It was with some hesitance that I tweeted out this weekend's Really Big Vox Story:
This would be cool if it’s true, but given that we’re talking about Vox, there’s maybe, what, a 30% chance it is? pic.twitter.com/xKBhgIc74l
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) December 21, 2014
My skepticism was, of course, entirely justified:
@SonnyBunch Vintage Vox. pic.twitter.com/iGaqJKxzjB — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) December 21, 2014
It really is remarkable. Literally every time someone has tweeted something interesting from Vox into my timeline, it has almost immediately fallen apart under even the most modest amount of scrutiny.
Who among us hasn't been duped by a VOX DOT COM hit? I remember being intrigued by the fact that Vox—by no means a primary source for pop culture news—was able to solve a mystery haunting premium cable fans for the last several years. One of their writers boldly claimed that David Chase had, finally, confirmed that, yes, Tony died at the end of The Sopranos.
Except, oops, Vox's writer had more or less totally made it up.
Then there is their expert explaining of the Middle East, where it was voxplained to us that the dastardly Israelis were considering shutting down an actual bridge connecting the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in order to mess with the Palestinians.
Except, oops, no such bridge exists, as anyone who knows anything about the geography of that area could have told you.
I was shocked to discover from Vox that protesters in Hong Kong had adopted the "hands up, don't shoot!" mantra from protesters in Ferguson, Mo. What a fantastic example of the power of social media and the smallness of our interconnected world. We truly live in an age of wonders!
Except, oops, there's literally no proof whatsoever that the Hong Kong protesters had done any such thing.
Not knowing much about the rap musics, I was more or less the target audience for an explainer on Iggy Azalea, whom Vox claimed had decreed herself the "queen of rap." Please, enlighten me! Tell me about this talentless white person who is, gasp, appropriating all the culture. I need to know!
Except, oops, it wasn't Iggy Azalea who had declared herself the queen of rap but a fan account that has literally no ties to Iggy Azalea.
Having never been to Boulder, Colo., I was pretty impressed by the fact that the city had such a bladder control problem. More than a hundred toilets per resident? WOW!
Except, oops, that's obviously dumb.
When @mattyglesias @voxdotcom ran article showing Boulder, CO w/ 102 toilets per resident. #WorldToiletDay #tcot pic.twitter.com/l3Bo49pACK
— IMZ Politics (@IMZ_Politics) November 19, 2014
As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about copyright and intellectual property, I was terribly intrigued by the notion that the government can't claim a copyright on its coins. Seems like that could lead to some problems, no?
Except, oops, "This article was totally wrong."
I could go on, but hopefully you get the point: never ever ever ever trust any single solitary thing that you read at VOX DOT COM. EVER. There's roughly a 100 percent chance that they have gotten the story either partly or wholly wrong.