The morning after: thinking about April Fools Day
I feel like I have a bit of a hangover from yesterday, even though I’m not a drinking woman. As I wrote in an addendum I just added to yesterday’s “In defense of Hank Johnson” post, while it’s a wonderful thing to be linked by such blogosphere luminaries as Instapundit and Powerline, it’s also true that the best April Fools jokes are unexplained as such.
But an awful lot of readers (both new and old) thought I was being serious in my fanciful riff on the Guam video, despite the date being April First, and despite my putting a reference to April Fools Day within the body of that piece in what I assumed would be a big hint. I really didn’t want to put a note in the post itself saying “ALERT: April Fools spoof!” (I thought that would ruin the joke), although such a message appeared many times in the comments section.
But people don’t always read the comments section, and many just didn’t remember that the date was April 1st. I waited till today to write this explanation, since April Fools Day is now over and now The Truth Can Be Told. So here it is: that post on Johnson was a spoof. Unfortunately, too many people may have already gone away thinking I’m some sort of weirdo who spreads unsourced rumors on a daily basis.
Nothing could be further from the way I usually operate (hey, did you hear about…?). Perhaps the problem is that the truths that actually did appear in my piece yesterday—(1) the video itself; (2) the fact that Willard had a role as consultant and actor in the movie “Top Gun;” and 3) the fact that Johnson is one of two Buddhists in Congress—were already sort of quirky. This was especially the case with the video, which should have been a joke but unfortunately was not (at least, not an intentional one).
Johnson has since said that he was offering a metaphor about Guam. I leave it to you to watch the video and judge whether that is true (I don’t think so). And another fact that came out is that Johnson has been suffering from Hepatitis C and its treatment, which can affect the mind. That is true, and I wish him well in fighting the disease. But if his mind is this affected, he needs to step down from his Congressional post.
And that’s no joke.
It strikes me that this year people just do not seem to be in a joking mood. I noticed fewer April Fool prank posts around the blogosphere yesterday than in previous years. Perhaps because the truth has become more like the Onion than any joke could be.
Maybe I should just give up April Fools pranking. Maybe I will.
Until next year.
It was very good. Always nice to lighten the mood in difficult times.
Well, I thought it was funny, especially when Johnson dragged out the “nuance” defense later in the day. I actually checked the time stamps to see if your post was before his “explanation”!
Perhaps Johnson is a reader and got the idea for his defense from your post!
R U Sirius?
Actually… this just means your prank actually worked very well!!!
It strikes me that this year people just do not seem to be in a joking mood.
I think you’re right about that. I got that the Hank Johnson piece was a spoof, but I wasn’t amused– and your next post about a real April Fool (Phil Hare) underscored the fact that there’s nothing funny about the stupidity and/or lack of integrity of so many Congresscritters.
Okay, I confess. I thought you were serious.
I really wanted to believe that no congressman could be so incredibly stupid as to suggest that Guam would capsize from overpopulation. It really seemed so incredibly absurd that I really wanted to believe that there had to be some rational explanation for what I just saw in the video. If anything, I would have expected the video itself to have been an April Fool’s joke.
I’m still all WTF? over Google’s Topeka prank. This year, the pranks were either too obtuse to get, or else the reality seemed to be the prank.
Oh well, there’s always next year.
You had me lock, stock, and barrel. And I thought it was really funny, too. It wasn’t until the comments section that I realized I’d been duped. Well done!
I realized about half way through the piece that you were pulling the April fool joke. However, it took me that long because, like Daniel said in the comment above, I really really didn’t want to believe we had someone that stupid on such a position of power.
As for the illness, if it’s causing this level of debility in his thought process, he needs to step down immediately. His constituents are entitled to representation by someone who can think somewhat coherently even if I don’t agree with the particular thoughts themselves. To claim that level of illness and not step down or go on leave to recover is an even greater offense then sounding like an idiot.
“…..too many people may have already gone away thinking I’m some sort of weirdo who spreads unsourced rumors on a daily basis.
