KFC Mutant Chicken Hoax using my own Photoshop Hatchet Work

[Eric Wayne]

A lot of people believe that KFC doesn't use real chickens, but instead uses "genetically modified organisms" that are beakless, featherless, and have multiple legs and wings. Here is a current incarnation of the hoax/conspiracy.

The image they use is fake, which I know because I made it.

When a friend told me about KFC using mutant chickens, I didn't believe it and wanted to look up online to see what the GMO 'bird" looked like. There wasn't any image. At the time I was teaching English in China and discovered that about half my students believed the hoax, so I created a lesson to help them see through it. As part of the presentation of the hoax I included a picture (which I secretly made in Photoshop) of the "bird" as evidence. And as a part of revealing that the story is a hoax, I told them the truth about me creating the picture on the computer. Somebody nicked that image off of my webpage and it is now being used as evidence to promote the hoax. The upside of this is that I have the original Photoshop file, and can show stages of my creation, and have done so here.

 

[Jason]

A lot of people believe that KFC doesn't use real chickens, but instead uses "genetically modified organisms" that are beakless, featherless, and have multiple legs and wings. Here is a current incarnation of the hoax/conspiracy.

The image they use is fake, which I know because I made it.

When a friend told me about KFC using mutant chickens, I didn't believe it and wanted to look up online to see what the GMO 'bird" looked like. There wasn't any image. At the time I was teaching English in China and discovered that about half my students believed the hoax, so I created a lesson to help them see through it. As part of the presentation of the hoax I included a picture (which I secretly made in Photoshop) of the "bird" as evidence. And as a part of revealing that the story is a hoax, I told them the truth about me creating the picture on the computer. Somebody nicked that image off of my webpage and it is now being used as evidence to promote the hoax. The upside of this is that I have the original Photoshop file, and can show stages of my creation, and have done so here.

Embarrassingly, I fell for this craze some 4 or 5 years ago when it was shown to me in the office where I worked. I then sent it to my wife and it steam rolled from there as we all sent it to our friends and family. All of us stopped eating at KFC for a while, I'd say about a year or longer. We essentially boycotted KFC. Obviously, it's bogus and looking back I can I laugh at it now, but in the moment it really had us all going

 

[Eric Wayne]

Embarrassingly, I fell for this craze some 4 or 5 years ago when it was shown to me in the office where I worked. I then sent it to my wife and it steam rolled from there as we all sent it to our friends and family. All of us stopped eating at KFC for a while, I'd say about a year or longer. We essentially boycotted KFC. Obviously, it's bogus and looking back I can I laugh at it now, but in the moment it really had us all going

My initial reaction was just wanting to see the atrocity, because, well, as a kid I loved the sort of science fiction in which hybrid-creatures or monsters are artificially created (Island of Dr. Moreau, The Fly, Frankenstein…). I didn't believe or disbelieve it, though I was certainly skeptical. I just put it on a back burner until I had a chance to research it.

By the way, I discovered this site through the excellent material on debunking chemtrails. I've been having ongoing debates about this for days. Not surprisingly, the other side refuses to acknowlege any evidence, and resorted to just calling me names. Nevertheless, it was satisfying to be able to show them what the planes really were that they were insisting were designed for spraying chemicals. Now I'm interested in finding a good analysis of why people believe (false) conspiracy theories, and why they are not easily swayed from their beliefs.

 

[Jason]

Now I'm interested in finding a good analysis of why people believe (false) conspiracy theories, and why they are not easily swayed from their beliefs.

There's a lot of material about this subject. Check out; "out of the rabbit hole-former believers" and "Debunking Theory and Practices", on the main forum page. Good luck

 

[WeedWhacker]

By the way, I discovered this site through the excellent material on debunking chemtrails.

WELCOME!!! Really, it's nice to see such a person with your obvious skills (and acumen).

I (thankfully) either never heard, nor gave a "cluck" about this KFC trope....but, seeing it now is instantly hilarious!! Man, "birds-of-a-feather" (and all that....I will soon run out of similes).

Thanks for the info!!!!

 

[Mick West]

It's great to demonstrate to people how easy it is to fake things. But there's always a danger of such things escaping into the wild. Just look at how many satire sites are repeated as real news.

 

[WeedWhacker]

Just look at how many satire sites are repeated as real news.

Still expecting images from "Jurassic Park" (some "purists" say it should have been titled "Cretaceous Park"....but, "lulz")....Films "1 - 2 -or- 3" to be presented, one day....perhaps in a few decades (??).

(ETA): Since.....well, chickens and other birds ARE directly descended from Cretaceous-era dinosaurs.....

 

[Eric Wayne]

There's a lot of material about this subject. Check out; "out of the rabbit hole-former believers" and "Debunking Theory and Practices", on the main forum page. Good luck

I read the entry in Wikipedia, and it has some good ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory
I find particularly interesting, in regards to people I know personally who propound conspiracy theories, the reaction against "institutional analysis" (which Chomsky mentions). All the conspiracy people I know happen to not have achieved a BA, and there may be something of a resentment of a kind of consensual-objectivity, which they may feel locked out of, and thus antagonistic to. Thus, an alternative kind of "knowing" that doesn't involve rigorous analysis and fact-checking, or corroborating new knowledge with an established base of information, may seem appealing. The conspiracy fan can be above those people "brainwashed" by education, and access truer knowledge more directly through things like Youtube videos and Facebook graphics. They may believe they have an alternative and superior model of reality.

There does seem to be something about a lack of college education (such as having to write lots of essays that cite sources and make coherent arguments, and having a well-rounded intellectual foundation) that would prevent one from triangulating information with what one already knows. People (notably Alex Jones) have recently tried to argue that Michelle Obama is a transexual. But it should be obvious that this is impossible since she has two children and it's highly unlikely that anyone would run for president with a transsexual for a wife. Someone without a general college education might be more vulnerable to not seeing how this just doesn't sync with common knowledge.

Of course, this is just a hypothesis on my part conserning one group of people who might gravitate towards a "conspiracism" , and there are lots of exceptions.