July 25, 2018

It's the Era of That's Not Funny: "After a fake interview of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went viral, its maker said it was satire."

WaPo summons outrage for something that, to me, looks like an old comedy form — editing in new questions to make old answers ridiculous:



At Facebook, there's now an "Update: Yes, this is satire created from excerpts of the viral Firing Line interview with Ocasio-Cortez." But, come on, you have to be dumb not to see that Allie's questions were recorded separately and video of Ocasio-Cortez was selected to make her look ridiculous. Or maybe not so dumb, but just firmly embedded in what I've been calling The Era of That's Not Funny. It's especially "not funny" because the target of ridicule is a young woman. If the same technique had been used on Donald Trump or some other powerful, old, white guy, I suspect WaPo would have celebrated it. I can imagine it being played on "The Daily Show" or Stephen Colbert or John Oliver's show, and no one at WaPo would have cried fake news on it.

From WaPo:
Misinformation is not completely outlawed according to the [Facebook's] community guidelines — an issue that has caused plenty of discussion recently — and neither, of course, is satire, but the video appeared to fall into a confusing gap between the two before it was labeled....

And to many skeptical eyes, the video was obviously fishy and staged. But it appeared to be taken seriously after it was shared on some conservative-leaning pages on Facebook, and was viewed about 1 million times before the company posted the clarification to its caption.
If people become dependent on labeling, they'll lose the mental tools they need to perceive humor (and fakeness) on their own. Not only are we losing the joys of humor — as outraged demands for warning labels succeed — we are getting primed to become witless consumers of propaganda.
“If you have to do research to figure out that a video that blatantly absurd is satirical, you shouldn’t be on the Internet,” [Allie] Stuckey wrote....

The Verge’s Adi Robertson noted that “while the clips aren’t spliced all that realistically, it’s not clear that this is intentional. Without the disclaimer, it’s indistinguishable from an awkward attempt at smearing a political opponent.”...

95 comments:

Browndog said...

The template is very basic-

Everything and anything liberals don't like should be illegal and banned.

Oso Negro said...

"getting primed to become witless consumers of propaganda"??? Disagree. I think we are waaay down that road.

dreams said...
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Clyde said...

Occasionally-Cortex (h/t Sarah Hoyt) made herself look ridiculous all on her own in the authentic interviews. Eminently parodyable.

Charles said...

"If people become dependent on labeling, they'll lose the mental tools they need to perceive humor (and fakeness) on their own. Not only are we losing the joys of humor — as outraged demands for warning labels succeed — we are getting primed to become witless consumers of propaganda."

Exactly. This is a process that has been going on for a long time. And it seems that all news these days no matter the source is as much, if not more propaganda than information. The Nighly News has been like this for at least 50-60 years, propaganda that is.

rehajm said...

Recall there were surveys that showed the number of people that relied on The Daily Show as their primary news source was a positive integer.

rehajm said...

I like the mocking. Good for the gander.

Browndog said...

Remember how and when the term "fake news" was created. It didn't go as well as planned, but the creation of "fact-check" websites did get a foothold. Hate speech, fact-check, and content manipulation are off and running on all the social media platforms.

Never give power back to the liberals in government. They prove every day how they will yield it.

traditionalguy said...

I understood it as a powerful revelation that a winsome smile (a la The Kenyan Marxist from Chicago )is ALL that shes got.

Any fool can plainly see that. I sees.

gilbar said...

It's especially "not funny" because the target of ridicule is a young woman democrat. If the same technique had been used on Donald Trump or some other powerful, old, white guy, I suspect WaPo would have celebrated it
fixed it for you Professor Althouse; it's early, and we all expect a few typos in the morning.
Seriously, if the young woman was a republican; can you imagine them not laughing?

PJ said...

Speaking of splicing, is Katie Couric still working?

Dan in Philly said...

Can she see Ruaaia from her house?

rehajm said...

Post your truth, even if WaPo doesn't like it.

daskol said...

Ocasio Cortez, by her own admission, is not an expert in geopolitics. she would do well for herself and for our national discourse if she showed more humor. her sense of humor comes out once in a while when she's called out on an embarrassing things she said, and it's very charming. she does not come across as a bullshitting politician. rather, she's like a precocious kid who thinks he needs to answer every question put to her and fears the words "I'm not sure about that issue." leave aside her supposed ideology, which in a 28yo is likely not so strongly held, and she's doing pretty well so far. she broke the Dem machine in NYC, and she's learning as she goes. I understand why not everyone feels this way about her, but she's a breath of fresh air in NYC, where our Federal representation is comprised of a bunch of machine hacks.

rehajm said...

