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“Ate The Onion”: 50 Of The Funniest Screenshots Of People Who Fell For Fake Satirical Articles And Embarrassed Themselves Online (New Pics)
Satire is a powerful tool. It’s funny, witty, and can be quite a challenge to the reader. It's supposed to outrage and amuse, cause laughter and delight, prick your conscience and unveil uncomfortable truths — all at the same time. By its very definition, it aims to find the sweet spot between reality and absurdity. But for some people (read: naive), the line between satire and real news gets blurry — especially when they fall for these tales and share them as truth each day.
See, popular satirical news sites like The Onion are easily confused with the real deal. In fact, they are misunderstood so often that it even spawned a whole online community dedicated to ridiculing those who have been fooled. So let us introduce you to the wildly popular 'Ate The Onion' subreddit, a place collecting screenshots of people who failed to see the satire and immediately embarrassed themselves online.
No wonder the community has gained a cult following with over 553k members cringing over hilariously painful scenarios they stumbled upon on the web. So below, we hand-picked an entertaining collection of some of their best posts to share with you. Continue scrolling, upvote your favorite ones, and be sure to let us know what you think of them in the comments!
For some more outrageously funny and gullible reactions to non-existent events and ideas, check out Bored Panda’s earlier post about 'Ate The Onion' right over here.
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Hulk Was So Sexy They Ate The Onion
End Of An Era: The Blue Whale That Hangs From The Ceiling Of The Museum Of Natural History Has Died
:/
Then she's not a virgin. If her name isn't Mary, then I'll be doubly disappointed
To gain some insight on the role of satirical news sites today, we reached out to James E. Caron, a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. In his recent book Satire as the Comic Public Sphere: Postmodern "Truthiness" as Civic Engagement, he examines well-known comedians such as Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Jimmy Kimmel, and discusses how satirical commentary on current events and politics affects the audiences.
"Good satire both entertains and informs," Caron told Bored Panda. "Mock news sites sometimes are doing satire, but not always. Mostly they entertain." At its core, satire raises people's awareness and provides multilayered commentary on political communication and mass media by using humor and irony. With the power of clever ridicule, it challenges readers’ views and helps confront unpleasant truths.
"For an informed citizen interested in civic issues of the day, they take their place in the range of discourse available that makes some sort of attempt to shape our reality," the professor added.
They Must Be Punished
This one is real. I read on Facebook that they used their newly created arsonbots to get the job done.
I wouldn't exactly call Facebook a good source of information, quite the contrary. May be this was the real story: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/02/minnesota-robotics-team-builds-powered-wheelchair-2-year-old-boy/3347593002/
Load More Replies...That would only have been heartwarming if they had built an electric wheelchair. Now this story isn't heartwarming anymore, it's more embarrassing.
Load More Replies...No. There should be no need in a first-world country for any person not to have necessary medical equipment.
Load More Replies...Making many others getting duped...hate only leads to more haters. 🙁
I was hoping the team would have build a chair for this boy...certainly would have been a better result
I was hoping the team would build a super chair for this boy... what a shame...
Oem Recommended
Youngest Child Ever
no, no guys, you got it all wrong. The youngest child ever is that 1 and 3/4 year old I saw in the park the other day.
Being part of the entertainment industry, political satire reaches more people than ever before. Since it adds a sense of wit to the mix, it makes the audience incredibly receptive to it. It makes the bitter truth a tad sweeter to swallow, but it usually conveys the message nonetheless.
However, is it a good teacher of how to address important political and social issues? "Some satire will include in its comic presentation an actual solution to a highlighted problem, but mostly not," Caron explained. "But providing solutions is not the job of satire. That is what political leaders are supposed to do."
"What good satire can do, however, is bring attention to important issues in ways that make the readers/viewers laugh and then think. That is what I call in my book 'the theory of amusement.' Laugh and then muse (think) about what you are laughing about. Satire is not so much a teacher as it is a traffic sign, pointing a thoughtful person toward a place of reflection."
Ate The Hamster
She Hopes It's Not Real
Embarrassing: The U.S. Is Ranked 182nd In The World Alphabetically
A 2017 study conducted by The Ohio State University has shown that satirical news programs have real political effects on people who consume them, just like watching serious, fact-based news. After inviting 146 college students to watch regular news and satirical news sources, the research aimed to measure the impact programs such as The Daily Show have on the study participants.
The results revealed that people with little interest in politics were more likely to select satirical over serious news. In addition, satire even has the power to reinforce our pre-existing attitudes and even influence political efficacy — the way people believe they can influence political processes.
