Whole thing is just media hyping up an obvious prank so that the stupidest people start freaking the fuck out, which gets more media attention, which makes us click on links way out here in backwater Lemmy.

This is the uroboros of media that has wrecked our whole society, where all of our impressions about just about anything are being dictated by the smallest, most ridiculous outlier reactions. Remember the kitty litter boxes in schools?

This is what launched flat-eartherism and trumpism and the whole massive “incel movement” that has become a tidal-wave of depressing idiocy, which get more attention for being so disgusting and stupid, which makes people on the other extreme end of the bell-curve over-react, which gets more attention, which leaves normal, passive readers thinking this is how people are really interacting and treating each other, which leads to them also taking up radical or stupid ideas about the world.

It’s not that The Onion can’t compete with reality, its that The Onion can’t compete the vast media empire built on deliberately turning every possible unusual reaction or hot take from random nobodies into headline news. Before panic was monetized, most outlets ignored pranks.