The Facebook group Politicked, running with the aggressive, repetitive tagline “if you’re not politicked, you’re not paying attention,” posted an old meme on Thursday of Fox Nation’s Tomi Lahren supposedly harping on Obama for creating “Festivus to destroy Christmas.”
Lahren addressed the fake meme last year when the Twitter account “Seinfeld Current Day” originally created the photoshopped image.
(For those interested in the true story of Festivus, a holiday of aluminum poles, feats of strength, and “the airing of grievances,” enjoy.)
Politicked’s “About” section claims the page is a mix of “news and political satire,” leaving readers to guess on each post. Many guessed wrong.
“Fox NEWS IS a comedy show in disguise” one user commented, followed by the thumbs down and excrement emojis. “Obama has been out of office for almost two years. Why are they still talking about him?” another inquired. “Beyond belief … is she just stupid.”
Others took a more violent approach to the fake meme.
“Would someone please just pummel her with a baseball bat?” with another following up “Somebody stab her in the eyes … Please.”
One user seemed to understand the origin of the joke but failed to consider the meme might, itself, be a joke: “Stop passing off Seinfeld bits as facts stupid tomi.”
And there’s the problem. So often photoshopped memes that are not accompanied by clear markers or signs of it’s gaggery are taken seriously by users who don’t—but should—know better. (Or downloaded and used by purposeful purveyors of misinformation.) For those groups claiming to be a mixed bag of “news and political satire,” it’s all the more important to differentiate between the two for your low-tier audience.
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