My Osteen House Chaplain Satire Makes Fox News in Houston

[MineralMan]

http://www.fox26houston.com/news/you-re-clicking-it/was-that-fake-joel-osteen-as-us-house-chaplain

Video at link.

I had no idea at all that this would go viral as it has. I really thought it was just a funny bit for DUers to chuckle over. And now, a major Fox News outlet is fact-checking it. Even better the Fox News fact-check story has made several other news outlets. You can see them all with this Google search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=osteen+house+chaplain

You've gotta love DU!

[Adrahil]

1. Well done sir!

[fleur-de-lisa]

2. Bravo!

[First Speaker]

3. I hope you're proud of yourself...we certainly are!

[MineralMan]

7. Well, I'm certainly laughing my ass off.

I guess my joke hit a little too close to home. Now, all I need is a phone call from some news outlet asking for my comment. I'm not hard to find.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Good satire, MM!

Be sure to take care of yourself and hopefully you won't get a trump nut banging on your door.

[kag]

91. What I love the most about this prank...

...is being "in on it" from the start. My hubby was reading DU, and started laughing out loud. When I asked, he read me your post, and even mentioned the evil grin at the end. We both loved the original joke, but love it even more now that it has "gone viral" in the funniest way possible.

Good job, MM. And thanks for allowing the rest of us at DU to come along with you on this one!

[Ligyron]

4. You killed it with that one dude!

Shows ya who's monitoring too.

[JDC]

5. It was too spot on.

Next thing that will be on Fox-Houston is that Paul Ryan paid a protitute $300 to Paint His House

[pangaia]

126. Oh, I think you should go with that one. see what happens....

[asiliveandbreathe]

6. We have a celebrity among us......satirists will be calling...or a knock at the door

FBI wants to know how you got that information....who leaked it you???? - does this mean we all have to surrender our emails..comments...

[Freddie]

8. Excellent!

The finest satire is when it's *really* hard to tell if it's satire or not. This is Andy Borowitz level satire.

[BobTheSubgenius]

30. Exactly!

It's very often the name of the source that gives the game away - The Onion, or, as you say, Borowitz.

The often outrageous antics and bleatings of the GOP is what makes it work, in large part. There is almost nothing too far-getched to have a decent chance of being true.

If Ryan really had done this, I wouldn't have spit my coffee onto my monitor, for example.

[Ohiogal]

9. Congratulations!

Move over, Andy Borowitz!

[Major Nikon]

10. The best thing about satire is not everyone gets it

[oberliner]

11. How is it appropriate to put out a false story on DU?

Satirical stories should be identified as such.

I do not understand taking any enjoyment from something like this.

[emulatorloo]

16. It was identified by the OP as parody/satire by the use of the devil smiley

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210551759

MM then explicitly said it was parody in his second post in the thread

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210551759#post2

[MineralMan]

18. Oh, please. It was identified by the :evilgrin: emoji.

It also included over-the-top language that couldn't possibly be true. People post satire on GD all the time. There are at least half a dozen such posts in today's thread list.

Only a few people in the original thread failed to recognize the post as satire. Most of them probably didn't bother to read past the title.

As for taking enjoyment from this, I am taking a great deal of such enjoyment. Anytime I can poke a Trump, Paul Ryan or Joel Osteen, I'm going to take that opportunity. Count on it. I've made two satirical posts already this morning. No apologies.

[emulatorloo]

20. Yes, and you explicitly stated it was parody in yr second in the thread.

[malaise]

41. MM always posts the evilgrin emoji

with his satirical posts.

[Kittycow]

22. I believed it when I first read the post

because it was so believable! But it was clear just a few replies down that it was satire.

Now if it comes to pass that Joel Osteen gets in, I'm going to have a cow

[MineralMan]

23. One of the benefits of satire can be that what has been proposed

is even less likely to happen. By ridiculing something, you make that something less likely.

