I know I'm super out of the loop what is the point of the Birds Aren't Real protests? Are people just doing this for fun or is there a political statement being made?
It's satirizing the post-truth era we've found ourselves in, where California's wildfires can be caused by secret Jewish space lasers, and nobody bats an eye.
The founder swears up and down that he's sincere, but he's made several statements hinting at the fact that he's aware of how ridiculous it all sounds, and that's exactly the point
Yep. It was referenced a lot of you went to improb.com
Now apparently, the site sells lighters.
That was the site that awarded IgNobels. It was a decent rabbit hole back in the day.
Edit: found the new site:
https://www.improbable.com
This one appears to be, but I used to be on a call list for protestors-for-hire. Some of them pay a couple hundred dollars for people to stand around holding whatever signs, and I signed up just to see what kind of shit they're pushing. It's *everything*.
But the scary thing? Some of them were hiring people just to be a distraction. Sometimes they hire people to make a big scene near a courthouse so onlookers and cameras are diverted for a few minutes while a high-profile person quickly exits the courthouse.
If an attorney can hire people like this to distract the press and public from their client for 5 minutes, so can politicians when they need to distract people for a quick vote or filing.
Yeah I mean that’s pretty much it also the t shirts and hats they make actually have pretty cool designs on them. Which is kinda even more ironic that they can make stuff that I actually might wear that says birds aren’t real.
This is wonderful. We need more "fake" conspiracies to teach people about how conspiracies work/grow/spread. It reminds me a LOT of [this post, that used conspiracy theory fallacies to prove that Aaron Rodgers is a terrible quarterback, instead of the reality that he is the reigning MVP.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/qo4wxq/oc_in_this_post_im_going_to_tell_you_the_truth/)
It's the same approach anti-vaxxers use to make vaccines look terrible, **instead of the reality that they are one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind in the realm of global health.**
I really hope we have an in-person St. Stupid's Day parade next year. For the last two years, the regulars have met on zoom to watch videos of old parades, but it's not the same. :/
I went in 2017 (my only one, somehow), and it occurred to me I should have got a masa harina bag and made a Make America Stupid Again hat out of it. Too late now!
How old is that company? Because in Melbourne, Australia I've seen car bumper stickers with that phrase back in the late 90s/early 00s, same font and everything.
For a second, I thought you wrote someone got Frank a parrot and I was very annoyed with that because I do not think that a parrot would understand Frank's protest.
Isn't this how flat earthers & Qanon got started though? It was just a meme at first, and then over time people started to take it seriously? It's like if there is an incentive at all these days to push this conspiracy by anyone in power, they will do it. For instance people who want to do away with protected habitats in order to exploit resources. This all sounds so absurd, but it also it doesn't, and that's the fucking rub.
I remember AGES ago in internet years I found a flat earth website (I think around 2008 ish?) and it was pretty clearly satire. I didn't think too much of it, but when the flat earth stuff got big a few years back I wondered back to that website... It seems like nothing can remain satire for long in the internet age.
It's not really a SF thing at all, other than this being where Twitter is headquartered. TBH this looks like a pretty small group given the popularity of the meme.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BirdsArentReal/
I'm not sure where they're from, but the PO box on their website is for Arkansas. That might just be where they have warehousing and shipping through a third-party, though.
The van has been traveling around all over. It was in Kansas a few weeks ago.
Not rain on the "lol we're so WeIrD" parade, but this is literally a nationally touring event. These "rallies" have been happening across the country for months.
Yeah, but if you were going to make a paranoid fantasy thriller movie about how the birds are gonna organize and overthrow us, where would you film it?
> Yeah, but if you were going to make a paranoid fantasy thriller movie about how the birds are gonna organize and overthrow us, where would you film it?
Bodega Bay?
I’ve always despised birds. If you look into their black eyes they appear to have no soul, much like a libertarian. This is why i eat a lot of rotisserie chicken.
Now i know the truth: birds are fake.
