Borowitz. His stuff is actually the best "un-fake" news out there. Best measure is how much it makes you laugh. The real story is so absolutely bizarre you couldn't make it up.
2
The Borowitz article seems perfectly plausible. Sad, really sad.
1
Last month Borowitz wrote that Trump had complained that the writers of the Constitution had been "very disrespectful" of him. A friend of mine thought it was true, not because she's gullible, but because Trump is so crazy that he just might say something that stupid.
20
Fairly hilarious, once you get over the irony...
6
Or SCARY
1
China and Russia (RT News) can avoid making errors (or make fake news) with news if they simply agree to have all their news submitted to the US Government for approval. I am sure the US Government will not bill them for the service as it is very important that Americans get true news only. No bull.
3
Trump mistakes fake news for real, sometimes on purpose, and other times without a clue.
8
Funny the satire wasn't that far from the truth.
18
That's the problem, as many have iterated on these comments. Trump is satire. Indistinguishable from the least distinguished U.S. presidency of anyone's imagination, previously.
At least the Chinese have the decency to be outraged by it. They're probably still decades away from populist overrun. If the Earth holds up that long, that is.
Is that too cynical?
At least the Chinese have the decency to be outraged by it. They're probably still decades away from populist overrun. If the Earth holds up that long, that is.
Is that too cynical?
7
"Is that too cynical?"
Other than the fact that most Chinese media are organs of a government agency that calls itself the Propaganda Department, no. (And the PD is famous for its sense of humor.)
Other than the fact that most Chinese media are organs of a government agency that calls itself the Propaganda Department, no. (And the PD is famous for its sense of humor.)
A careless reader might think that Mr. Trump's tweets were meant seriously. Surely they were satire, no? Weren't they?
3
Just wait a bit, and it'll be real news. I've been collecting Onion articles that anticipated true news: http://notestaff.livejournal.com/14376.html
6
What do they call Chinese food in China? If Trump wants Chinese food for lunch in the White House does he order takeout? How did Obama deal with that problem?
3
Andy Borowitz should be awarded a Pulitzer for his work defending our country
23
The sad thing is, it is probably not too far from the truth.
22
Andy is very good at what he does. I can understand how it could be confusing to people who aren't used to it. There have been a few occasions that I have had to remind myself that it was satire while reading his columns. Combine that with the insanity spewing out of the whitehouse and this was bound to happen.
13
I had the same trouble with Stephen Colbert when he started "The Colbert Report." Took me weeks before I figured it out. (I'm slow.)
Just last month, I came across an article on the CNN (?) site, about a newspaper in the Dominican Republic inadvertently using a shot of Alec Baldwin on SNL, in an article about Trump. ROTFL !
11
We desperately need something to laugh about at this moment. With a madman as fearless leader (here and abroad), and a party so greedy they are willing to throw anyone under the bus if it makes them another dollar, I really needed this. More, Please!
5
Now here is something which you would think is comical, but real. DT spends two hours every morning watching Fox News and tweeting. When I'm at work, I have to work. No TV watching or tweeting for me. Since the "President" works for the people of the US, and we're paying his living and food expenses, why isn't he being called on the carpet. I'm sure there are a lot other important things he could be doing. Oh that's right, Bannon is the puppet master. Hey Donald, squirrel ...
2
I'm not sure I would eliminate the possibility that the editor knew that the story was satire.
5
There is a serious side of this fake news published in the Chinese media.
In the past, the US president was trusted by overseas friends and feared by foes.
Now, the US president --Donald Trump -- is the main star at SNL and source of made in America jokes published internationally. A sad state of affair for the once revered office of the US presidency.
In the past, the US president was trusted by overseas friends and feared by foes.
Now, the US president --Donald Trump -- is the main star at SNL and source of made in America jokes published internationally. A sad state of affair for the once revered office of the US presidency.
10
Andy Borowitz keeps me laughing in these harsh times. Not just the Chinese are fooled by his stories even though there is a fake news disclaimer on them. I emailed an Andy to a friend who believed it. Trump and his cabinet are so crazy that these satires are really believable.
