I always enjoy April Fool's Day; it's a day when everyone, even the usually sombre news outlets, are given free reign to be a little bit silly. I always enjoy scouring the papers (or, well, websites these days) for whatever the 'joke' article is, and remember being a bit in awe of the inventiveness of Panorama when I read a few years back about the 1957 'spaghetti tree hoax', in which the programme successfully convinced many viewers that spaghetti grew on trees.
So, I was anticipating something mildly witty when I turned my laptop on this morning. First I tried the Guardian, and let out a slightly forced laugh at their article on proposals for Scotland to drive on the right after independence. I wasn't entirely sure at that point whether the independence debate was the best focus for an April Fool's joke, but the article was quite a good parody of itself (they interviewed a researcher into 'transport semiotics'), so I shrugged and moved on. But then I found the Telegraph article about Alex Salmond replacing the Queen on Scottish sterling. This felt a little too close to the bone, given that currency is currently a very high-profile topic in the independence debate. And then I found - ironically enough - the contribution of the Independent, which declared that the UN was drawing up peace-keeping plans for what to do if Scotland voted Yes. The only article to poke a bit of fun at the Unionist reaction to the independence campaign was the Daily Mail's piece on leaked secret flag plans.
I think these articles are problematic in a number of ways, not least given that with the different rumours flying around (and often proclaimed from mainstream newspapers with relatively little verification), it could be all too easy for an anxious reader to take the articles seriously (well - maybe not the driving one!). The first three articles listed above also seemed to have an overtone of 'how silly!' at the very thought that Scotland might want to be independent. But, above all, and no matter which way you are inclined to vote, independence is a serious, important, constitutional issue. The best April Fool's jokes are ones like the spaghetti tree hoax, which convince people of something absolutely ridiculous but also completely unimportant, so that when they realise their mistake they can laugh at how foolish they were. Independence is neither unimportant nor, I think, foolish. I find it quite distressing that this April Fool's day, newspapers decided to make a mockery of such a significant and complex issue.
This September people around Scotland will walk into the polling booths and place a mark on their ballot paper which will help to decide the future of this country. Whichever box they go for, that is no laughing matter.
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* By Macieklew (Own work) CC-BY-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
So, I was anticipating something mildly witty when I turned my laptop on this morning. First I tried the Guardian, and let out a slightly forced laugh at their article on proposals for Scotland to drive on the right after independence. I wasn't entirely sure at that point whether the independence debate was the best focus for an April Fool's joke, but the article was quite a good parody of itself (they interviewed a researcher into 'transport semiotics'), so I shrugged and moved on. But then I found the Telegraph article about Alex Salmond replacing the Queen on Scottish sterling. This felt a little too close to the bone, given that currency is currently a very high-profile topic in the independence debate. And then I found - ironically enough - the contribution of the Independent, which declared that the UN was drawing up peace-keeping plans for what to do if Scotland voted Yes. The only article to poke a bit of fun at the Unionist reaction to the independence campaign was the Daily Mail's piece on leaked secret flag plans.
I think these articles are problematic in a number of ways, not least given that with the different rumours flying around (and often proclaimed from mainstream newspapers with relatively little verification), it could be all too easy for an anxious reader to take the articles seriously (well - maybe not the driving one!). The first three articles listed above also seemed to have an overtone of 'how silly!' at the very thought that Scotland might want to be independent. But, above all, and no matter which way you are inclined to vote, independence is a serious, important, constitutional issue. The best April Fool's jokes are ones like the spaghetti tree hoax, which convince people of something absolutely ridiculous but also completely unimportant, so that when they realise their mistake they can laugh at how foolish they were. Independence is neither unimportant nor, I think, foolish. I find it quite distressing that this April Fool's day, newspapers decided to make a mockery of such a significant and complex issue.
This September people around Scotland will walk into the polling booths and place a mark on their ballot paper which will help to decide the future of this country. Whichever box they go for, that is no laughing matter.
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* By Macieklew (Own work) CC-BY-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.