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EXPERIMENT #3: PACIFIC NORTHWEST MEDICAL JOURNAL "Hmm..." I said to Bill, as we were planning our piece de resistance. "What's the most RETARDED thing you can think of?""I dunno," he replied. "What if we told everyone that the most liberal state in the union -- California -- was giving away free vasectomies to fat guys so they wouldn't spread the 'obese gene'?" Pretty godddamn retarded, huh? Nobody would EVER believe that, would they? I mean ... California. Obese gene. Think about it. We researched various medical journal web sites and recreated their monotonous and uninspired designs. I wrote up a horribly slanted medical article supporting the obviously retarded plan, complete with insane "references." We peppered the article with ridiculous babble that made Adolf Hitler's speeches on ethnic cleansing look like a Saturday Night Live monologue. We then submitted the article to Fark.com once again, expecting no one to actually believe it. But they did. The article hit the blogosphere like a brick in the face. The comments section of Fark.com was abuzz with conversation both supporting and assailing the theory. Soon, the article was being linked from The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal's opinion page (who quickly found it was a prank and pulled it, replacing it with an article that stated they knew it was a prank all along ... tsk, tsk), Barking Moonbat's early warning sytem, What Really Happened, Free Republic ... and too many more to mention. (Note to our friends at these sites who have since expressed support for the mission of keeping the media honest: thank you, and sorry for the trick.) Within a day, the Web was abuzz with the topic of eugenics, and how horrible (or wonderful, for the sickos) that the state of California was encouraging it. We had embedded our names into the article as phony "researchers," so both Bill and I received phone calls from friends stating they heard our names mentioned on their city's morning radio stations. Hundreds of emails came pouring in from the site's "Contact Us" form, containing messages of both horror and support for the article's content. All in all, it was one hell of a reaction. And so we proved just how quickly something so unbelievable can be not only believed, but shot into the national consciousness with lightning efficiency. And for the record, none of us supports or condones the practice of eugenics, except for local morning news anchors. So, whenever you hear about the "Calfornia obesity gene" at parties and social events, you can laugh knowingly and say "Yeah, I know the guys who started that one." And what's next for Bill and Joe? Who knows. Whatever we do, rest assured, it's going to be so unbelievable that you have no choice but to believe it. Happy April Fool's Day!
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