Oh Boy, Former Coworker Eats The Onion With The Peel And Everything
Yea, the full story is heartwarming. Guy called Arthur Dent rescued the little fella and gave it to a girl called Trillian. She later found a home for it at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Read somewhere that it grew so big on space cakes and Cosmonauts but idk
Drank The Flat White Onion
So, is the term "tighty whities" offensive to white people with toned rear portions?
Aviyah Doesn't Understand Ethics
"Satirical news matters," Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, author of the study, said. "It is not just entertaining — it has a real-life impact on viewers." The findings of the study indicate that satirical news can draw in and engage viewers who otherwise would about political content. "This suggests that satirical news could be a gateway into more serious news use for people who aren’t currently engaged in politics." So while these entertaining new sources may seem funny, they bring serious and much-needed effects.
To Be Fair, It's A Plausible Sounding Story
Fda Approves First Artificial Tumor
I Can't Let This Bee Unseen
However, things take a different turn when news stories that should be taken as a joke are mistaken for real news. While satire may seem obvious and easy to spot for many readers, the serious, matter-of-fact manner that certain sites use to "report" fake events sometimes lead to misunderstandings.
According to professor Caron, people fail to note the irony or sarcasm built into satire because they are not paying attention to the underlying circumstance or event, or even historical fact that it plays with. "To get any joke, you have to have a specific piece of information that is being joked about," he said. "Without that knowledge, the joke is missed."
A brief scroll through this list will prove that not all audiences can spot the difference between satire and actual events. What’s worse, they perceive satire as hard cold facts, especially across social networks. These individuals may lack critical thinking skills or have poor media literacy — qualities that all informed and savvy media consumers should aspire to have. "Also, people believe what they already believe before they even read the satire/hear the joke," Caron added.
Vegans In An Uproar Over A Fake Article
*cannibals* "I can eat human fingers now because they don't really need them anyway!"
Idiot Parents Know Nothing Of Games
Sorry To Burst This Bubble
For our previous feature of 'Ate The Onion', my colleague Rokas got in touch with one of the moderators of this incredibly popular subreddit, who noted that satirical news is now as important as any other form of comedy. "News outlets have always favored tragic events over uplifting ones so, in a way, I think satirical news helps people see the bright side. Or at the very least it makes them consider that there might be a bright side and not everything is as terrible as it is presented on the news."
The moderator TheCats_Bananas listed two main reasons why people fall for satirical satire, in their opinion. "The first one [is] that people are used to seeing news on their feeds so when they see a satirical headline, they don't even consider that it might be satirical unless it's extremely farfetched, so they just comment on it without much of a second thought."
"The second reason is that in recent times, actual news headlines have gotten so unexpected and ridiculous that people have just accepted the fact that most of it is real so there's little reason to doubt anything anymore," they said.
Krispy Kreme Human Glazing
Just Don’t Hold It Down For More Than 5 Seconds
Stupid Baby
When we asked professor Caron whether the latter is true, he mentioned that we do live in strange times "when folks believe that JFK Jr. will appear at a rally" or "that the supreme court will reinstall Donald Trump as president."
"If that is your reality, then nothing is ridiculous because everything is ridiculous," the professor added. "People believe what they want to believe with real news too as well as the mock news created by satirists."
Photoshopped
Got Him
This Is Going To Take Years To Clean Up
To become better at separating fact from fiction online, we must stay informed. "Think critically when you read crazy stuff on the internet. Just because you are reading it doesn't mean it's true," Caron advised.
"Example: conspiracy folks, when told that Trump lost 60 of 61 lawsuits contesting the 2020 election, reply that the judges are all corrupt. Isn't it curious that those judges were perfectly honest, no charges of corruption before they ruled against Trump? That's a coincidence beyond belief for a thinking person."
Need👏🏾a👏🏾hobby
Grandma Took The Bee Too Serious
Woah! I Didn't Know That!
To follow the wise words of Abraham Lincoln, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet!" Don’t rely on your completely subjective assessment of the source, hone your critical thinking skills, and enjoy the constructive and hilarious dialogue that satire so often opens up. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the examples featured in this list. Which were your favorite ones? Did you ever fall for a satirical headline and embarrassed yourself online? Feel free to share your opinions and experiences with us in the comments.
I'm Beta Testimg This Update. Some Of My Friemds Said It's Ummecessary But I'm Just Tryimg To Do My Part
The Comments On This One Are The Best I’ve Seen
It only happened because they dressed the baby like a mouse. Snakes love to eat mice.
