You Won't Believe What I Heard...

I like April Fools Day. Not for the stupid little gotcha jokes, for the dumb obvious ones, but for the elaborate, funny parodies that many companies put together. I already came across an announcement about a Star Trek "demastered" edition that will be released by Paramount on VHS, which got me for a moment until I remembered what day it was. T-Mobile also has a great video out talking about a rebrand with "New Magenta", introduced by designer Hue Palette. 

There's a difference between clever and entertaining and just plain dumb, which are usually the overly obvious ones. Subtlety is key to a good joke. (I momentarily convinced someone yesterday that this year, today was going to be March 32 due to something with the time change.) 

There are a couple challenges with April Fools Day nowadays, however. First, so much of our society has no sense of humor anymore. Many don't appreciate parody or satire. You know who you are. You've probably said to yourself or someone else, "I hate April Fools."

The second, of course, is that many of the headlines we see everyday are ones we might expect to be featured as an April Fools parody. Unfortunately, what used to be considered outrageous and impossible is now commonplace. 

It does force you to be discerning when you read the news today. But that's probably a good thing that we should be doing everyday, anyway.