Nothing could be further from the way I usually operate…”
One of the reasons I fell for it so easily. I have come to expect accurate, well researched posts. Now I’m going to have to put on my skeptic’s cap, even here. And that might be a good thing. As Reagan said, ‘Trust but verify.”
You got me too, Neo — and for the same reasons others have already offered:
(a) I wanted to believe that a sitting US Congressman wouldn’t be so brain-dead as to say such a thing, seriously, on camera. (You offered a fiction that was less strange than the truth… clever!!)
(b) you are a compelling and sober voice of reason, which means your whimsical side can catch us by surprise — particularly with the serious deadpan delivery you used here.
(c) as spoofs go, it was a good one!
Please, don’t apologize for doing a good job!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a small island to capsize.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
The best April Fool’s day Pranks are the ones people believe are real. I congratulate you on your success in fooling so many!!!
Well, you did get me; and furthermore I cited your post in the comments at Bookwormroom in defense of Johnson.
My defense is that, like others, I have learned to just take what you say and head for the bank. Either that or it was too close to my nap time when I read your post.
I thought your portrayal of Johnson was kind of endearing, and I am sorry to learn that it was apocryphal; even though I know he is a Dimocrat.
(I once worked for an Admiral who loved to joke and he carried on just that kind of repartee with his boss, who was a BIG Admiral. He would enlist the services of certain of his staff members in his efforts to spoof the boss. I really liked the idea that these guys could carry on like that. This fellow was a delight to work for, although I felt the rough side of his tongue on occasion–when I deserved it.)
Have to admit, I, too was slow to catch on — not because I want to “believe that no congressman could be so incredibly stupid,” (.as per Daniel above) Just more than half of them proved it to every citizen in America just six days ago.
But slow to catch on is more a tribute to your writing ability and the reliance I have come to place in your related research, as well as a bit of naivete which tends to assert itself especially on April Fool’s Day– not one of my favorite days, as you might expect.
For those of you who don’t read the comments, indulge once in awhile. Unlike on many other serious blogs, they’re more often than not enlightening (and not just on April Fool’s) and quite civil safe for the occasional troll who just has to prove he/she is right and will attempt to convince any willing to read their arguments until the cows come home.
As for Hepetitus C — never heard the info about it affecting the mind. My mother contracted it as a young girl when she required transfusions during an appendectomy, and when the “hepatitus” manifested, it was long before medical science differentiated between Types A, B, and C. She was subsequently diagnosed with Lupus, and suffered greatly from autoimmune symptoms for many decades but was treated symptomatically, usually with steroids. It was only when she was diagnosed with primary liver cancer with 3 weeks to live (some 12 years ago) did her alert oncologist realize what had been diagnosed as Lupus was Hepititus C which frequently morphs directly into fatal liver cancer before it is ever detected as a milder or treatable form of cancer. Even at the end, it was quite remarkable — only due to the diligence of a physician friend who ordered a bone scan and despite the radiologist’s OK, insisted on reviewing the films himself, did he discover the real problem. Aside from the understandable fear of being told you are going to die quite soon, she was completely lucid and went about her normal schedule — including her Saturday beauty parlor appt., manicure and pedicure which she wouldn’t miss unless there was a hurricane! — until the last 2 days or so, when her liver began shutting down. If anyone has to deal with such a disease, I hope they are blessed with similar experience with so little time to dread the unknown, and so short a period of discomfort. No matter how we dealt with her death, we always looked at it as a blessing that she suffered so little.
I wanted, and still want, to believe Congressman Johnson was just very poor in delivering some miniscule bit of humor to his line of questioning. Your April’s Fool joke now has me wondering if I really should be standing in the corner with a dunce’s cap pulled down over my eyes and ears.
I will say, given the almost painful descriptive attempts at the island that Congressman Johnson was making, that regardless of whether he is currently on medication or not he should *not* be actively participating in any context of duty if that is an example of his reasoning and interrogative abilities.
