Poe's Law

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(Examples: test yourself!)
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It was originally created by Christianforums.com user Nathan Poe.<ref>http://christianforums.com/u4426</ref>
 
It was originally created by Christianforums.com user Nathan Poe.<ref>http://christianforums.com/u4426</ref>
  
==Examples: test yourself!==
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Here, Check This Out, Pretty GoodHave you seen my site? AMAZING,
For example: three of the eight following sites are parodies; the others are serious attempts at religious expression. Good luck in choosing which are which.
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*[http://www.godhatesfags.com/ Westboro Baptist Church]
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*[http://www.landoverbaptist.org/ Landover Baptist Church]
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*[http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/perfectproof.htm 4 Step Proof for God of the Bible] - logic states if you can't disprove the proof, it is likely true, and if you don't accept it, you are going to hell for rejecting what Jesus did for you on the cross.
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*[http://objectiveministries.org/ OBJECTIVE: Ministries]
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*[http://www.raptureready.com/ Rapture Ready]
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*[http://www.timecube.com/ Time Cube]
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*[http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0094/0094_01.asp Chick Tract - The Last Generation]
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*[http://www.truechristian.com/ True Christian Church of Christ]
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ROT-13 encrypted answer: Jrfgobeb, Encgher Ernql, gur sbhe fgrc cebbs, gur Ynfg Trarengvba genpg naq Gvzr Phor ner frevbhf, gubhtu gur ynggre vf fb ovmneer gung bar jbhyq guvax vg vf n cnebql bs fbzr vaqvfpreavoyr oryvrs. Gur erfg ner cnebqvrf.<ref>Copy and paste to [http://www.retards.org/projects/rot13/ here] to decipher, if you can't read ROT-13 easily.</ref>
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==Real-life examples==
 
==Real-life examples==

Revision as of 18:48, 22 June 2008

Poe's Law relates to fundamentalism, and the difficulty of identifying actual parodies of it. Generally, it suggests that it's hard to tell fake fundamentalism from the real thing, since they both sound equally ridiculous.

The Law states:

Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing.[1]

It was originally created by Christianforums.com user Nathan Poe.[2]

Here, Check This Out, Pretty GoodHave you seen my site? AMAZING,

Contents

Real-life examples

  • One Conservapedia editor, for some degree of time, explained transitional forms as genetic hybrids created by Noah's super technologically advanced peers.
  • Conservapedia was, and still is, rife with such examples. For example this entry which remained for some time, and explained how exploding volcanoes in the Mt Ararat region were responsible for distributing animals after the flood.
  • Blogs 4 Brownback [3] seemed to really be an ultra-conservative Christian website - it even took us in.
  • Meanwhile, Answers in Genesis [4] is, as far as is presently known, serious business.
  • Now that you've had some practice, here's another test - is this a parody or not? (Warning: sometimes NSFW)

Still unknown

In mid 2008 Users of Rationalwiki were puzzling over whether this site was a a parody or not

Known parodies

We out them here!

Obversion

Since the identifying problem actually runs in both directions, Poe's Law could also be stated as "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, a parody of Fundamentalism is often indistinguishable from the real thing". That is, the parody can be mistaken for the real thing and the real thing can be mistaken for parody.

See also

References and notes

  1. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Poe's+Law
  2. http://christianforums.com/u4426
  3. Blogs for Brownback
  4. http://www.answersingenesis.org/
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