Can she see Ruaaia from her house?

What ever happened to that comedy woman? She disappeared. Did she leave the reservation or get on the wrong side of #Metoo, too?

Matt Sablan said...

The editing is choppy and the flow is not at the professional level of The Daily Show or even Couric's editing if her interview with gun rights activists.

Satire does require its audience to have some knowledge though. For example, knowing that these answers cane from a previously average to disastrous interview helps the joke.

gilbar said...

of course, the Real Reason this pisses off the left so much; is that it Works, SO GOOD.
True Red lipstick is the epitome of "there's no there there"

Rick said...

It's especially "not funny" because the target of ridicule is a young woman.

What a crock - does anyone believe WAPO would be outraged if this were Bristol Palin? They're outraged because AOC is a political ally.

Heartless Aztec said...
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Heartless Aztec said...

Turn around is fair play I suppose viz The Daily Show. I'm not a fan of the personal in mocking. I'll leave that to Ringo.

Matt Sablan said...

For people who didn't know that was satire... Sit down before I tell you about Forest Gump.

Unknown said...

The left was all for fake interviews, before they were against them.

Matt Sablan said...

Remember. The same people that can't tell this is edited for satire can see clearly through Veritas's slick editing.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

The problem isn't that somebody might think it is real. Since MPAI you can be assured that some people will think it is real. But that number is going to be pretty small and those people weren't going to support Cortez in the first place. The issue is that ridicule works. At least that's what Alinksys' rules says. She is being made to look ridiculous, and that is what is intolerable. Any nonsense about it being fake news is just a cover to distract from that fact.

Ralph L said...

CRTV gets its name on the map. The word "liberty" at the end should be a clue for the clueless.

All it needs is turkey slaughtering behind the interviewer.

TRISTRAM said...

Isn't that the same style of satire used by Colbert and Stewart on old Daily show 'skits'?

Ron Winkleheimer said...

This is the sort of thing that the right should have been doing decades ago instead of William Buckley and Milton Friedman debating socialists on PBS.

Matt Sablan said...

Not really. They usually do the interview and cut it up. This is more like a radio disc jockey pretending to interview someone and playing their famous quotes using a sound board. Because anyone knows this candidate would never sit for a hostile interview.

Browndog said...

Blogger Kristian Holvoet said...

Isn't that the same style of satire used by Colbert and Stewart on old Daily show 'skits'?


Johnny Carson.

History begins anew, each and every day.

Browndog said...

Colbert did a 'fake' interview with Hannity just last week.

gspencer said...

"And a young, naive, narrative-changing socialist in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous!"

RMc said...

"Weird Al" Yaknovic has been doing this for decades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqP1FEpoBG8

Unknown said...

Mocking comrade Ocasio Cortez is a crime against the people.

Matt Sablan said...

The argument should have been this is bad satire. Because it is. The quality between this and a Daily Show takedown is huge. The amateurish attempt has a charm to it, I guess.

tim maguire said...

Wow, my heart goes out to the family of Adi Robertson. I can only imagine the effort and worry of trying to prepare someone with her disabilities for the real world. Thank god for the good people at The Verge and their willingness to give her something to do between therapy sessions.

Lewis Wetzel said...


Blogger Browndog said...
The template is very basic-

Everything and anything liberals don't like should be illegal and banned.

And everything they like should be mandatory. Like celebrating gay marriage.

stlcdr said...

Okay, so I watched the clip. Obviously a splicing of an interview, and not particularly funny (ok, but not really worth the effort).

In the 'real world' we would just move on, just like all those other failed SNL skits, and relegate it to the 'dustbin of meh'. But it is disturbing that the media wants to use this as an example of why they should control everything.

Balfegor said...

Shades of that NRA documentary Katie Couric did a few years ago.

Matt Sablan said...

Without the Daily Show, would this style of attempted comedy have happened?

MikeR said...

I don't even know what they're talking about. It's clearly spliced together - and it's clear that OC's answers were silly regardless of what question she was asked.

Known Unknown said...

Allie needs to fire her lighting crew and editors -- they didn't match the softer light of the interview at all, the skin tones are way off, and the contrast is too high on Allie. Sad!

Ryan said...

We need to ban all video editing software.

Bay Area Guy said...

Socialist waitress of color gets punked: News at 11:00.!

Matt Sablan said...

Man. Wait until these people hear about Photoshop.

Heartless Aztec said...

Has Althouse ever considered the use of an up/down vote for comments?

Eric said...