Seems that the glimmer of light I was reaching out to grasp may have actually been the arcing of a Tesla coil. Sometimes reality just sucks.
Not funny. I just hung up from the Michael Savage Show, where I was going to relate what I read yesterday. To make sure I had my facts straight, I came back to your site to find out I almost looked like a fool on national radio for believing you.
Ed Bonderenka said:
“Not funny. I just hung up from the Michael Savage Show, where I was going to relate what I read yesterday. To make sure I had my facts straight, I came back to your site to find out I almost looked like a fool on national radio for believing you.”
No, it’s not funny. It’s F***ing hilarious. Neo gets my vote for best prank this year. I wouldn’t necessarily have thought that the first time I read the original essay (I was taken in for a minute, too), but now, after watching the fallout..What can I say? The true measure of a good prank is how many people are taken in by it and this one netted a whole, whoppin’ drfitnet of guppies.
This one was made of W-I-N. And to top it off, even after it’s been shown to be an April Fool’s Joke, there are STILL people getting caught by it.
I’ll raise my glass of Cherry Coke tonight to your joke, Neo. Cheers!
Yes, Neo, that was a masterful April Fool’s joke. You should be proud of that.
I had already seen the video before I read your post, and you had me going up to about halfway through. Then I remembered the date, and thought, “Hey, waaaaiiiit a minute…”
Well done! Can’t wait till next year.
Nice one Neo.
However, my gullibility quotient had already been spent, big time, earlier in the day. A local talk radio host, (old hippy, fm DJ in the day, turned conservative, incredibly credible and popular, pulled off a masterpiece.
He informed his audience, with apropo dramatic timing, that he had been approached by the RNC to run in the primary, (as a write-in because of the late date), for a house seat that the incumbent Dem could lose. He claimed that the RNC had polled the area and found the two Republicans in the race losing to the Dem, but when his name was added to the poll he would win by 9 points. And, the RNC had committed $230K to him! He even enlisted his program producer in the skit, (she cried!), as tomorrow would have to be his last day on the air.
A smile beamed on my face and a wave of emotion shuddered through me.
I totally bought it, thousands bought it. It made sense. Here was a citizen politician we could trust.
That old adage, “you can’t BS a BSer” wasn’t true after all.
As already said before probably the best prank of the day I had seen on the web. Google going Topeka was just to easy. The fallout of those that bought into the post carried the day from what I can tell. As a said in the comments on the post in question I wish I could have seen it on 1 April. Those that are mad at you for duping them have no sense of humor and I am sorry they cannot admit to their own fallibility. No one is perfect. The story appeared at the right time for a prank and hopefully one will appear for you next year. Again I must say excellent ruse.
I just looked at the old thread. It’s already April 3rd, and you’re still reelin’ em in!
Curses I’ve been had!
Keep up the April fools jokes, provided of course that the government allows you to be writing next year. I am sure that writers and journalists will be required to register with the government in the near future.
Your joke reveals that we are well on our way down the road to serfdom, in that just as a roman emperor made his horse a senator, the democrats have done so as well.
I see that other blog sites are still referencing your story to illustrate that Johnson wasn’t as dumb as he sounded.
I feel just a little better about my gullibility.
You did us all a real service, aside from the entertainment value, by reminding us to read with a skeptical mind set.
I have a year to try to come up with a bit of revenge.
Not funny, Neo. Not in these critical times when our very liberty is at stake. This faux defense is effectively sabotaging the campaign presently being waged by the Tea Party patriots to shine a light on the duplicity and ignorance of a socialist/Marxist who is conspiring to destroy all this country stands for. Breitbart is still linking this article as though it were fact. So, please, at least update the post to indicate that it is a spoof.
Arghh. You got me. 🙂
It’s clear that the reason so many readers were taken in my your April Fool’s Day spoof is because we’re all a bunch of hate-mongering right-wing racist bigots who can’t abide the thought of giving a left-winger black man the benefit of the doubt. 😉