I know, April Fool's Day was on Monday. But don't you think that, given the current social media climate rife with fake news and false info, we're celebrating practical jokes and hoaxes every day? To celebrate hilarity caused by media illiteracy, here are some falsity that's recently floating in Thai internet that many unfortunately have taken to be authentic.
Maths and Porn
This picture of bright-eyed young man comes with a caption that reads, "Disrespecting the older generations and thinking that you're progressive don't make you a new generation. You're just being arrogant." This nice and respectful message is attributed to the young man identified in the picture as Jordi Polla, the world's youngest Olympiad mathematician.
Many fell for it and complained about how ungrateful the younger generation is in their comments because, perhaps, the picture looks innocent enough to be believable upon first glance. However, connoisseurs of a certain type of adult media may remember him for his work in front of camera with ladies of various ages. Do a Google search on "Jordi El Nino Polla" and, voila -- red flags from the office IT department. This picture is a prank from Nak Kan Meme Facebook page (www.fb.com/memerth).
What Difference an "E" Makes
Given the stream of concerts of international artists coming to Bangkok, it's easy to believe that another big name will soon arrive on our shores to perform live. So when here and there (www.fb.com/hear.and.there.live) announced the upcoming concert by Red Hot Chili Peppers in Bangkok, many (including me) completely fell for it. Why? The poster looks simple and minimal enough to appear official at first glance. The band's logo looks right. However, upon closer inspection, you'll notice right away that it's super fake. I'll give you a moment to find out for yourself first. Spoiler alert!
The first dead giveaway is the band name, which is spelled "Red Hot Chili Poppers". The venue is listed as Impact Arena Muang "Thonburi" and the website is listed as "livenotion.co.th". Well played, sir, here and there. Your subtle jokes also show some insider knowledge, as well. Oh, how much I wish this would be true, though.
World's Best Leader?
An article, which was recently circulated online in March, claims Time magazine hailed PM Prayut Chan-o-cha as the world's best leader. It claims Uncle Tu was ranked at the top of World Leader 2019, beating Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because of his creative development plans for the country. You don't need to read it for long to realise that it's a hoax since the article cited Professor McGonagall of Hogwarts School as acknowledging Uncle Tu's accomplishments in pushing the Kingdom towards the Thailand 4.0 goal.
If that name doesn't ring any bells, then you probably don't know what a muggle is and haven't read Harry Potter. This prank was started by online publication The Matter back in 2017. It seems someone just changed the year and reposted it as their own and it was shared by thousands.
I dread to think about how many people from those thousands of shares believe that the article is real. What even more scarier is that someone may be able to reuse this hoax for April Fool's Day next year as Uncle Tu looks set to continue as prime minister.