In reality, Osteen could possibly be proposed for such a position. It's no so far out of the realm of possibility. So, I ridiculed the idea, partly to make it less likely to happen.

Satire isn't just intended to be funny in many cases. This was one of those.

[progree]

87. I'm not happy that it went viral and so many thought it was for real, but its not your fault for

writing great satire.

Actually I would have bought the title hook line and sinker. (To tell you the truth, Joel Osteen is a very familiar name to me, and he must be a religious something-or-other given your OP title, but other than that, it didn't ring a bell. After I got into the body of the OP, the light went off and yeah, he's the Prosperity Gospel guy, but before that, it was just, uh, duh, OK. Probably some evangelical type).

When it got to this:

In a brief comment, the Speaker said, "America needs to become more prosperous. It needs a new approach to individual wealth. Pastor Osteen carries that message and shows us the way. Working Americans should be grateful to pay more taxes to the Federal Government. As Jesus, himself, said, 'It will be returned an hundred-fold.' (etc.) https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210551759

I can't believe anyone would swallow that Ryan would say the last 2 sentences especially. There is certainly some Ryanistic philosophy in there, but he would never come right out and say it like that so bluntly. Only an idiot or someone with evil intent would spread it without checking into it first.

I didn't know that the devilgrin emoji indicated satire... but so what.

And your OP was 2:22 pm, #1 reply asking is it parody is at 2:23 pm, and your #2 at 2:24 pm said it is parody.

By the way, #4 ( A_Heretic_I_Am ) at 2:25 was hilarious:



Maybe we should have a hashtag: #MineralManGate

[MineralMan]

89. I love that GIF file!

[A HERETIC I AM]

134. LOL...Thanks for the shout!

And yes, that's my favorite Spit-take .gif. If you google that term, you'll get hundreds of course, but I think Barney pulls it off perfectly.

I have that one handy as well as "Phil Hartman surprise" ;



And Barney suicide;



The last one I often use when the outrage du jour is posted.

[not fooled]

137. Yep

he got me too for a minute. Paul Ryan replacing a Jesuit with Joel Osteen is just so plausible.

And we all hope MM didn't give Paul Ryan any ideas. Of course, Osteen would never give up his current gig. Too busy raking in the $$$$$$.

[grantcart]

38. And none of the few who didn't get it read any of the other replies either

[notdarkyet]

78. I believed it at first. Till I realized Osteen couldn't make near the money as chaplain as he does

televangelist, huckster,preaching and grinning for Jesus and money. No he couldn’t give up his gazillions to give a short prayer.....No.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

124. Not necessary

MM, it was brilliant on so many levels. There is no need to apologize to those too thick to get your humor.

P/S I always enjoy your posts.

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. You're shitting everyone, right?

I mean...you've been around here for 12 years and you make THAT comment?

Seriously?

I do not understand taking any enjoyment from something like this.

Holy crap.

[OldHippieChick]

63. Some people have no

sense of humor.

[A HERETIC I AM]

98. No kidding!

Just don’t expect that from any ten plus year veterans of this joint

[grantcart]

32. Lol.

[grantcart]

34. Because openly advocating for increasing taxes on the poor is such a believable position

Why advertise your exception level of gullibility?

[Blue_true]

37. He had a flag on the post. I saw it, but got taken in too.

The smiling devil was the indicator that MM was pulling our legs.

[zipplewrath]

44. I understand

It is a sad state of affairs when something so obviously satire is taken, either intentionally or not, as a story to be transmitted and represented as fact. Unfortunately that's a comment on our larger culture, not DU or the particular poster. Critical thinking is all but dead in this day and age, and that's not really limited to any one party. In addition to that, be "caught" promulgating false information carries no consequence in modern culture. Heck, getting caught lying doesn't carry any consequence today. And I can't tell you how many times I've confronted someone and their response is either "well it should be true" or "well it sounds true".

I don't particularly like satire on DU, because it is so often misunderstood. And good satire is harder than it might seem. None the less it is a permissible form of expression here on DU, as long as it conforms to all the other rules.