27
Oh, so we haven't cornered the market on "Low Information Voters", (no, I know they are not really voters at all). But it is nice to know that billions and billions of Chinese, with the aid or THEIR Eternal Fake News sources are at the same level as Trump voters that have the privilege of living in a country with a free press. For most of them, seems like having a First Amendment at their backs means nothing.
Going off topic: Stage II: Waiting for the aftermath of the rollback of the Medicaid expansion as ot sweeps though the Deep Red State's elderly White poor who voted for him and the "Freedom Caucus" Put the spurs to it Ryan!
Going off topic: Stage II: Waiting for the aftermath of the rollback of the Medicaid expansion as ot sweeps though the Deep Red State's elderly White poor who voted for him and the "Freedom Caucus" Put the spurs to it Ryan!
5
I think the Chinese news agency tried to depick the flaws and highlight the internal fights between current & past American presidents. This is just like we always pick their problems, and now they are doing the same to us. Big deal.
Well, I'd be onboard with taking the picks out. Depicking is always good. Not quite sure how picking their problems works, though.
2
The Chinese are not the only ones confused. I think they should not feel duped. We do have a bozo impersonator in office now. And he is doing a great job. So no need for excuses for the good people of China today.
28
This is a kind of funny side-effect of the digital revolution since circa 1972: miniaturisation via the silicon chip; rise of the mini-computer then the micro-computer; increasing availability and efficiency of connections to the "experimental" Internet; the search for and finding of a suitable protocol stack for free and easy exchange over the same (for now, WWW is the winner; it wasn't always so); the explosion of good and bad ideas for businesses, for advertising and plain "information flow" over the new "channel" (soft/hard).
People cannot now tell whether what they are reading has any link to reality, or whether it is total bullfeathers. Eventually, corrections will develop and be implemented, but probably not any time soon. Bound to get worse before it gets better.
I remember Al Gore in the 1990's touting the information superhighway (before deployment of DSL modulation over existing trunk lines, optical fibre, etc., back when modems were still simple modems [analog-digital converters], often the Internet seemed more like an information dirt road!).
There was obviously going to be a problem with "law enforcement" in a medium that ignored national boundaries, transported public authority to unpoliced "server/router farms", basked luxuriously in a general legal void andenjoyed metaphorically cancerous growth without seeming to find it at all fatal!
But who really knew there would be provisional metamorphosis into a DIS-information superhighway?
Humans, babe!
People cannot now tell whether what they are reading has any link to reality, or whether it is total bullfeathers. Eventually, corrections will develop and be implemented, but probably not any time soon. Bound to get worse before it gets better.
I remember Al Gore in the 1990's touting the information superhighway (before deployment of DSL modulation over existing trunk lines, optical fibre, etc., back when modems were still simple modems [analog-digital converters], often the Internet seemed more like an information dirt road!).
There was obviously going to be a problem with "law enforcement" in a medium that ignored national boundaries, transported public authority to unpoliced "server/router farms", basked luxuriously in a general legal void andenjoyed metaphorically cancerous growth without seeming to find it at all fatal!
But who really knew there would be provisional metamorphosis into a DIS-information superhighway?
Humans, babe!
4
The genius of Borowitz at The New Yorker is that he encapsultes the mania of Trump's administration. It is not surprising that foreigners find it more accurate than real news.
I loved the tinfoil episode. It reminded me to suggest that people who don't believe the truth or science should put their tinfoil hats in the microwave, per American Hustle.
Believing that reality isn't real but is intended to lead you astray is beyond satire, it is dangerous.
I loved the tinfoil episode. It reminded me to suggest that people who don't believe the truth or science should put their tinfoil hats in the microwave, per American Hustle.
Believing that reality isn't real but is intended to lead you astray is beyond satire, it is dangerous.
5
Of course next day the CIA story broke so satire has a short life.
I have the same problem the Chinese do ...
3
Strange that Beijing missed the joke. Communism is known for its sense of humor. There's a little red book that's a riot.
