April Fools': The One Day for Fake News
From Super Skateboard Stopper to Donald Trump, a Few Fictitious Reflections
There are times when I intentionally fabricate the news. OK, I'll use the term that’s so much in vogue: I create "fake news."
Not coincidentally, these instances almost always fall on the first day of April, aka April Fools’ Day.
One of my favorite examples came 13 years ago when I became "Super Skateboard Stopper" for a day. I had laid the foundation for this faux super-hero several months earlier by inventing a tongue-in-cheek Caped Crusader of Commerce, Super Shopper Spotter. That character was part of a community-wide "shop local" initiative that I spearheaded for my community of over 50,000 residents and its business districts.
(My penchant for fabrication goes beyond April 1st, but Super Shopper Spotter truly came about in the name of a worthy business marketing cause!)
A year later, I gave a head-fake on the eve of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball Final Four with a blog post about then-Butler coach Brad Stevens suspending four of his five starters for unspecified "team rule violations." Under the headline "March Madness? No, Uncommon Courage: Butler Coach Stevens Suspends Four of Five Starters," I whipped up this lede:
“Some will decry the move as March Madness gone too far, but I say it will undoubtedly go down as one of the most courageous coaching disciplinary decisions ever.
As was reported first by an Indianapolis television station (see link below), Butler basketball coach Brad Stevens has suspended four of his five starters for unspecified `team rule violations.’
As a result, the Bulldogs are now short-handed for their Final Four semifinal match-up against Virginia Commonwealth University.”
Indeed, there was a link below -- it's no longer a functional link, but I've kept it in my original post, where you can see the URL indicates the headline: "For Stevens, Butler Success a Family Affair."
I fooled at least four people, each of whom contacted me in varying stages of apoplexy. None had clicked on the link (leading to the routine pre-game story) and one called her parents, who happened to be pretty close friends with Stevens' parents. Before reality settled back in later that day, that family was in a special state of absolute shock. On a minuscule scale, I had `Sidd Finched'1 them!
On this day and on any other day, unfortunately it is much harder than it used to be to discern fake news from legitimate fact-based stories. On a minute-by-minute basis, we are besieged with misinformation, disinformation and other assaults on truth-telling. Some might point to Donald Trump2 as the source of this attack on truth. But it goes well beyond him -- and preceded him, with the soil tilled for many years to enable his ascent politically and culturally.
Trump is an especially acute symptom of this scourge that has been laid bare in recent years. He has exploited Americans' willingness to be duped (in exchange for any variety of perceived rewards) more successfully than just about anyone else on Earth.
It's an indictment on human nature; it's an indictment on our times. He's not the first, and neither will he be the last to transform the deceptive spirit of April Fools’ Day into an all-year-round event.
Speaking of indictments: did you hear authorities just dropped those 30-plus counts related to business fraud against Trump?3
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I reference it in the Super Skateboard Spotter post on my website, but if you've not yet done so, check out George Plimpton's legendary April Fools’ feature on Sidd Finch. I should add that although the date on the Sports Illustrated cover was April 1st, the magazine reached subscribers (like me), three or four days earlier.
In other words, I didn't have "April Fool's" on my 16-year-old mind when I devoured the issue and was snookered by Plimpton's account.
For the benefit of future generations, as well as the roughly 8 billion current co-habitants of our fine planet, I have made my views of Trump quite clear, going back over seven years.
You don’t really think I’m going to provide a valid link, do you? Remember: it’s the first day of April. How else was I going to wrap up this column?
Very entertaining idea to be a super shopper spotter to encourage local shopping. I applaud the support for local small businesses. I enjoyed the link to your story about your communication to d. trump about his essay submission. As a wife I appreciate that you know your wife is beautiful and say so.