Carl Weathers Took A Small Bite It Seems
Yes It Is
This Guy Is Nuts
Never Gets Old
A Friend Sent Me An Onion Tweet And I Thought It Was A Real Article
Yeah, but that judge out of the gate was biased in his favor, so I could sort of buy this one
Surprise Surprise, A Sub Full Of Paranoid Narcissists Takes A Great Big Bite Out Of The Onion
Have...have people NOT been doing this? Please don't tell me I'm the only one!
Pretty Sure This Was From Something On Ifunny, But It Still Got Ate
Good Thing We Got That Cleared Up
He's Clearly Never Lived In A Big City Before
Anime Pfp And All
Asked My Wife What She Was Raging About And She Sent Me This
Bit The Hard Drive?
Tom Cruise Kills 18 Civilians
Whose first response to bombing a Yemeni village is Scooby Doo???!
Uoᴉuo Ǝɥʇ Ǝʇ∀
Nft
Obamna!
So Long Gay Bowser
Quote Tweeting A Comedian
Is She Bluffing?
I Uhm-
Well, we can praise the ones that are practicing torture distancing, anyway.
That Damn Pewdiepie Is Always Up To Something!!
Don't Get Why This Is A Big Story
Someone On R/Mildlyinfuriating Took A Big Ole Bite Of The Onion
Facebook Is A Magical Place
remember kids, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is /s
Old Onion Is The Best
Learn, You Folks !
Mom Ate The Onion Pretty Bad
Finally Found One In The Wild
Why Would They Do This?
Nom Nom Nom
We Live In A Society
So who took care of Pebbles and Bam-Bam? Just because their parents may not have been real is no reason to abandon two innocent babies!
The Communists Are Taking Over!
People will really fall for anything that could make their opposing political group look bad, wont they
When You Cant Remove Nipples Contour Contour Contour
Checked
no no no the fins are scary I don't f**k with the fins go for the swedes
Outright Insane Serial Killer Stuff
Seems Extreme
A Royal Feast
Uhhh…
Fission Mailed
My Friend Ate A Classic Onion
Some People In My Tiny Hick-Fuck Town In Australia
What A Shitty Lie
Took A Big Ol' Bite
Love This Gnarly Response To A Clickhole Image
You say that, but who are you more likely to listen to? Tony Hawk or Average Middle-Class Antonio Who Just Bought His First House At 53?
*sigh*
I'm Too Busy Facedesking To Comprehend
This Is Real
You Obviously Know Nothing About Legs And Golf
Referencing The Onion While Taking A Huge Bite Out Of One
Ate The Crotchless Chaps
Someone Got Betooted
My First One Caught In The Wild
An Antimasker Believed A Babylon Bee Article About Fauci
Tampa Bay Gay Prositutes Gearing Up For Flood Of Closested Republicans
Yes, Clickhole Is Very Facepalm
Ate The Onion
"why come here if you wanna be segregated?" should we tell him?
Dumbass:
Remington Debuts New Split Barrel Murder-Suicide Shotgun
Found One In The Wild
Wal-Mart Announces Plan To Slash Customers' Throats
"Why Is This Tweet Labeled Misleading @twitter?"
I actually think this one is in poor taste. It's too close to what a lot of people actually believe, and it should have been obvious it would touch a nerve where miscarriage is involved. It's probably not a good idea to throw false information at the internet where it'll soak in and people won't be able to remember exactly how they came across the 'information'. And a lot of people are probably just never going to realize it was a joke in the first place. They'll look at it for two seconds, then walk away and start spreading these ideas around.
Is This Too Meta?
Amazon Warehouse, The Final Frontier
This Can’t Be A Real Comment
Found One
aww look at the big boy learning his first sarcasm already, what a milestone.
No, Not My Favourite Judge!
I've stopped reading the gullible comments. I can't handle it. But the headline got a laugh out of me.
Old But Gold
Looks Like Koolcat Is Sweating This Headline…
My Local Nextdoor Republican Group Is Full Of These
Can’t Unsee
And there's me thinking it's a cross-section of The Hulk's support bra.
Posting A Snopes Article Saying That The Information Is False
They Got Another One
Blanka To Have Purple Scar-H Confirmed
Lmao. Remind me of a Brian Posehn joke about yelling "Star Trek sucks!" outside a Star Wars premiere.
Biden Went To Jail???
