Not the time for April Fool's jokes?
April 1st is traditionally a day for hoax articles in newspapers, jokes and playing tricks. But the coronavirus and conspiracy theories have taken the lightness out of this entertaining custom, comments a voice from a country that knows a thing or two about having a good laugh.
When the laughter gets stuck in your throat
These are hard times for April Fools' Day jokes, The Economist laments:
“What's the April fool etiquette in an age of fake news? Is pranking irresponsible, given the amount of conspiracist backwash about Bill Gates's plan to kneecap Lady Liberty and inject us all with nanoparticles? Perhaps we will have more appetite for good-natured deception this year, now the American president is no longer producing 21 false claims a day. Or maybe gags and hoaxes will stay on our list of temporarily relinquished pleasures, like dance floors and tables for ten and big rooms full of applauding strangers.”