Of course they have trouble. At first, they thought reports of Trump being elected were satire (could you blame them?) and look how that turned out. How are they to know what is real and what is satire these days?
17
In this case, the confusion is entirely justified.
3
This is quite understandable and not because the Chinese are naive. The only reason we have difficulty laughing at the outrageous behavior of this clown is that we can't shake the ongoing anxiety that his presence in the White House maintains 24/7, knowing that he could potentially destroy the world, as two eminent psychiatrists just put it in a letter to the Times editor.
5
The New Yorker should be commended - and widely imitated - for its "tinfoil" story. For our enjoyment, and to compensate us for the grief that the Inciter-in-Chief lavishes on us daily, All respectable newspapers should have regular columns of forums with hilarious "fake news" about Trump, thus giving him a taste of his own Russian medicine.
1
I sympathize with the Chinese editors. Donald Trump has killed satire and made it redundant. It is difficult to distinguish between Trump's kooky behavior and satire.
19
Knowing what we know about our President's mental state, seen in the light of his tweets. I'm surprised that we don't take these jokes seriously !
2
Uh-oh. Mr, Borowitz clearly has "connections" and, having sent several coded messages each day that most of us thought were simply satire at its best, may well end up testifying before the oxymoronic house and senate intelligence committees.
3
I can report on at least 2 incidents in which the Borowitz headline in the New Yorker was received as real news on Facebook. I think it is actually frightening that even fairly well informed people cannot discern the real headline from the fake one. I think it has come to this since 45 and his colleagues manufacture their reality and are not really held accountable for it for more than 10 minutes.
8
Hey, I may be slow, but I'm not that fast… em, ep, up, oop… Well you know what I mean. But I actually did Think I was scanning just another business acquisition which isn't too uncommon in the NYT.
I adore Andy Borowitz.
10
Thanks to the author for including
"The New Yorker article said that Mr. Bezos had bought the newspaper by clicking on it by mistake. That piece was also written by Mr. Borowitz as part of his regular column, “The Borowitz Report.” "
I had missed hearing about that - and very much needed the laugh.
"The New Yorker article said that Mr. Bezos had bought the newspaper by clicking on it by mistake. That piece was also written by Mr. Borowitz as part of his regular column, “The Borowitz Report.” "
I had missed hearing about that - and very much needed the laugh.
11
I guess with President Trumps tweets, it is difficult even for the Chinese Media to tell fake from real news. Just like the 39% of his followers.
13
Oh but were all the news about Trump satire instead of the bad joke that it is...
8
"Put foil on the phone,
Build me a silence cone,
Make my bathrobe look like a suit,
How is my salute,
And when do I get my throne?"
Build me a silence cone,
Make my bathrobe look like a suit,
How is my salute,
And when do I get my throne?"
2
he seems paranoid because he has a lot to hide.
Big difference between fake news and satire. It's understandable when foreign news organizations, with a difference in culture and potential translation issues, makes this mistake. Not so much when it happens in the same country. Sad.
1
I'be had trouble finding anything at all about Trump funny, but the mental image of him tripping around the White House in a fluffy bathrobe while wearing a tinfoil hat...
That's funny!
That's funny!
3
Ha ha ha! The first news story to make me laugh in months.
1
I am not surprised. The fact Chinese government control news media, the general public doesn't believe anything in the news, and instead they reac blogs or those fwd fwd fwd email you receive from your aunt. It is really sad that now days people do not have the ability to tell real news or alternative facts... What a world we live in?
Well aren't the Chinese silly? But think about - it every Saturday Night Americans gather around the TV to laugh at the 'latest' antics of Big Don Trump portrayed on SNL. Then it goes on YouTube.
There are 'comedians' running spurious 'newsy' OR DISCUSSION programs - Mahar, Colbert and Oliver - competing with each other to give Americans their 'news' with an edge ... and a laff.
Chinese, or other aliens, just don't get it, it's something else that makes America 'great'.
There are 'comedians' running spurious 'newsy' OR DISCUSSION programs - Mahar, Colbert and Oliver - competing with each other to give Americans their 'news' with an edge ... and a laff.