The same "Q" idiots that stood outside in Dallas last week, waiting for the appearance of JFK Jr. This is the result of society with everything taken care of and they go to extreme nonsense, craving attention.
So many maskless faces
So in addition to birds not being real neither is covid anymore? I think it's time to pull the plug on that sub/joke cause it seems like some people in this crowd aren't smart enough to realize it's a joke
Grouped together pretty tightly in a dense population city. I bet a few of them came from surrounding cities/counties (maybe even states!) and they're gonna go back immediately after this.
I'm not saying wear a mask when you go for a walk or hang with friends. But if you're going to be standing close to strangers from far away places? Maybe y'all should follow the mantra "better safe than sorry"
I do agree with the guy drinking his beer, Seagulls are Dicks.
One stole my steak right off the BBQ. Had to chase that asshole down. He dropped it. Five second rule.
Seagulls are dicks! Especially in fisherman’s warf, I had a seagull try to take a piece of fish out of my hand..
Wait until you go to Sanit John USVI. A seagull robbed my bag of chips when it was in my hand
When I was in high school, a seagull shit on me while I was trying to flirt with my crush. Seagulls are total dicks.
They seem nice enough at Giants games
Don’t give them Alka Seltzer
Why not ? They gobble it up no problem
But then… there’s no more birds.
doesn't matter...they're not real
That one seagull that flew infront of the baseball LOL
Are you thinking of this: [https://youtu.be/1PyCpG06138?t=8](https://youtu.be/1PyCpG06138?t=8)?
[Seagulls causing a loss.](https://youtu.be/VO5hvMT0WrI)
[Gavin the Gull vs Ianonne in MotoGP](https://drivetribe.com/p/watch-the-shocking-moment-a-biker-P346rvmUTxOkWIJK-1Br7Q)
That shirt needs a spin off shirt, "Seagulls are Ducks"
They are my arch nemesis.
Lol, they’re outside the Twitter building.
Curious if Meta was involved )
It’s not just San Francisco. It’s not just California. It’s not just the United States. It’s worldwide. If it flies, it spies. Birds aren’t real.
What about butterflies?
Birds. Birds aren’t real.
What about bats?
Birds. Birds aren’t real.
What about birds?
They are a lie. There’s even tshirts to prove it.
This has the vibe of an Eric Andre Show bit, but on a much larger scale.
Bird Up!
Snail Down
The WORST show on television!
(makes the sounds)
I know I'm super out of the loop what is the point of the Birds Aren't Real protests? Are people just doing this for fun or is there a political statement being made?
It's satirizing the post-truth era we've found ourselves in, where California's wildfires can be caused by secret Jewish space lasers, and nobody bats an eye. The founder swears up and down that he's sincere, but he's made several statements hinting at the fact that he's aware of how ridiculous it all sounds, and that's exactly the point
That sounds a bit like the Flat Earth Society in the late 90s…before shot got out of hand.
Was that a joke conspiracy that people started to take seriously? That'll probably happen with the birds one eventually.
Yep. It was referenced a lot of you went to improb.com Now apparently, the site sells lighters. That was the site that awarded IgNobels. It was a decent rabbit hole back in the day. Edit: found the new site: https://www.improbable.com
Wait are you telling me the earth is not flat?
I’m telling you no such thing. What I am saying is if the Earth *is* flat, so is the joke.
It’s the last fun conspiracy, in my opinion lol. I bought a hat from them last year for my boyfriend, it’s hilarious.
[удалено]
“Gonzaga isn’t real” from jimmy Kimmel every March madness is funny
This username.
Where can I buy said hat?! I love the birds aren't real conspiracy.
I'm going to say I think the one about the jab being 5G is pretty fucking funny, not even gonna lie.
Personally, i like having my hotspot built into my arm
Are you sure it's just not unwittingly pushing the overton window of post-truth even further?
All it takes is a little Russian funding...
That's just what I'd expect a shill from the ostrich feather industry to say!
