Published April 2, 2006 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
By Aaron J. Brown
Did you get fooled yesterday? April Fools’ Day is one of those informal holidays that would be very difficult to explain to space aliens or the reanimated body of Socrates.
We all know the premise. On April 1 people are given an open license to trick others, hoping they will take some resulting action that would make them appear foolish. Individuals can do this by sending friends or co-workers on arduous fictional tasks. “Hey, your clergyman called and said you’re supposed to meet him for an important meeting regarding your eternal soul at the Taco Bell in Ironwood, Mich., at 10 a.m.” (This is even funnier if Ironwood doesn’t have a Taco Bell, something I lack the initiative to research).
Groups can celebrate April Fools’ Day by picking on an individual within the group, usually one who is older or injured. Fun Fact: This is a great way to project the pain of your junior high years on others, especially on former popular people who just now realize they’ve exceeded the bounds of their slowing metabolism and intellects. (eg: “Hey, let’s have someone pretend to be a writer calling from Sports Illustrated who is actually interested in Bob’s story about the 1989 conference championship game.”)
Media outlets create fake news on April 1 to amuse their audiences, subtly reassuring us: “Do not be alarmed by the ease with which we disseminate false information or our zeal in doing so.” You have to be careful, though. The fake news has to be both funny and outrageous. At our college newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Superior we ran an April Fools’ story that administration was shutting down the journalism school. We later learned that most members of the campus community believed the story was real and were too disinterested to muster any outrage. We actually encountered more disappointment when we ran a correction the next week. I would say that the Fourth Estate is in great danger, if only anyone knew what the Fourth Estate was.
Like a lot of holidays, April Fools’ Day is supposedly related to ancient seasonal festivals, in this case the vernal equinox; however, no one is quite sure exactly how the concept of deceit was introduced to the mix. Over the years, some pretty amazing jokes have been played on April 1. For instance, syndicated cartoonists have occasionally traded places on April 1 to draw a colleague’s strip for a day, often bringing their own characters in to do “walk-ons.”
If I were one of the crusty curmudgeons clinging to my spot on the funny pages, I’d be careful about this. We’re already one step away from having a computer to mathematically select random panels from long-running cartoons like “Beetle Bailey” or “Family Circus” to create new strips. I envision the following combo strip: panel 1 features Beetle Bailey ogling Miss Buxley; panel 2 has Sarge stomping on Beetle; panel 3 has Dolly pointing at Billy and saying, “It doesn’t matter what I say so long as Bil Keane’s checks keep cashing.” I guess it goes back to my earlier point that it’s not a joke if no one notices.
Another good joke made the rounds a few years ago when a science journal ran an April Fools’ story that the state of Alabama changed the value of the mathematical term “pi” from its current approximate value of 3.14 to its “biblical” value of 3.0. This is a better fit for the April Fools’ model of success: outlandish, with just enough reality to get people riled up.
With April 1 on a Saturday, many of the better workplace jokes will have to wait. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed your day of social sabotage. No fooling.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.