Chinese, or other aliens, just don't get it, it's something else that makes America 'great'.
Could there be some way to monetize people's gullibility?
• Defense contractors create and publicize external threats via tame news outlets, so they can sell more weapons?
• • (Subset) Politicians support expensive, useless boondoggles, pleasing the companies that profit from such projects.
A wall?
Scanning equipment for airport security??
• Insurance companies defeat attempts to introduce single-payer health care via media disinformation and campaign donations. Big Pharma maintains monopoly privileges and high drug prices the same way.
Naah: Can't fool the people with money and power. They have the best brains.
• Defense contractors create and publicize external threats via tame news outlets, so they can sell more weapons?
• • (Subset) Politicians support expensive, useless boondoggles, pleasing the companies that profit from such projects.
A wall?
Scanning equipment for airport security??
• Insurance companies defeat attempts to introduce single-payer health care via media disinformation and campaign donations. Big Pharma maintains monopoly privileges and high drug prices the same way.
Naah: Can't fool the people with money and power. They have the best brains.
4
Mr. JC Hernández: thank you for a good laugh at Mr. Trump's expense. I do believe the Chinese are more perceptive then you imagine and they hit the nail right on the head when describing Mr. Trump's behavior. Truthfully, when Trump opens his eyes he views intrigue everywhere he looks. The intrigue is real since he spreads false rumors and fake news everytime he utters a word. His problems will become deeper as his constituency finds out that they voted for him based on ill conceived notions and falsehoods. They will polishing their daggers when they loose their healthcare and when the miners find out that they'll have to go back to school to learn new trades since Coal isn't coming back. The saddest aspect of Trump's behavior is belittling Mr. Schwartzenegger's performance on the Apprentice due to his ratings decline. Instead of wondering while his ratings (Trump) as a first year President are the lowest in in history. Just goes to show you what a narrow minded, ego driven idtiot the electoral college placed in the White House.
11
Hmm. This opens up a whole new strategy for dealing with China.
A challenge to the reader: What fake news would cause China to reverse its position on North Korea?
A challenge to the reader: What fake news would cause China to reverse its position on North Korea?
2
Either a commentary on fake news, or fake government. Maybe, both - the two are now one.
3
Yesterday's satire is today's news.
3
Who can blame them Chinese? We do not know what is "is" here in the USA.
3
Nice work, Mr. Borowitz!
1
It's pretty horrific when a powerful country like China is unable to readily discern the difference between Trump-oriented satire and reality.
Trump's own outlandish behavior, utterances and proclamations drive home the point that his recklessness as president, under the guise of being a "straight shooter," could put the United States in a position of untenable national security risk. If that isn't enough to sober up his supporters, advisors and yes, Trump himself, I don't know what is.
Trump's own outlandish behavior, utterances and proclamations drive home the point that his recklessness as president, under the guise of being a "straight shooter," could put the United States in a position of untenable national security risk. If that isn't enough to sober up his supporters, advisors and yes, Trump himself, I don't know what is.
3
When satire is so close to the truth, is it still satire?
4
The New Yorker has become completely obsessed with Trump. The magazine's daily on-line version has almost stopped issuing articles on social and cultural subjects in favor of highly critical commentary on Trump and his administration. It isn't that criticism isn't deserved, but 4 or 5 of them come out every day, plus a snarky cartoon. Every day - for the last 6 months or more. I think we get the picture by now but it appears that the establishment left, which the New Yorker embodies, has become as wacked out as Trump himself. In the frenzy of its anger over the charlatan Trump;s unlikely rise to the Presidency, it seems the magazine's editors can't focus on anything else. I miss the old content. Sad.
1
More fake news. The New Yorker daily has a variety of articles on a variety of subjects. The fact that it accurate summarizes the craziness of the Trumpian alternative reality is a feature, not a bug. It breaks news as well, which is useful with an administration that thinks it can lie its way out of its greed and kleptocracy. For example, it had a nice readable useful summary of the Wikileaks item, which made it clear that this was *not* a TrumpPutin effort, despite the temptation to tie them together.
