I wasn't planning on writing a blog post today. If I did get around to writing one, it was going to be about sea turtles and coastal hunting-gathering economies. But then I found a link to the story "The Problem with Nephilim-Pigs" (published by SkyWatchTV, which bills itself as performing "Investigations into prophecy, discovery, and the supernatural") as I was going through emails and it seemed important that I pass it on to those of you who, like me, have your antennae up for something other than what you're supposed to be doing on a Friday morning.
As a fan of both giants and pigs, I was disappointed to see that the Nephilim-pig story was much less exciting than the headline suggested. It consists of a single paragraph stating that our ability to manipulate the genes of animals is running ahead of our discussions of the ethical issues raised by such behaviors. That's it. There's no direct mention of Nephilim, angels, the End Times, super soldier pigs, or any of that stuff in the actual text. What actually is the problem with Nephilim-pigs? You left me hanging, SkyWatchTV. Yawn.
So what was the point?
Most of my readers will be unsurprised to learn that the listed author of the piece ("SkyWatch Editor") simply copied, pasted, and rearranged content from a legitimate story, modified the headline, and slapped the mess on a page as "news." The "read more" link takes you to a June 3rd article in Slate titled "The Problem with Super-Muscly Pigs." Here's a side by side comparison:
As a fan of both giants and pigs, I was disappointed to see that the Nephilim-pig story was much less exciting than the headline suggested. It consists of a single paragraph stating that our ability to manipulate the genes of animals is running ahead of our discussions of the ethical issues raised by such behaviors. That's it. There's no direct mention of Nephilim, angels, the End Times, super soldier pigs, or any of that stuff in the actual text. What actually is the problem with Nephilim-pigs? You left me hanging, SkyWatchTV. Yawn.
So what was the point?
Most of my readers will be unsurprised to learn that the listed author of the piece ("SkyWatch Editor") simply copied, pasted, and rearranged content from a legitimate story, modified the headline, and slapped the mess on a page as "news." The "read more" link takes you to a June 3rd article in Slate titled "The Problem with Super-Muscly Pigs." Here's a side by side comparison:
SkyWatchTV article (left) and Slate article (right). They even stole the graphic.
Given all the jibber-jabber circulating in the Nephilim whirlpool about genetic engineering, etc., our friend SkyWatch Editor didn't have to do anything to earn his/her paycheck but crib some technical-sounding sentences from the original and insert "Nephilim" into the headline. Genetic engineering = satanic . . . message sent with no need to expend precious calories producing anything original. Pack up your CopyCat and head home for an early lunch!
I'm sure there's a technical term for this strategy of producing "original" content via copy/paste and a headline change, but I don't know it. So I'll just call it what it is: lazy and deceptive.
SkyWatchTV gets an F on this assignment. Please write something original about Nephilim-pigs and resubmit for partial credit.
I'm sure there's a technical term for this strategy of producing "original" content via copy/paste and a headline change, but I don't know it. So I'll just call it what it is: lazy and deceptive.
SkyWatchTV gets an F on this assignment. Please write something original about Nephilim-pigs and resubmit for partial credit.
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