Link to original post: [drupal=2637]I wish this were satire, but I know it's not[/drupal]
So I finally stumbled upon Conservapedia.com.
At first, my reaction was "Haha, what a clever satirical website. I might like this even more than the Onion because this website is far more subtle; it's almost like they're being serious. Well played."
But then I kept reading, and they actually are serious.
Their "Article of the Year", on Evolution, is basically a bad joke; I literally laughed out loud several times while going through it. (In fact, the opening sections of that article were largely responsible for my impression of the website as satire.) Eventually though, it stops being funny and instead starts to induce a feeling of bewilderment and pity for the people who actually believe this stuff.
At first, all of the glaring inconsistencies and shameless distortions of the truth were actually kind of amusing. When they quoted Massimo Pigliucci (a prominent advocate of evolutionary theory and ardent critic of Intelligent Design) and twisted his words to make it seem like he thought Evolution was total bunk, I couldn't help but laugh and admire them for having the massive balls it requires to flat-out lie, without any hesitation or shame, about the words of an individual who more-or-less opposes everything that had been said so far in the article.
After awhile though, too much of a good thing is bad, and they pretty much beat the "if we make it seem true, then it is" ploy into the ground, making it lose its initial ironic charm.
Now I'm just left wondering how on earth anyone can buy into this crap. It really makes me question the hope I have for humanity's future.
So I finally stumbled upon Conservapedia.com.
At first, my reaction was "Haha, what a clever satirical website. I might like this even more than the Onion because this website is far more subtle; it's almost like they're being serious. Well played."
But then I kept reading, and they actually are serious.
Their "Article of the Year", on Evolution, is basically a bad joke; I literally laughed out loud several times while going through it. (In fact, the opening sections of that article were largely responsible for my impression of the website as satire.) Eventually though, it stops being funny and instead starts to induce a feeling of bewilderment and pity for the people who actually believe this stuff.
At first, all of the glaring inconsistencies and shameless distortions of the truth were actually kind of amusing. When they quoted Massimo Pigliucci (a prominent advocate of evolutionary theory and ardent critic of Intelligent Design) and twisted his words to make it seem like he thought Evolution was total bunk, I couldn't help but laugh and admire them for having the massive balls it requires to flat-out lie, without any hesitation or shame, about the words of an individual who more-or-less opposes everything that had been said so far in the article.
After awhile though, too much of a good thing is bad, and they pretty much beat the "if we make it seem true, then it is" ploy into the ground, making it lose its initial ironic charm.
Now I'm just left wondering how on earth anyone can buy into this crap. It really makes me question the hope I have for humanity's future.
