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Bjorn Mesunterbord's avatar

If you look up "gullible" in the dictionary, you must be about 10 years old, because who doesn't know that word. But if you do, you'll find a picture of me. I actually believed your click-bsit headline. That's twice in a row you got me. Have a good weekend!

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Up From The Slime's avatar

Point of information: The 2024 Presidential election closely followed the exact plot of Steven King's The Dead Zone. In that novel, a man with the gift of foresight sees that a Presidential candidate will win and then start a global thermonuclear war, which the guy assumes will be a bad thing. He schemes to assassinate the candidate, but misses his first shot - at which point the candidate picks up a small child to use as a human shield. Before dying from police gunfire, the would-be assassin foresees that the image of the candidate holding the kid becomes the cover photo of every major magazine and newspaper and the lead story in all media, revealing him as a craven coward and dooming his candidacy. The guy dies knowing that the world is safe.

Of course, the real-world Presidential campaign in 2024 had a more shocking plot twist than anything King could have come up with: the candidate survives the assassin's bullet, but instead of cowering behind innocent people or running away, he stands up, thrusts his fist into the air, and shouts, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" And that image, complete with an American flag backdrop, becomes the cover photo of every major magazine and newspaper and the lead story in all media, cementing the voters' view of the candidate as strong, resolute, and vigorous.

I have to believe that Steven King's first thought when he heard about the shooting in Butler, PA, was, "I wonder where he found a kid to hide behind?" And I equally believe that when he saw what actually happened, his next thought was, "Aww, f@@k."

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