Some years ago, while working at a federal agency, a WaPo reporter called me at my office about something I was working on. The next day, the paper had a story in which the reporter accurately quoted an answer I had given in response to one of her questions, but changed the question from the previous day's call. As presented in the paper, I was revealing confidential information. Oops. I spoke with the agency director's assistant to explain this and he said it wasn't a problem because that reporter so consistently misrepresented the director that he didn't believe a thing she wrote.

Funny that WaPo rankles at the idea of changing the question when it's pretty clear that it's fake.

Static Ping said...

The Daily Show was doing this regularly before it was uncool.

The best "serious" version I have seen of the faked interview was on a Babylon 5 episode. We get to see the original interview and the re-edited version. Both use the same footage of the actual interview, at least as far as the interviewees are concerned, but the editing is so twisted as to completely change the meaning. They didn't even manufacture any audio, which you would think possible in a science fiction show, just rearranged it like so. It was the moment the heroes realized how far gone the Earth government was and the inevitability of war.

Tank said...

Two million views. Wow.

Seemed mildly amusing and obviously "edited."

rehajm said...

I thought of this.

Sebastian said...
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Sebastian said...

"Not only are we losing the joys of humor — as outraged demands for warning labels succeed — we are getting primed to become witless consumers of propaganda." There's that we again. Who are xey? I am enjoying the joys of seeing progs sputter in outrage, witlessly pushing their propaganda, being exposed for the witless nitwits they are.

But, to take the point seriously, effective humor depends on the affirmation of an underlying shared structure. Prog cultural politics depends on the destruction of an underlying shared structure. Once the new one is created, it must not be questioned in any way. Bye-bye humor. Of course, it cannot really be suppressed, since humans, being human, stubbornly refuse to become proper New Humans. As Soviet humor shows.

Jersey Fled said...

It's illegal to make fun of dumb Hispanic women.

Question: Is Cory Booker Hispanic and does he self-identify as a woman?

Gahrie said...
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Gahrie said...
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Gahrie said...

It's especially "not funny" because the target of ridicule is a young Leftist woman.

FIFY

Rusty said...

"It's especially "not funny" because the target of ridicule is a young woman democrat. If the same technique had been used on Donald Trump or some other powerful, old, white guy, I suspect WaPo would have celebrated it"

For sure. My wifes uber liberal friends and family like to post the most outrageous stuff about Trump on facebook. So in response someone made a video of Hillary coughing, but there is smoke coming out of her mouth and every once in awhile she'll take a bong hit. Pretty low key. Pretty funny. So I shared. You can guess the response.

Gahrie said...

They couldn't immediately tell that this was a satire? Yet they're supposed to be the smart ones and we're supposed to be the stupid deplorables......

PackerBronco said...

Sounds like what Robin Williams did to Nixon in "Good Morning Vietnam" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sr11CDfZxg

Curious George said...

"tippy top?" Wow.

Tommy Duncan said...

"Fake but accurate." - Dan Rather

Matt Sablan said...

"Funny that WaPo rankles at the idea of changing the question when it's pretty clear that it's fake."

-- It is entirely possible the reporter's complete ignorance made them not realize that changing the wording of their question changed the meaning for you. Never discount the possibility of stupidity, even when malice is also likely.

Dude1394 said...

They see themselves in this political “hit” piece.

Fernandinande said...

Watch the informational interview on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0-c3Snrnsg

Then watch some hillclimbs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBM4i5qR9jI

Michael said...

Or indistinguishable from Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin.

walter said...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(@Ocasio2018)
Republicans are so scared of me that they’re faking videos and presenting them as real on Facebook because they can’t deal with reality anymore. Here’s one bonafide truth: Election Day is November 6th. twitter.com/shanegoldma

Allie Beth Stuckey
(@conservmillen)
To clarify AGAIN for the misreporting journalists & the blue checkmarks demanding an explanation: 1) I am not sorry. 2) It’s not coming down. 3) I will make another one. 4) You don’t have to hate Trump to use humor. 5) I don’t have to warn you when I’m about to tell a joke. twitter.com/conservmill…
22 mins ago · Twitter
---

That this video was taken seriously by anyone reflects far more on OC


rcocean said...

Ah, isn't this an obvious satire from 10 seconds in?

Just example 1,003,459 that Liberals don't like satire - when they're the target.

They can dish it out, but they can't take it.

Francisco D said...

It is outrageous to satirize the Left! They care about people ...

... and the children. The children!

rcocean said...

The Liberals ALWAYS want to censor and gate-keep, and then they justify it with Bullshit about "hate speech" and "protecting the public".

Wilbur said...

I've never seen similar videos on Jon Stewart's show or Colbert's show, because I've never seen their shows. Why would I want to watch something that would tempt me to do an Elvis on the TV? That, and I have much better things to do.

