Friday Q&A

Questionable Adulation

Greetings, crickets and trolls. Welcome to another fine edition of the Friday Q&A. This weekly feature is usually chock full of hatred and animosity. After all, that's what my readers demand. As the last surviving Photoshop hate blogger, I feel it's my duty to package bile-ridden spite for the masses to consume. However, occasionally something will happen that requires me to set aside the pretense of negativity. Such an event occurred earlier this week, when yet another Fark entry appeared on the urban legend website Snopes.com.

Q: How many Fark entries have ended up on Snopes?

A: Until recently, the answer has been only one, Lukket's infamous "Computer of the Future" from 2004. It still pops up around the Web in various articles and blog posts, often presented as a real photograph. The Snopes writeup can be found here.

It was once stated (by a failed critic) that modern age Photoshoppers could never hope to create an image this subversively hilarious. Personally, I felt that it was only a matter of time. The approval of thread 4580667 certainly aided the process.

Q: Which image made it to Snopes?

A: That honor goes to SvartVinbars, whose fifth place entry featuring Barrack Obama as a member of the Black Panther Party has had great success trolling Right Wingers. Here is the image, in case you missed it:

This picture has been making the rounds in emails, often alleging a cover up by the mainstream media. At this rate, we'll be lucky not to have another gaggle of Obama conspiracy theorists on our hands by next month. Congratulations to SvartVinbars, and anyone who forwarded the image to a panicky relative or coworker.

Q: Why did the Black Panther Obama have so much success?

A: I try to refrain from political commentary on this blog. However, I can say without a doubt that there are some people who desperately want SvartVinbars' image to be real. Snopes goes to great length in pointing out that the picture is an obvious 'shop. The source pic is well known, and Obama couldn't have been more than 10 years old when the Black Panthers were active. While there's no way to predict the long term circulation of Black Panther Obama, you won't catch me betting against the power of human stupidity.

That's all for this time, gentle reader. Thanks for stopping by. I want to close this post by once again congratulating SvartVinbars on attaining what so many before him failed to achieve. I admire his Photoshop skills and ability to troll simple-minded idiots, the latter of which is second only to my own.

Stay tuned for more unnecessary self-aggrandizement from the Doctor!