The Onion is an online fake news website that makes up stories about all kinds of stuff. Of course, Harry Potter would not be ammune to that. Hence, The Onion did their own take on the boy wizard's tale and how the stories have influenced millions of teenage, and otherwise, readers.

Needless to say, The Onion uses irony and satire to create such tales but that doesn't stop outside sources who are looking for reasons to push their agenda to take what The Onion wrote and make it out to be true.

Thus, on July 26, 2000, The Onion ran a piece entitled, "Harry Potter Books Spark Rise In Satanism Among Children."

The article, of course, led certain groups of people to paraphrase the story and spread it throughout the internet claiming it was true. Quoting from the fake article's fake sources, "I used to believe in what they taught us at Sunday School," said Ashley, conjuring up an ancient spell to summon Cerebus, the three-headed hound of hell. "But the Harry Potter books showed me that magic is real, something I can learn and use right now, and that the Bible is nothing but boring lies," amongst other things gave these groups, mostly Christian fundamentalists, amper fodder to support their beliefs that the Harry Potter books were up to no good and wanted to convert young readers to their evil ways.

Even Snopes, the internet debaser of passed around falsehoods, urban legends and all sorts of other viral messages people spread around through e-mails, picked up on the tale and what was happening with it. Snopes.com issued the following to anyone wanting to know the truth. 

They sum it up beautifully by stating, "If The Onion's parody has demonstrated anything, it's that we should be worrying about adults not being able to distinguish between fiction and reality. The kids themselves seem to have a pretty good grasp of it."

Read The Snope's reference page. 

Read more of The Onion's satire on Harry Potter.

---

Bookmark this site

No one has commented on this article.

Please keep your comments brief and on topic, and remember that this is not a discussion thread.
Name :
Title :
E-mail :
Website :
	Text ColorAquaBlackBlueFuchsiaGrayGreenLimeMaroonNavyOlivePurpleRedSilverTealWhiteYellow
Comment(s) :

J! Reactions 1.09.00 • General Site License
Copyright © 2006 S. A. DeCaro