I watched this video ... it's clearly a patch and edit job, and not particularly funny because a) it's not hat well done and b) the subject is not an object of ridicule to me.

Chuck said...

I would have missed this altogether, but for this great post, Althouse. Thank you and kudos.

Yancey Ward said...

Commandment #1 in US Media: Thalt shalt not mock Democrats.

Yancey Ward said...

So, how long before Facebook closes the account because they determine it to be hate speech?

Infinite Monkeys said...

Needs a laugh track to signal to the stupid that it's a joke.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

“If you have to do research to figure out that a video that blatantly absurd is satirical, you shouldn’t be on the Internet,”

Or maybe if people fail to get that it's satire it's less because of their inability to comprehend than your inept presentation.

No, I didn't watch the video.

rehajm said...

Allie Beth Stuckey

I like this person.

Kevin said...

Don't worry. Zuckerberg will soon label everything as true or fake so the rubes will only be fooled by approved content.

CJ said...

Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.

Uncle Saul taught the Left that 50 years ago. The Right is finally learning.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

The same people outraged about this howl with laughter when Sasha Baron Cohen dupes GOP lawmakers or dumb rednecks. That's OK because they're the Bad People.

furious_a said...

"Produced by Allegra Budenmayer"

furious_a said...

"Republicans are so scared of me..."

Nothing a little penicillin won't cure.

furious_a said...

she's doing pretty well so far. she broke the Dem machine in NYC, and she's learning as she goes. I understand why not everyone feels this way about her, but she's a breath of fresh air in NYC...

...and she's telegenic, which goes a long way in politics. I'm wondering what happens when the media and their DNC handlers tire of her and start sharpening their coverage.

Big Mike said...

Ocasio Cortez, by her own admission, is not an expert in geopolitics. she would do well for herself and for our national discourse if she showed more humor. her sense of humor comes out once in a while when she's called out on an embarrassing things she said, and it's very charming. she does not come across as a bullshitting politician.

Ocasio-Cortez does have a degree in economics and international relations, so she should not be making the mistakes she makes. Did her professors not know how to teach? Or does she not know how to learn?

Gahrie said...
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Comanche Voter said...

How many times have we seen "Hitler learns of XXX" parodies? Substitute this young woman for Sir Anthony Hopkins and there you go. Same old, Same old.

buwaya said...

"Did her professors not know how to teach?"

Her professors probably didn't know WHAT to teach.
This is the usual case. The enforced ignorance is generational now.

Howard said...

Lame, women can't be funny

hstad said...

".....we are getting primed to become witless consumers of propaganda...." Which plays nicely into the hands of the Media who want to be viewed as powerful and the "go to" place to get information, fake or true. Problem is if we don't hone our own cognitive skills we'll just become shills of the MSM.

Big Mike said...

Over at pjmedia they reposted a photoshop of Hillary in her derived-from-hospital gown dress seated among patients at a mental hospital. I suppose that’s not funny either.

(Though it is!)

Bilwick said...

If you want to see Ocasio-Cortez look ridiculous, just listen to her statements; or, for more humor, look up "Ocasio-Cortez Crazy Eyes" on YouTube. My favorite part is where "She Guevara" (as O-C is called on the video at one point) is staring into the camera with Full Whackadoodle gleam in her eyes. The caption is, "Have you accepted the State as your Lord and Savior?"

Bilwick said...

Big Mike wrote: "Ocasio-Cortez does have a degree in economics and international relations, so she should not be making the mistakes she makes. Did her professors not know how to teach? Or does she not know how to learn?"

As someone wrote about her, if she'd gone to medical school and studied medicine, she'd be a chain smoker by now.

Michael K said...

Blogger buwaya said...
"Did her professors not know how to teach?"

Her professors probably didn't know WHAT to teach.
This is the usual case. The enforced ignorance is generational now.


I was a Democrat and all my family were when I went off to college. Then I took an Economics course and became a Republican.

I'm not sure that would happen now.

Qwinn said...

Big Mike, shes actually photoshopped into a scene from "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". You can see Jack Nicholson in it. And it is funny.

I always pictured Hillary as Nurse Ratchet, personally.

Jim at said...

and video of Ocasio-Cortez was selected to make her look ridiculous.

As if she needs any help.

Give her a megaphone. Make sure everybody sees and hears what she believes in and stands for. Unedited.

JohnDoeAt30Below said...

Seth Meyer does this all the time with Sarah Huckabee.

DavidD said...

“How did you first learn of the Watergate break-in, Mr. President?”

“ ‘I heard it through the grapevine....’ ”