April Fools Day- Big Deal...

I am recognized for having a sense of humor that more often than not comes out at the least provocation (a mixed blessing, and certainly one that makes attending funerals problematic). So it's of little surprise when people say to me "Oh, you must be absolutely in your glory on April Fools Day!"

Well; you'd think so, but no, not really. Not anymore, anyway.

In fact, I think April Fools Day is dead. Seriously. No joke.

Why?

Because "Internet". Because thanks to social media, there's nothing that we don't know seconds after it happens. Plane goes down? We know it within minutes; there it is on CNN. Some kind of tragic accident happens locally? We not only know it less than hour afterwards, but there's already tributes posted. And if you have multiple groups.circles of friends, you'll see the same story repeated. Over. And. Over. Again.

See, playing an April Fools prank is tough nowadays because everyone knows it's April Fools Day and it's exactly the day they expect it! April Fools Day relies on the element of surprise, on catching people unaware that it's the first of the new month. Thanks to Facebook, GooglePlus, and whatever other thing you want to throw out there, we always know what day it is because of the sheer volume of posts, statuses, updates, tweets, twits, and gits out there. Even the most brain-dead, clueless, ignorant, reality-challenged, semi-aware individual can stagger over to their computer, somehow manage to log on, and see that it's April Fools Day. So yeah, in other words, you can't even prank Tea Party members.Video may have killed the radio star, but Internet killed April Fools.

Nah. The April Fools "holiday" (a.k.a. Jackass-enabling day) is pretty much dead. One "tacit permission to act like a complete douche" holiday down, two more to go (New Years Eve, St.Patrick's Day).

The true April Foolers are the ones who put up satirical news stories that are confused for real stories by gullible folks who then post them on Facebook with comments like "This is an outrage!" I had briefly considered creating a news story claiming that President Obama was going to introduce a bill to tax the ultra-rich in order to fund a new program that involves hiring gay illegal aliens and organizing them into special squads that seize everyone's guns and perform forcible abortions on people who work for corporations who want religious status. But  then I took a deep breath and realized it was too easy, and really, I have better things to do with my time.

So yeah, enjoy the fact that spring is (kind of) here, baseball is back, and it's a new month.