Iran fooled by Onion

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Looks like Christian fundies aren't the only ones to get duped by the Onion:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/28/world/iran...index.html

Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency published a story Friday claiming that a Gallup poll found that rural white Americans prefer Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over President Barack Obama.

Such a poll would indeed be big news in Iran (and the United States) -- if it were true.

But the source was The Onion, the publication that presents the outlandish as real news.

Its serious tone fools many who are new to the lampoons. Onion yarns have tricked news outlets in the U.S. and overseas.



What sets Fars apart from others, however, is that the agency published the Onion story as if it were its own.

Fars News Agency used the story verbatim, giving the same headline: "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama"

Fars also took all the credit at the get-go:

"TEHRAN (FNA) -- According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama."

(The Onion story used a Charleston, West Virginia, dateline.)

The article went on to quote a West Virginia resident as saying he would rather grab a ballgame or a drink with the Iranian leader than with Obama.

The phony resident then lauded Ahmadinejad: "He takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does."

If that weren't enough, Fars continued, "According to the same Gallup poll, 60 percent of rural whites said they at least respected that Ahmadinejad doesn't try to hide the fact that he's Muslim."

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Christian fundies have repeatedly been fooled by The Onion (and FOX took an anti-Obama story and ran with it at least once, and I think twice, as well, but they're so thick with the fundies I'm not sure it's an exception), and here's my favorite incident:

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/potter.asp

If The Onion's parody has demonstrated anything, it's that we should be worrying about adults not being able to distinguish between fiction and reality. The kids themselves seem to have a pretty good grasp of it.

I was 17 when I saw this and though I laughed I was also angry that these people can vote (most of whom we have to thank for many anti-gay measures getting passed) but I, at 17, could not. And I have to say 12 years later I still think it's silly when people that idiotic and that gullible are allowed to vote (what many call the "stupid vote") but kids don't. I doubt many kids would even if they could but I bet many who did would have better sense and be more informed (at least not less informed) than these people.

[Rainbowmum]

Unbelievable .

[ceez]

lol, I read this earlier and was thinking of posting about it. I love the onion