It took one tweet from scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan to make us chuckle on an otherwise boring Sunday. He posted a screenshot of a parody account Times How, which cited a fake quote by Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana that said Congress IT cell has taken it up with Twitter to take down all accounts posting Rahul Gandhi jokes, memes videos and even instructed Twitter not to allow any BJP related trends on Twitter. Since a lot of content posted on parody pages appears real, because India is a great country and Indians are very well capable of making bizarre claims, many people have mistaken the parody pages for real.
Anand Ranganathan quoted the said tweet which made it appear he had also fallen for the parody account, mistaking it for real news.
Wait, WHAT. Sorry but this is a Pathetic Attempt Really Of @Divyaspandana‘s Yearning to impress upon her party of its Emergency legacy come 2019. UNACCEPTABLE. #FoS https://t.co/S5EcPsCmbF pic.twitter.com/RWRNd0XwdN
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) April 15, 2018
If you look at his tweet, he has left ample hints on what he is trying to convey. However, many people still fell for this, including abusive troll masquerading as a journalist, Swati Chaturvedi.
To quote a bigoted google warrior this makes my day. Man who bursts with righteous indignation allows bigotry to overwhelm basic intelligence. pic.twitter.com/G0BKcgpTZv
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) April 15, 2018
Founding Editor of leftist propaganda website, The Wire, too could not understand the satire.
It may be a fake account to you, not to those who believe in the contents. They don’t care if its not true; it just must fit in what they think. They are not gullible-they are bigoted
— Sidharth Bhatia (@bombaywallah) April 15, 2018
Former editor of Business World even accused Ranganathan, who has called out the hypocrisy of so-called liberals many times, of being a lover of fake news.
Not for the lack of knowing the handle is parody, but for the love of fake news https://t.co/Na4CkFP6hF
— Tony Joseph (@tjoseph0010) April 15, 2018
Self-proclaimed ‘fact-checker’ and co-founder of leftist website AltNews, who runs a ‘parody’ page on Facebook Unofficial: Subramanian Swamy, and has earlier been caught spreading lies, too could not spot satire.
Ramchandra Keh Gaye Siya se aisa ghor Kalyug aayega, Parody khud PARODY ka matlab nahi samjh payega !! ?? pic.twitter.com/ggkhwn4kSY
— Yo Yo Funny Singh (@moronhumor) April 15, 2018
When the irony was pointed out, he deleted his tweet without any explanation.
Considering how believable the parody appeared and how satire is not everyone’s cup of tea, we don’t really blame them for this.
Ranganathan then explained the hidden meaning of his tweet in a subsequent tweet.
Exhausted. Spent the last few minutes taking screen-shots, so don’t even think of deleting your replies or quotes to this tweet. Thanks. (image courtesy @rajudasonline) https://t.co/R0pciAtkZ4 pic.twitter.com/FZN1tlfgYH
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) April 15, 2018
Even then, instead of accepting they fell for a joke, some ‘journalists’ were so hurt that they couldn’t get themselves to accept they got played.
He’s now claiming it was a joke all along. Not buying it. Agree with you – just bigotry dressed up with myriad excuses https://t.co/XYwAD3Vgkb
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) April 15, 2018
With this, on a summery Monday morning, I offer jasmine flowers and a slice of Mysore Pak to Ranga Uncle.