[AwakeAtLast]

49. The Onion has fooled people

Onion articles have been shared as truth until people did a very small search. It is very clearly satire.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

54. Your next stop: Andy Borowitz?

Come on. It was pretty clearly satire. That you didn't understand that is on you.

[SCVDem]

113. The next stop

Was Snopes.

I enjoy satire although living it daily is tiresome.

Good job MM! I believed it because it's believable!

[ck4829]

59. Satire is a tool that can be used against the powerful, try to keep up. LOL.

[Blue_Adept]

61. I wish they were identified that way from outside the post

I have a general distaste for them and always feel like I just wasted some time with it. Particularly when on mobile because the site does not show who the author is until you're in the post.

[LanternWaste]

70. It's well within the parameters of GD, and need not be identified as such.

It's well within the parameters of GD, and need not be identified as such as long as all other policy is followed, regardless of your self-identified lack of understanding.

Seems your issue is with policy as written. Good luck! God bless!

[marble falls]

79. Lighten up. Seriously: Joel Osteen for Congressional Chaplain? You believed that? Ryan would...

never name an off-brand religious leader. Now Louie Gohmert would.

[murielm99]

83. Oh, lighten up.

Everyone who read past the first couple of sentences knew it was satire.

And threads aren't always identified as parody or satire. I have read through entire threads before realizing it was Borowitz or The Onion.

[kag]

92. Please tell me you're being satirical and just forgot the emoji. n/t

[ismnotwasm]

12. Baaaaahahahahaha!

I love this

[malaise]

14. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Go Pro Bro - you're that good

[Brother Buzz]

15. Poe's Law is not that hard to comprehend

I weep for this nation.

MineralMan, that is a righteous feather feather in your cap.

[Submariner]

17. Could you do a story of AF-1 flying into a wormhole on his way to North Korea

and exiting the wormhole and landing in 1968 next to the Ho Chi Minh trail?

We need to test the extent of your gift for political purposes.

[MineralMan]

19. I probably could, but probably won't.

[Brother Buzz]

21. Maybe Chosin Reservoir, 1950, might work better

[ProudProgressiveNow]

24. KR NT

[mahatmakanejeeves]

26. Nobel! Nobel! Nobel! Nobel! Nobel! NT

[leftofcool]

27. You cad, you! I love it.

[Skraxx]

28. Imagine If Your Satire Ends Up Causing Joel Osteen to be Made House Chaplain? You gave them the idea

[louis-t]

29. Brilliant! Gee, liberals really ARE funny.

[grantcart]

31. Snort

[Dustlawyer]

33. +1!!!

Love it!

[Kurt V.]

35. Love it!

[Lint Head]

36. Congratulations! I love the hell out of this.

My only incident similar to this happened back in the sixties when a friend of mine and I grew our hair long because of the Beatles. In our small town there was no one with long hair. He and I went to our little town square to look for rock band outfits. We walked around town for a little while then went into the Record Shop. The very next day there was an article in our local newspaper that said "Hippies Invade Downtown Anderson". We knew it was about us because they described what we did to a "T"

[MineralMan]

45. That's a great story!

I've seen a few of my pranks make the news over the years. I've been a prankster since my high school days. Most have had only limited effects. Once in a while, though, they've found their way into local or regional news.

Back in the place I lived in California, they used to hold a Mardi Gras parade every year. One year, some friends of mine and I got the idea of showing up in the parade. I checked to see what was involved in entering it officially. I discovered that the parade did not have a float for a Grand Marshall. In fact, there was no Grand Marshall, so I signed up for a spot as the Grand Marshall, under the name "Mr. Hollywood." The folks who ran the parade, said, "Go for it!"

