Misusing News.

I might be in a conservative mood today, but for this blog I will look at the drawbacks of humor in politics. Back on 23/6.com, I found this article criticizing Rudy Giuliani and his flippant use of statistics. Like most satire, the article is funny; I won’t deny it. Now take a look at how the New York Times covers the same issue. When the two stories are compared with each other, the funny article holds no facts. Other than the basic idea that Giuliani uses statistics badly, there is no actual information in the 23/6 story. None. The story functions solely to provide a laugh after the real information is understood. In fact, without the NY Times link placed directly below the 23/6 story, the story doesn’t even make sense. But, like I said, I could just be feeling conservative and I have less patience for pointless exaggerations that pretend to be real news.

It scares me that people might be using humorous satire new sources as their only news sources. I’m not trying to insult 23/6.com. They aren’t pretending to be completely reputable; I mean their slogan is “Some of the News/Most of the Time,” and they pride themselves on being “News You Can Misuse.” These fake news sources, including our old pals John Stewart and Stephen Colbert, are very easily misused because they are very tempting. Like Wikipedia and freaking ready-made brownies that now include their own baking tin so you don’t have to bother with even touching the unbaked batter, humorous news is tempting because it’s easy, accessible and more fun.

But don’t be too quick to throw out 60 Minutes, Encyclopedia Brittannica or your old-fashioned flour and cocoa powder.