01 April, 2010

The Feast of all Fools


I was thinking of blogging a competition for Fool of the Year, but these last twelve months have thrown up so many candidates, what with bankers and environmentalists and politicians, that it seemed invidious to choose one.

I enjoy the annual hoaxing. I think my favourite was the American hamburger chain which announced a new left handed burger, the sauce dripping out from the other side. They were inundated with requests for it, but a larger number insisted on the traditional product. I suppose no one ever went bust underestimating the intelligence of the public.

The newspapers are sometimes more difficult. You cannot trust anything you read, but there again some of the stuff in the papers is so odd you might mistake it for an April Fool. A good example is the Arcelor Mittal Orbit, so absurd and ugly that one naturally assumed it was a hoax. It will, however, grace the London Olympics, a monument to the profligacy of our politicians and the gullibility of the public. You can see why they announced it on March 31st.

The good folk at Wikipedia have made a good effort of the home page.

My advice is to believe nothing unless you read it on this blog.

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