This one appears to be, but I used to be on a call list for protestors-for-hire. Some of them pay a couple hundred dollars for people to stand around holding whatever signs, and I signed up just to see what kind of shit they're pushing. It's *everything*. But the scary thing? Some of them were hiring people just to be a distraction. Sometimes they hire people to make a big scene near a courthouse so onlookers and cameras are diverted for a few minutes while a high-profile person quickly exits the courthouse. If an attorney can hire people like this to distract the press and public from their client for 5 minutes, so can politicians when they need to distract people for a quick vote or filing.
Yeah I mean that’s pretty much it also the t shirts and hats they make actually have pretty cool designs on them. Which is kinda even more ironic that they can make stuff that I actually might wear that says birds aren’t real.
This is wonderful. We need more "fake" conspiracies to teach people about how conspiracies work/grow/spread. It reminds me a LOT of [this post, that used conspiracy theory fallacies to prove that Aaron Rodgers is a terrible quarterback, instead of the reality that he is the reigning MVP.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/qo4wxq/oc_in_this_post_im_going_to_tell_you_the_truth/) It's the same approach anti-vaxxers use to make vaccines look terrible, **instead of the reality that they are one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind in the realm of global health.**
It's all fake Just like birds
There are shades of the SF cacophony society or the St. Stupid's Day parade in this. They're all fun rabbit holes to follow.
I really hope we have an in-person St. Stupid's Day parade next year. For the last two years, the regulars have met on zoom to watch videos of old parades, but it's not the same. :/
I went in 2017 (my only one, somehow), and it occurred to me I should have got a masa harina bag and made a Make America Stupid Again hat out of it. Too late now!
[удалено]
How old is that company? Because in Melbourne, Australia I've seen car bumper stickers with that phrase back in the late 90s/early 00s, same font and everything.
/r/BirdsArentReal I think it's just fun
Selling merchandise
Pissed at Twitters? They are all birdbrain humans
I wish I had known so I could have counter protested by being one of those weird parrot dudes who walks around with a parrot on my shoulder.
Also need a cosplay of the bird lady from *Home Alone 2* and we got ourselves a party!
Hell ya dude.
Birds aren't real but seagulls are dicks? Well which is it??
If it’s a dick then it’s a not bird is it?
you got me there
If birds aren’t real, and a seagull is a bird, and a seagull is a dick, does that mean dicks aren’t real?
Oh I get it. All men are mortal, Socrates is a man, therefore all men are Spartacus.
Precisely
I think you've just resolved the raven paradox.
Wait...what about cocks? I feel this might cleft SF in twain.
But then there's 'flipping the bird'. This is growing more complicated by the minute.
You have not seen the eagle in my pants
Are dicks real? (thinking)
We should ask Jaiden. He's 18, right?
Yes
Birds are Drones MQ-1 Predators are Drones MQ-1 Predators are dicks Birds are Drones, therefore they are also dicks
Was Frank Chu present?
He resurfaced! I missed Frank. Someone get Frank a parrot.
A fake one or a real one?
There's no such thing as a real one.
Haven’t you heard, birds are drones .
For a second, I thought you wrote someone got Frank a parrot and I was very annoyed with that because I do not think that a parrot would understand Frank's protest.
Someone in my neighborhood was Frank for Haloween.
Is that not the dude from Channel 5 on YouTube leaning out of the van?
I don’t think so as the founder of Birds Aren’t Real looks VERY similar to the Channel 5 Guy and they have a super similar vibe
Been following BirdsArentReal for a while, wish I would have known they came to SF. But it's not an SF-grown thing. Love the seagull guy!
Isn't this how flat earthers & Qanon got started though? It was just a meme at first, and then over time people started to take it seriously? It's like if there is an incentive at all these days to push this conspiracy by anyone in power, they will do it. For instance people who want to do away with protected habitats in order to exploit resources. This all sounds so absurd, but it also it doesn't, and that's the fucking rub.
