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  • 2013-08-26 (xsd:date)
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  • Is This a Video of the Vote for the Homeland Terrorism Preparedness Bill? (en)
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  • Most of the satire mistaken for real news items we encounter have rather brief shelf lives: a satirical article is published on an originating web site, links to it are quickly picked up and circulated via social media and e-mail (typically accompanied by outraged comments about the scenario it describes), most everyone involved in the chain of circulation finds out within a day or two that the article was just a spoof, and discussion of the subject sharply drops off. A few examples of this genre prove to be evergreens, however — their satire is so well done and hits so close to home that year after year new sets of viewers keep encountering them out of context and mistaking them for shockingly true news reports. One such evergreen is the video clip displayed below, an apparent C-SPAN segment which has been online since 2007 and features someone identified as Rep. John Haller of Pennsylvania's 12th District putting H.R 8791 (the Homeland Terrorism Preparedness Bill) up for vote in Congress: Rep. Haller's reading of H.R 8791 doesn't state exactly how much money the bill seeks to appropriate or for what purposes, as much of that information is deemed to be classified — all that comes through is that the government wants emergency response funding to cover the possible occurrence of a very scary-sounding event which could end with some U.S. citizens being relocated to protected birthing centers and the drafting of a new Bill of Rights: Of course, there was no Rep. John Haller of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Congress back in 2007 (that state's 12th Congressional District was represented by John Murtha from 1974 until his death in 2010), nor was any legislation identified as H.R. 8791 or the Homeland Terrorism Preparedness Bill introduced to that body. The video clip was a spoof from the satirical publication The Onion (whose logo can be seen in the bottom right-hand corner, replacing the 'C' of C-SPAN), riffing on a number of topical subjects such as concerns over the secrecy surrounding terrorism-related legislation (such as the Patriot Act) enacted after the 9/11 attacks, criticisms of Congress for passing bills that members supposedly had not fully read or understood, and a current pop culture fascination with apocalyptic zombie scenarios. (en)
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