Satire is a style of writing that has been along for most of history. It is likely the oldest form of modern misinformation and has been misconstrued and misinterpreted for thousands of years, causing untold amounts of misunderstandings from people not in on the joke. Most modern satirical articles are created as entertainment, which attacks a "straw man" or extreme representation of a fact or idea. The underlying idea behind satirical writing is that a news story or other form of media is so absurd that there is no way that anyone would believe it is real news. Unfortunately, sometimes these extreme writings are taken as the truth. This can mislead readers and can change the way they view a certain person or organization. A misunderstood satirical article can be even more damaging to a person's mindset than a fabricated article as satirical articles typically seek to vilify a person or concept to the point of absurdity (Writing Explained, 2016).

Satire is incredibly hard to avoid. This is because satire is an intentionally created (and very old) genre of writing that is very much a part of modern journalism. Entire companies such as The Onion and The Babylon Bee, both of which are exemplified above, are writing new satire articles every day. Satire is not something that is best avoided, rather it is best understood. Once satirical articles are identified as long winded jokes rather than threats intended to deceive. Looking at the publisher is very helpful when identifying satirical articles. Most satirical publishers are open about the blatant incorrectness present in their articles. The other common strategy used to detect satirical articles is lateral reading. Typically lateral reading is a good way to determine if an article is satirical. Because satirical articles are not meant to actually convince the reader of false information, the search should be short and very evident (Gottlieb, 2021).