It is a comfort to have such fine writing and accurate reporting at hand in these dangerous days, when falsehood is willing to put us all at risk.
It is a comfort to have such fine writing and accurate reporting at hand in these dangerous days, when falsehood is willing to put us all at risk.
8
Some truth here punch in www.newyorker.com and judge yourself and don’t miss the cartoons. But a great magazine even in its Trumpian freeze.
For an ESL person, humor is particularly hard to discern. Reality is hard to discern these days from "Through the Looking Glass." Oh, our reality is "Through the Looking Glass." I get it. The Chinese cannot possibly understand the humor of Borowitz, can they? He is just wonderful and helps to get me through these terrible times with DT.
5
My favorite example is from 2002 when the Chinese media thought that another Onion article was factual. The headline was "Congress Threatens To Leave D.C. Unless New Capitol Is Built" and the farcical building was supposed to include a retractable dome.
3
Trump and satire: how can you tell the difference?
Trump facts are invariably " alternative "
Trump speak is bigly good
Trump plans are profitable- for him
Trump friends are paid by someone else
Trump wives have an expiration date
Trump is " like, really smart". In geology terms.
Trump is honest. Like Madoff.
Trump writes best selling books. Dictates.
O.k. I'm wrong. There is no difference. HE is beyond satire.
Trump facts are invariably " alternative "
Trump speak is bigly good
Trump plans are profitable- for him
Trump friends are paid by someone else
Trump wives have an expiration date
Trump is " like, really smart". In geology terms.
Trump is honest. Like Madoff.
Trump writes best selling books. Dictates.
O.k. I'm wrong. There is no difference. HE is beyond satire.
4
Unfortunately, the activities of the current occupant of the WH are indistinguishable from the fevered dreams of opium eating satire writers.
1
How sure are we that the New Yorker piece, albeit humorous, isn't accurate?
2
Maybe The Onion can run a story about Godzilla being seen around the Senkaku Islands, Paracel Islands, or Scarborough Shoal ?
Or, the 9 dashes were recently reduced to 2.
Or, North Korea test fired a ballistic missile again but this time aimed it westerly?
Or, the theft of our air force and navy designs were deliberately disseminated with flaws for CHinese consumption?
Or, the 9 dashes were recently reduced to 2.
Or, North Korea test fired a ballistic missile again but this time aimed it westerly?
Or, the theft of our air force and navy designs were deliberately disseminated with flaws for CHinese consumption?
Oh, I get it, it's satire: Obama being born in Kenya, Obama personally wiretapping Donald Trump, 3 million illegal "aliens" voting for Hillary Clinton, the huge crowds that couldn't be photographed at the new president's inauguration.
34
When in Tianjin a few years ago, a young man from our major supplier helped me document our supply chain to satisfy DHS that it was secure. We got to talking and I made a joke about the DMV or the President or whatever. He asked earnestly if many people in the USA made such jokes. I indicated that it was a national past time. He said that was real freedom: being able to make fun of anyone - even powerful people. It was clearly implied that such was not the case in China.
I can totally understand why some in China would be unable to discern the difference between satire and real news.
I can totally understand why some in China would be unable to discern the difference between satire and real news.
84
Clearly you meant there are an equal number here who cannot discriminate satire from real news. According to Mort Sahl, the mark of good satire is that it could be real and is cleverly difficult to recognize - oddly meaning that *anything* from the White House is excellent satire.
3
That is especially true in this particular case.
2
Being able to laugh at oneself is a sure sign of mental sanity, be it for a person or a nation. "Ridenda castigat mores" - by laughing you criticize the habits. Witness the abundance of jokes Jews tell about themselves. The long and honorable tradition of Jewish humor, including self-deprecating Jewish humor, is present in humorists like Woody Allen or Andy Borowitz.
Go tell it to the most unfunny president ever. Has he ever had an inkling of how ridiculous he is?
Go tell it to the most unfunny president ever. Has he ever had an inkling of how ridiculous he is?
2