Andy Driscoll, KFAI host, duped by The Onion's 'Drone Flyover' inauguration photo [IMAGE]

Andy Driscoll, KFAI host, duped by The Onion's "Drone Flyover" inauguration photo [IMAGE]

By Aaron Rupar Wed., Jan. 23 2013 at 5:35 AM

Drones are scary, but they aren't yet this scary.

Good satire is based on truth, but isn't truthful in and of itself. This is an important distinction to keep in mind lest you end up making the mistake KFAI host Andy Driscoll made yesterday.

SEE ALSO: The Onion's "Bachmann Thankful No Americans Died In Sikh Shooting" story dupes dozens

On Facebook, Driscoll -- a St. Paul resident who hosts KFAI's TruthToTell show show on Monday mornings -- shared an ominous looking photo of a drone flyover during Monday's inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C. He wasn't aware that the image was actually photoshopped by The Onion until he was alerted by a commenter on the Facebook thread.

Here's Driscoll's Facebook post:

In a comment further down the thread, Driscoll writes that he's "Never seen three [drones] in a cluster formation like that, but they're obviously scanning the crowd for potential trouble - all monitored by a site in Las Vegas."

Then came this comment:

The link in the comment takes you to this Onion post:

But while acknowledging his error in later comments, Driscoll still argued that the image, cropped or not, is deeply meaningful:

Drone photos -- they're tricky business. And we should know, seeing as how we've been fooled before too (though, in fairness to ourselves, not to the extent Driscoll was).

Tags:

Andy Driscoll, Drones, KFAI, The Onion

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mharris16

Driscoll was, is and will always be an idiot The fact that he acts like one should be of surprise to noone.

andydriscoll

I must weigh in here, having been the subject of this post.

First of all, Aaron, I thank you for all the publicity for my radio show and for "reprinting" of my posts. How "duped" I was may be in question.

My first reaction after having aired an entire show on this subject of drones quite recently, not to mention the portending of 30,000 drones contracted for by local police forces inside the US for the next three or four years indicates that this technology will have us looking "up" a great deal where cameras will indeed be spying on us.

That said, I've been fascinated by the evolving conversation underneath that initial post where I was - temporarily - "duped" into imagining a three-drone formation flying over the Inaugural crowd assembled along the National Mall. I have no reason to believe this was not perfectly plausible expectation, given the national security apparatus now in place in most corners of the world and, certain, the entire US.

And, thanks again to Art Hughes for directing me to the real source of that Photoshopped graphic - The Onion – which, through its satire, is warning us of this possibility at future inaugurals and other large gatherings of citizens.

Thanks again for the fine blogging. Glad you found it worth writing about.

digitalprotocol topcommenter

@andydriscoll you are not far off base...SKYNET!!!

Marcos Lopez-Carlson

Nice dig at the end of the post. Keeping it classy City Pages Minneapolis, keeping it classy.

Becca Hudson

Sometimes it's spot-on, but more often than not these days, it just ain't funny!

Nick Goers

While the Military MAY have had a drone in the air (yes that is possible), they definitely did not have a flyover of drones...

Steve Burgett

It's All Real It is really it is !

Dillon Bakke

What happened to change Mr.President? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2013

This comment has been deleted

pthorn01

Like I stated before (but was deleted), I would have failed you at Hamline Aaron Rupar! A gramatically incompetent journalist here at CP, nothing new!