So, my friends and I built a float on a flatbed trailer, with a huge banner that read "Grand Marshall - Mr. Hollywood"

In that capacity, I found an outrageous outfit to wear, including two different plaid patterns, a pink checked shirt, and a pair of purple cowboy boots. Mr. Hollywood also wore a pair of 3-D movie theater glasses. The float had a sound system on it that looped a tape of the 20th Century Fox intro music, followed by "Hooray for Hollywood," and a dozen girls in cheerleader costumes walked in front of the float.

Best of all, I sent a press release to the local newspaper, announcing that Mr. Hollywood would be in the parade as Grand Marshall, along with holding a press conference at City Hall. The paper actually sent a reporter and photographer. They interviewed "Mr. Hollywood," and a photo and story showed up in the paper's entertainment section.

The parade went wonderfully. Later that evening, there was a Mardi Gras Ball at the local Veterans Memorial Building. Mr. Hollywood showed up and made a grand entrance in a BMW Isetta, which drove into the ballroom through the big front doors, with his "entourage" leading the way across the dance floor. Mr. Hollywood even got up on stage and welcomed everyone to the ball.

All of this was totally unofficial, of course, but everyone went along with it, just as though it was all planned.

That was probably my most elaborate prank, ever.

[OldHippieChick]

69. Love it

My best prank was convincing a friend of my husband's that he had a child out of wedlock and owed the mother tons of $$$. Poor lad, even when I called and said I was a lawyer w/ Dewey, Cheatum & Howe, he still was falling for it. Took a while to talk him off the ledge. Still it was worth it to get him to stop calling our house drunk at 2 a.m.

[Lint Head]

115. Ha! Love it.

[Lint Head]

114. Fantastic story. I would love to have been in the audience and saw that.

Now I can say I know Mr. Hollywood.

[ailsagirl]

138. Veterans Memorial Building...

Would that be someplace in Yolo County??

[MineralMan]

142. Nope. San Luis Obispo County.

[ailsagirl]

144. OK-- just curious!

[msdogi]

39. brilliant

Nicely done!

[Blue_true]

40. Are you still writing novels?

Maybe you should start publishing as MineralMan. Good technique for fiction though, take something that people CAN believe and make it sound real.

[The Genealogist]

42. The news channel even called Osteen's church to check this out?

Bravissimo, sir! Bravissimo!

[MineralMan]

47. Yes. They fact-checked it thoroughly.

[Pluvious]

43. Your little jab performed several helpful services...

Your biggest service this bit and most satire provides, is forcing one to assess their own perspectives.

There is no better example of this from history (IMHO) than Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." The fact so many people "fell" for it, had to make them take a closer look at themselves and their society.

As a literary device, satire forces us to confront the measure of how much we find the story plausible. Then we inevitably will ponder why that is so. And perhaps, it can then become a learning moment.

Just the fact Sheeple of the Fox Brainwashing Network think it could be true, makes them realize just how far from reality they have drifted. At least we can hope, heh.

Kudos to you mate !
Go with Zeus.

[MineralMan]

50. Thanks. Satire has an important function.

It's also funny as the dickens.

[Vinca]

46. That's really funny. Guess you've got the righties all excited.

[Marcuse]

48. Nicely done.

[DFW]

51. Think of all the disappointed fans of Fox Noise that thought you had a serious scoop

The God Squad must have a real let-down when they found where the "story" came from.

No wonder they fall for such garbage as..... (fill in here anything that comes out of a Republican's mouth)

[mercuryblues]

55. I'll never forget

Faux News Ham sandwich "scoop"

The school got a lot of hate mail because of their coverage.

https://thinkprogress.org/fox-news-sinks-to-new-low-repeatedly-reports-parody-story-as-actual-news-31b9f514dfe4/

On Tuesday, Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends” aired at least eight segments on a purported “news” story that was actually a parody article written by a publication similar to The Onion.
The backstory: Last week in the town of Lewiston, Maine, a group of Somalian Muslim middle school students were the subject of a cruel prank when their peers placed a ham steak next to them in order to personally offend the students. School officials filed a report because the students considered the act to be a hate/bias crime.

[FM123]

52. Congratulations MM!

We want more!

