Did the Internet Kill April Fool’s Day?

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Here is today’s question to ponder: Did the internet kill April Fool’s Day?

Sure, April Fool’s has always been kind of annoying. But back in the dark ages, the effort involved in creating pranks, along with the inherent size limits of meatspace circles of friends, kept it from getting too far out of control. Then along came the internet, and suddenly April Fool’s jokes were easy and unavoidable. There were times when it seemed like every page you visited had some dumb April Fool’s joke embedded somewhere.

But now there’s a backlash. Everyone’s weary of the whole thing. And the number of April Fool’s pranks seems to have gone way down.

So is that that? Are we getting back to a time when only a plucky few pull off April Fool’s pranks, and they know they have to make them good enough to be worthwhile? Or are we just taking a breather this year?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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