Wait? This isn’t just an Internet joke?
Turns out you can’t make a joke so absurd that a dozen trolls won’t pretend to believe on it, some 3 or 4 journalists won’t take it seriously for the clickbait headlines, and 1 crazy idiot won’t actually believe is true.
That crazy idiot’s name? Rusty Shackleford.
“Have you also downloaded the classified instruction manual for this tank from
Vladimir Putin’s websitethe War Thunder forums, took a correspondence course in Russian, translated the manual, memorized it, and eaten it? Have you Hank? Putin?”
It was at first. Like Qanon, it was a mockery conspiracy that became a real conspiracy.
Same with the modern “The earth is flat” bullshit. It started as a 4chan troll in the early '00s.
All are a weird corollary of Poe’s Law:
without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, any parodic or sarcastic expression of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those views.
Pons_Aelius’s Corollary to Poe’s Law
If you post a joke conspiracy theory, some idiot will believe it.
Yep now both are real conspiracys. I literally met people who believe birds aren’t real. When try explain it was prank they double down. Same for flat earthers.
Someone should compile a list of 4chan joke-turned-real
Did you watch the video? It’s a joke.