[MineralMan]

53. Oh, I'm always trying. It's very, very rare, though

for something to take off like that one did. It's certainly never happened before, and is probably very likely never to happen again. Still...a guy keeps trying.

[gademocrat7]

56. Kudos, Mineral Man!

[wryter2000]

57. OMG

That's so funny. You go, guy.

[SunSeeker]

58. LOL

[unblock]

60. now you have to decide: use your fame for a presidential run or just cash in on your celebrity?

[MineralMan]

65. In reality, there is no real money out there for satirical writing.

The Onion isn't looking for freelance contributors. Nobody pays for that kind of writing. I make my living as a writer, but the writing I do for that reason is really, really boring and utilitarian. I have a personal firewall between my writing for pay and writing about politics. I have never been paid for any political writings, and that's an intentional choice. It's a matter of independence for me.

I write for a living, but also for other reasons. I don't mix the two kinds of writing. Ever.

[unblock]

66. makes sense. you'll just have to do a sex tape then

[MineralMan]

62. For Those Who Think Satire Doesn't Belong on DU -

The original satire post I made has these stats showing:

99 replies, 43186 views

So what, you ask? Well, over 43,000 views means that a helluva lot of people came to DU to see it. Most came from Tweets and retweets about that post that included a link. That's a lot of people coming to DU who may never have known it exists. Most DU posts don't get anything like that number of page views.

Viral links to DU help expose DU to new people. Some of them may return again and even register here. That's a good thing.

[stonecutter357]

64. K&R !

[denbot]

67. DU'zy

Congrats MineralMan!

[lancelyons]

68. Congrats. We democrats show we peddle in fake news as well.

[MineralMan]

72. Fortunately, most DUers know the difference between satire and fake news.

Not all, but most.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

74. No. That some got fooled by blatant satire does not make it "fake news", which means something else

"Fake news" is a declaration that serious reporting is not true.

This is not fake news by the definition used by 95% of people, including Donald Trump.

[byronius]

71. Well done, sir. Well done.

And funny as hell.

[aka-chmeee]

73. All very well!

But if that greasy, cliche spouting freak becomes the House Chaplain, it's your fault.

[FakeNoose]

75. Does anybody really think Joel Osteen would take a no-thanks job like that?

[MineralMan]

85. Really. Why would he give that up?

[Blue_playwright]

76. Our hero! Congrats!

Maybe you can get a gig with The Onion!

[Scurrilous]

77. K&R

[bitterross]

80. So damn proud of you!

It really was worthy of a Bororwitz Report.

[MineralMan]

88. Thanks, but you're far too kind!

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

81. I am in no way trying to steal anyone's thunder...

... but I read of your Osteen for chaplain post, and joked about it in political discussion threads at FB. Folks from Australia repeated it, so...

More power to you, I hope it brings about some realizations amongst certain voters.

[brewens]

82. No longer satire buddy but fact. You now qualify as "it's being reported" coverage! That's

how them FOX "News" viewers git learnt.

[Leith]

84. Borowitz Is Jealous

And The Onion wishes it had thought of it first.

We all proud of you.

[MineralMan]

86. I doubt both of those things very much. But thank you!

[Leith]

93. I Wouldn't Doubt That They Are

When is the last time that a TV news station did a story to fact check them?

No doubt they are all sitting back, nodding, and saying "well done, sir!"

[90-percent]

90. You lucky bastard!

You've gone viral. I've been on the internet since aol dial-up in 1992 and never had anything ever go viral.

Oh, well, I guess I just have to settle for my DU OP's getting 5 recs two or three times a year..............<sniff>

I'm happy for you. I really am..........<sniff>

-90% Jimmy

[annabanana]

94. De-LISH-eous!

Fox idiots

[lunamagica]

95. Congratulations! This is just awesome, MM!

[ProudLib72]

96. And here I thought it was big news you faked out another DUer

This is big, big news, MM! Now you need to report on how the Rump is thinking about resigning.

