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stui magpie 
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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David 
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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It is, as I suspected, a pisstake:
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/digital-distractions/2021/10/birds-arent-real-and-this-man-wants-the-world-to-know
| Quote: | Since 2016, McIndoe has devoted his life to telling the world that birds aren’t real. Or at least, that’s what he likes to tell journalists and anyone else who will listen. Like all good satirists, he blends parody and reality seamlessly. “In the States, at least, everything we see is filled with bird propaganda. Our national mascot is a bird – the bald eagle – each of the 50 states in the US has a state bird. With bird mascots, at a certain point, you should start asking some questions,” he tells me.
It is near impossible to confirm whether McIndoe is joking, or if Peter is even his real name, although he seems earnest when he tells me that he is 23 years old, a glimmer of pride in his voice.
Still, joke or not, real money has gone into telling the world that all birds were destroyed by the US government and replaced with drones; advanced enough to look like real birds and technologically sophisticated enough to spy on the world’s citizens.
According to McIndoe, between the years 1959-2001, the US state “murdered every bird in existence using murderous toxins dropped from airplanes”. Spend some time on the YouTube channel dedicated to the cause and you will learn that in the late 1970s, a group of people discovered the US government’s conspiracy and founded the campaign group Birds Aren’t Real. McIndoe cites an alleged archive video as evidence of its rich history, although after a few moments it’s clear the video has been doctored with a vintage filter with some old-fashioned computers as props.
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At its heart, Birds Aren’t Real is a delicate mix of post-truth satire and s**tposting; just plausible enough to get media attention, but ironic enough to attract a cult following among the young and online – all of them happy to be in on the joke. |
I tried to do something like this in my uni days with an earnest article defending the Flat Earth Society, but good on this guy for committing to the bit, I guess! And there is precedent for pranks like this taking on a life of their own – few people know, for instance, that modern-day conspiracy theories about the 'Illuminati' (one of the shadowy forces that people like Alex Jones rant about) started out as a joke:
https://nymag.com/news/features/conspiracy-theories/operation-mindfuck/
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All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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C'mon, everyone knows The Illuminati is real. Unlike Australia and Birds apparently:P 
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Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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