“Is this real, I’m really confused” 💀😭😭 I hope they are kidding but it doesn’t look like they are😂😂
Ironically, I Ate The Onion
Do You Have Any Idea What He Is Talking About?
This Man Has Eaten Thy 🧅
Right Here On Reddit
I'm Surprised At This One
“He Is Completely Deceived.”
Wow He Was Really Craving This One
Unemployment ❤️
Would FBI Save Hogwarts If Donald Was President?
The Mayor Of Knox County, Tn Aka The Wrestler Kane, Gets Stung
Another One On This Masterpiece Of An Onion Video
Awkwafina's Roots
So Many Fell For This One 💀
My Grandma Posted This On Facebook
Again - maybe we should avoid satire that people will believe and weaponize. At least until we evolve more as a rational species.
Stung By The Bee!
German Satire Site Cited As Real News. And They Say We Aren't Funny
The really sad part is that there are far too many people that really think that these things are true.
To be fair, I've read legit news headlines and thought, "Now THIS must be satire," only to find (to my horror) that it is not. For example, a certain person who shall be nameless, claiming that he can declassify important documents just by thinking about it.
Yeah, that...I laughed out loud, but not in a happy, sane way. 🙄 And that guy had nuclear launch codes for four years. The mind boggles.
Load More Replies...To be fair, a lot ot satire sites aren't well-known. The only one on here that I knew was the Onion. Still, double-check before you rage-post!
A lot of children and half-awake people, I think. At least, I hope so.
No idea why you got downvoted! At least you admit to it 😂
Load More Replies...I mean yeah, these posts are stupid and obviously fake, but just because some people don't quite understand yet, you don't have to call them stupid or anything
Satire often comes too close for comfort; that's what people mean when they say, about real news, "you can't make this stuff up." Here's a definition from "The Laconic Lexicon": SATIRE, n: a genre of criticism that illuminates through the application of wit. It is over the heads of most audiences or considered offensive for hitting too close to home, hence “Satire is what closes on Saturday night,” according to George S. Kaufman, an accomplished practitioner thereof. Obsolete and fallen to desuetude, satire finally was killed when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Awarding the same to Barak Obama desecrated the corpse.
I worked with a woman who believed a story about Justin Beiber being a middle aged midget in a mask. I still can't believe that she was so easy to rope in.
Never heard of the Babylon Bee before this. Great. Now I have another addictions. Btw- Check out Ironic Times and Daily Mash for more fun satire.
I laughed so much at this post that the customer and bar staff were eyeballing me. Also thanks for the onion and Babylon bee sites. I'm crying
Have y’all ever been to the onion website? If not, go here! https://www.theonion.com/ THE TITLES ARE SO FUNNY!
The really sad part is that there are far too many people that really think that these things are true.
To be fair, I've read legit news headlines and thought, "Now THIS must be satire," only to find (to my horror) that it is not. For example, a certain person who shall be nameless, claiming that he can declassify important documents just by thinking about it.
Yeah, that...I laughed out loud, but not in a happy, sane way. 🙄 And that guy had nuclear launch codes for four years. The mind boggles.
Load More Replies...To be fair, a lot ot satire sites aren't well-known. The only one on here that I knew was the Onion. Still, double-check before you rage-post!
A lot of children and half-awake people, I think. At least, I hope so.
No idea why you got downvoted! At least you admit to it 😂
Load More Replies...I mean yeah, these posts are stupid and obviously fake, but just because some people don't quite understand yet, you don't have to call them stupid or anything
Satire often comes too close for comfort; that's what people mean when they say, about real news, "you can't make this stuff up." Here's a definition from "The Laconic Lexicon": SATIRE, n: a genre of criticism that illuminates through the application of wit. It is over the heads of most audiences or considered offensive for hitting too close to home, hence “Satire is what closes on Saturday night,” according to George S. Kaufman, an accomplished practitioner thereof. Obsolete and fallen to desuetude, satire finally was killed when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Awarding the same to Barak Obama desecrated the corpse.
I worked with a woman who believed a story about Justin Beiber being a middle aged midget in a mask. I still can't believe that she was so easy to rope in.
Never heard of the Babylon Bee before this. Great. Now I have another addictions. Btw- Check out Ironic Times and Daily Mash for more fun satire.
I laughed so much at this post that the customer and bar staff were eyeballing me. Also thanks for the onion and Babylon bee sites. I'm crying
Have y’all ever been to the onion website? If not, go here! https://www.theonion.com/ THE TITLES ARE SO FUNNY!