[MineralMan]

97. I'm afraid that if I did that, it might not be satire.

[Gothmog]

100. I saw that you also made Snopes

[Gothmog]

99. This is really funny

Congrats

[MineralMan]

102. Funny is the word, for sure.

What a blast!

[raven mad]

101. OUTSTANDING!

Definitely saving & can guarantee spousal delight as well!

[CelticWinter]

103. This is just too good

You know you got them going when Faux gets their panties in a bunch

[sarcasmo]

104. Osteen will be the new Chaplain of Space Force.

[Catherine Vincent]

105. Kewl dude!

[highplainsdem]

106. It was brilliant. Deserved all the attention it got.

[Rainbow Droid]

107. I loved it because it was believable. It wouldn't have been before Trump, but here we are.

[turbinetree]

108. You've gotta love DU!

[Permanut]

109. Well played, MineralMan! n/t

[Upthevibe]

110. So proud of DU's own.....MineralMan!

Very, very funny. Way to go....

[NastyRiffraff]

111. Congrats!

And well deserved. That was brilliant!

[Glimmer of Hope]

112. You are my hero.

[MineralMan]

116. No hero. More of a smartass, really.

But, thanks!

[samplegirl]

117. Your my hero MineralMan

[MineralMan]

118. Awww...Shucks...

[MyOwnPeace]

119. But MineralMan!!!!

You now have the right to use a "Trump" line:

"Many people are saying....................."

And the truth is - YOU have the numbers to prove it, as opposed to IQ45's "numbers."

Congrats on a job well done!

[bucolic_frolic]

120. You're on a roll, Mineral Man

Capture that secret sauce so you can teach the rest of us. There's lots to conquer

[NBachers]

121. I'll check you out when you appear on stage at the next White House Correspondents Dinner.

[MineralMan]

122. Unlikely. Very.

[Takket]

123. this is both hilarious and sad at the same time........

and it just goes to show, quite honestly, how easily Russia hoodwinked the deplorables in 2016. For goodness sake if you could go viral and make it on TV without even having any intention of deceiving people, imagine how easy it would be if you actually TRIED and had a whole troll army supporting your efforts...........

[pangaia]

125. FOX called the church.

Shit, man (or maybe that should that be shit, Man) why didn't they just ask you.'

[MineralMan]

127. Good question.

It's not completely trivial to find my phone number, but it might take a little work. I'm also not the only MineralMan on the Internet.

[pangaia]

130. We have your back.. I mean... at least verbally and with our fingers.....

I'm crackin' up even now.


You're our hero.....

[meadowlark5]

128. Did you post that funny here or where did they find it and it went viral?

[MineralMan]

129. Yes. It was my post on DU.

A couple of days ago.

https://demu.gr/100210551759

[meadowlark5]

131. So how did it make it out of here?

Someone thought it was funny and put it on some other social media and took off from there?

[MineralMan]

132. Someone tweeted it. It got retweeted and retweeted

A few thousand times. I don't know where all it went. Snopes debunked it as satire yesterday. Just a viral thing, I guess. I was very surprised.

[meadowlark5]

133. That is awesome!!

Congratulations!

[MrScorpio]

135. I bow in your general direction

These are great days.

[malchickiwick]

136. Here's the SNOPES link -- well done!!

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-ryan-osteen-house-chaplain/

Sorry if this was posted up thread and I missed it.

[ecstatic]

139. Congrats! It's hard to believe that was less than a week ago.

Each day of this shitty admin and the complicit GOP feels like a lifetime!

BTW, I read the post and assumed it was real. Lol. Satire is broken with the GOP in control.

[The Wizard]

140. Good job

. giving the Repubics a taste of Fake Russkie News.

[lark]

141. A pat on the back and a hearty chuckle.

Good job!!

[Turbineguy]

143. Now, all you have to do

is marry one of the Kardashians and you'll have it made!

[burrowowl]

145. Bravo!Here'sto satire!