debunked: America was sold to 5 billionaires in 1927

[deirdre]

I've seen this one making the rounds:






It's actually a satire piece by The Onion:


http://www.theonion.com/graphic/august-23-1927-10571 https://archive.is/EACFS

What if I want to sue The Onion?


Please do not do that. The First Amendment protects satire as a form of free speech and expression. The Onion uses invented names in all of its stories, except in cases where public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental. The Onion is not intended for readers under 18 years of age. http://www.theonion.com/about/

Content from external source

 

[Landru]

The article next to it describes the KKK holding a Monstrous Truck Rally.

 

[M Bornong]

The article next to it describes the KKK holding a Monstrous Truck Rally.

and Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted of "one count each, of being greasy, violent- prone wops." The date on the Onion headline is only 4 months after their execution.

 

[Trailblazer]

The article is, as others have noted, from The Onion. More specifically, it is from a book called Our Dumb Century, published in 1999: http://www.amazon.com/Our-Dumb-Cent...d=1457347707&sr=1-1&keywords=our+dumb+century



It's basically a satire on 20th-century events, written as if The Onion was a real newspaper publishing at that time.

There are excerpts from the book on this Metafilter post, which include the "Billionaires buy U.S." headline: http://www.metafilter.com/121265/Every-Year-of-the-Twentieth-Century-Lampooned-by-the-Onion

 

[MikeG]

The article is, as others have noted, from The Onion. More specifically, it is from a book called Our Dumb Century, published in 1999: http://www.amazon.com/Our-Dumb-Cent...d=1457347707&sr=1-1&keywords=our+dumb+century

View attachment 17888

It's basically a satire on 20th-century events, written as if The Onion was a real newspaper publishing at that time.

There are excerpts from the book on this Metafilter post, which include the "Billionaires buy U.S." headline: http://www.metafilter.com/121265/Every-Year-of-the-Twentieth-Century-Lampooned-by-the-Onion

View attachment 17889

I have that book and it is absolutely hilarious.

Still having a hard time believing that a CT would accept an Onion article as documented "proof."

Is it a lack of due diligence, common sense, historical knowledge? Yea gods.

 

[Trailblazer]

I have that book and it is absolutely hilarious.

Still having a hard time believing that a CT would accept an Onion article as documented "proof."

Is it a lack of due diligence, common sense, historical knowledge? Yea gods.

Maybe if you have it to hand you could find the relevant page and post a photo of the physical book?

 

[MikeG]

Maybe if you have it to hand you could find the relevant page and post a photo of the physical book?

Unfortunately, I am traveling on research, but will dig it out of the "archives" when I get home.

 

[JesseCuster]

I have a copy of the book, so here's a sample of pics, including the article in question. It's genuinely worth buying and reading. It's absolutely fucking hilarious.

edit: Moderator wanna delete the duplicate images? I can't make sense of how to upload images or delete the duplicates after the fact.

edit2: Whoever posted this originally as evidence of some sort of conspiracy theory was clearly trolling. No way they didn't know it was a satirical article as they clearly had a copy of the book when they photographed it in the first place.

 

[tadaaa]

edit2: Whoever posted this originally as evidence of some sort of conspiracy theory was clearly trolling. No way they didn't know it was a satirical article as they clearly had a copy of the book when they photographed it in the first place.

yes this is interesting because how much of the rubbish that is posted is "genuine" trolling (obviously "genuine trolling" is somewhat of an oxymoron)

if you accept that trolling is simply posting to get a reaction / rise from your audience, rather than simply being an annoying idiot

is this just an attempt to get something to go viral, - so you can sit back and laugh as it traverses the world?


or are people really that stupid?

 

[deirdre]

I have that book and it is absolutely hilarious.

i cant believe how many of you actually have the book! Nice to know it might be a good Christmas present for guys though.

I have that book and it is absolutely hilarious.

Still having a hard time believing that a CT would accept an Onion article as documented "proof."

Is it a lack of due diligence, common sense, historical knowledge?

probably a combo of all of the above. I don't think many people using the internet know how to look things up.

I needed to use "Google Images" for this one, which i had never heard of before stumbling upon Metabunk. And basically you get alot of sites that reposted the fake, so you have to click "similar images" and browse through, clicking on them until you see something that sounds like a real source. This case was a bit easier, as under "similar images" i saw the full page pic with the Onion header.

And then the Onion doesnt always make it easy to see it is satire. Let alone, not all people 'get' satire or sarcasm. It took me a few minute to find a section that mentioned their work is satire (and i had to read through FAQ..ugh). I guess i could have googled "the onion wiki", would have been faster.