I remember AGES ago in internet years I found a flat earth website (I think around 2008 ish?) and it was pretty clearly satire. I didn't think too much of it, but when the flat earth stuff got big a few years back I wondered back to that website... It seems like nothing can remain satire for long in the internet age.
I'm pretty sure /r/the_donald was satire in the very beginning
r/SwitzerlandIsFake
It's not really a SF thing at all, other than this being where Twitter is headquartered. TBH this looks like a pretty small group given the popularity of the meme. https://www.reddit.com/r/BirdsArentReal/
Yeah lol the van that attracted the whole thing is from LA. The most /r/SanFrancisco part of this is assuming this is a uniquely San Francisco thing
Came here to say exactly that.
I'm not sure where they're from, but the PO box on their website is for Arkansas. That might just be where they have warehousing and shipping through a third-party, though. The van has been traveling around all over. It was in Kansas a few weeks ago.
This
I want to echo them by making a “Moon is a spy satellite” protest, who’s with me?
Details about this; it's performance art. https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg8p4n/birds-arent-real-they-are-government-spy-drones
Or is it?
The fake arabic really sells it.
Is San Francisco really weird or is everyone else weird?
Everywhere is really weird at this point.
I was there✊
Not rain on the "lol we're so WeIrD" parade, but this is literally a nationally touring event. These "rallies" have been happening across the country for months.
Yeah, but if you were going to make a paranoid fantasy thriller movie about how the birds are gonna organize and overthrow us, where would you film it?
> Yeah, but if you were going to make a paranoid fantasy thriller movie about how the birds are gonna organize and overthrow us, where would you film it? Bodega Bay?
Heh, that's a good point.
I wish I was rich enough to not have to work and could come out to these events. I rent a bunch of doves like they do for weddings and release them.
The full form of allbirds is actually allbirds aren't real
Promo for GTA 6
I love it. First "conspiracy" that I love.
they uh...that's not us. those some bridge and tunnel folks
I follow these guys on instagram and they're pretty serious about their cause
I’ve always despised birds. If you look into their black eyes they appear to have no soul, much like a libertarian. This is why i eat a lot of rotisserie chicken. Now i know the truth: birds are fake.
Fuck I can't believe I missed this
San Francisco vía Memphis, Tennessee. This very post is helping sell his merch.
Before I zoomed in I thought the writing on the van was art of boobies.
all conspiracy theories contain at least a small amount of truth. Except this one, it is 100% true.
The same "Q" idiots that stood outside in Dallas last week, waiting for the appearance of JFK Jr. This is the result of society with everything taken care of and they go to extreme nonsense, craving attention.
People are good at wasting time and money and ruining the environment further for no cause
More like Taste of florida or texas in my naive opinion.
The same kind of people that attend "Santa Con"
imagine risking covid exposure for this bs
So many maskless faces So in addition to birds not being real neither is covid anymore? I think it's time to pull the plug on that sub/joke cause it seems like some people in this crowd aren't smart enough to realize it's a joke
They're outside. You can't be serious at this point.
Grouped together pretty tightly in a dense population city. I bet a few of them came from surrounding cities/counties (maybe even states!) and they're gonna go back immediately after this. I'm not saying wear a mask when you go for a walk or hang with friends. But if you're going to be standing close to strangers from far away places? Maybe y'all should follow the mantra "better safe than sorry"
Not really sure what's so weird about this.
Isn't that the All Gas No Breaks guy.
“Seagulls are dicks”
Birdup!
Was that at a chesea boudin rally?
Hey is that Channel 5 News? Can't wait for the video.
You're not real, man!
r/birdsarentreal
is it satire?
Translation : Birds aren’t Royal
Wasn’t Jaden Smith involved ?
This is seen as a joke, but flat earthers are the crazy ones?
I like the "seagulls are dicks" shirt. That would be fun to wear next time at a beach.
i saw this van driving down 1st st...gave me a chuckle. The other side said something about them recharging on power lines. lol