SATIRE – ‘Harper Changes Canadian Flag’

Outline

A report circulating via social media claims that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has unexpectedly unveiled a ‘new-look’ Canadian flag that matches the Conservative Party’s red, white, and blue logo colours.  

Brief Analysis

The report is fiction. Prime Minister Harper has not announced any changes to the flag. The story comes from the Canadian satire website The Lapine. The stories on the site are designed to poke fun at people, events, and trends. You should not take material published on the site seriously.

Example

Detailed Analysis

According to a post that is making its way around the Internet via social media, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has unveiled ‘subtle’ changes to the Canadian flag. The circulating post links back to a  longer report  on The Lapine website.

The report explains that the ‘new-look’ Canadian flag will feature red, white, and blue, which just happen to be the colours of the Conservative Party’s logo.

The story has generated a good deal of outrage is it travels, with many commentators decrying Harper’s supposed changes to the flag.

However, the claims in the story are not true. Stephen Harper has not made any announcement about changes to the flag. The Lapine, the site that published the report, is satirical. None of the material published on the site is meant to be taken seriously.

Read in context, the satirical nature of the piece is quite evident. And the site’s About Page  makes a clear disclosure:

The Lapine is all about poking people and things that deserve to be poked. It is satirical commentary written by all kinds of people from here, there and darned near everywhere.

Nevertheless, when such stories escape their original context and begin circulating via social media, a number of people are apt to believe them.

It is a good idea to verify any ‘news’ stories that come via your social media feeds before sharing them.

Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/satire-harper-changes-canadian-flag/