Why people love fake news

It's like an augmented reality game for desperate young men seeking a certain kind of transcendent justice

The Comet pizzeria.
(Image credit: Illustrated | REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst, Tatomm/iStock)

Millions of words must now have been written on the perils, real and imagined, of "fake news." Far less has been said about its considerable appeal.

Let me be clear about what fake news is. I am not referring to articles or claims made by politicians that do not measure up by the standards of the bores at PolitiFact or The Washington Post's "Fact Checker," nor to assertions with which the president happens to disagree. The Alex Jones programs recently banned from Facebook and Co. are fake news in the sense that pro wrestling is fake sports. But the best examples are the new right-wing conspiracy theories — Pizzagate, QAnon — that have spread on the internet, though in fact they are as unlike news as can be.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.