Trump Supporters Go Ballistic After Misunderstanding A Harmless News Headline
By Collin GosselNov. 18 2019, Updated 2:21 p.m. ET
NPR ran a story on Monday that seems to have stirred up quite a controversy among baby boomers (those Americans who were born between 1946 and 1955.)
Countless boomers have taken to social media to decry the article, which features this seemingly innocuous headline:
Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers, Or You May Not Be Able To Later
It appears the angry commenters never actually read the article, however, which is simply a piece about how sitting for 13-14 hours a day may increase your risk of disease. Instead, they seem to have assumed that the article was about the laziness of their generation and were immediately triggered.
Countless baby boomers are slamming the piece on Twitter and many of them are outspoken Trump supporters.
"Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" We did get off the couch and elected @POTUS what we need is the millennials to get out of their basements
— ImNotFakeNews (@harpus88) September 4, 2017
"Deplorable D Pierce" wants us to know she owes us NOTHING:
"Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" - I worked from 16 to 62 years of age. I am tired. I owe YOU nothing! YOU are your own problem!
— Deplorable D Pierce (@DianePierce532) September 4, 2017
Apparently the life of an angry baby boomer is pretty busy:
#GetOffTheCouchBabyBoomers R U KIDDING US? We don't have TIME to sit on the couch we have 2 WORK 2pay 4YOUR food stamps&free stuff! #GetAJob
— M❤🇺🇸 (@MissWinMa) September 4, 2017
Gregory makes a fair point:
"Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" We did, that's why Trump is President!
— gregory davis (@gdavi12_davis) September 4, 2017
That escalated quickly...
So now the democrat party slogan is "Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" Typical, demand others who worked, built, suffered do more for them
— Behind Enemy Lines (@BushwackCA) September 4, 2017
While Trump supporters are irate at the article (while still having no idea as to its substance), others are finding the situation pretty hilarious:
Older Trumpists are in a RAGE over health/wellness article, "Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers."
— Luke Blackwood (@LukeDBlackwood) September 4, 2017
Who knew they were such precious ❄️❄️❄️?
The Democrats' nefarious scheme!
"Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" <--- this is just a plot to steal our couches. #Resist
— Surly Temple (@wicked_cricket) September 4, 2017
There are quite a few snowflakes out there:
WOW! "Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" certainly triggered some angry boomers too lazy to read the story.
— JoJo (@minnesotajo) September 4, 2017
A word to the wise: always be aware of context before criticizing.
"Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers" is trending, people automatically assume it's political and not about fitness. Bad messaging. pic.twitter.com/IJXHryXFNh
— That Guy (@ThatGuyFromHRL) September 4, 2017
This kind of knee-jerk reaction is a perfect example of how Trump was elected President: headlines that linked to fake news articles generated by Russian bots and fake social media accounts that somehow spread like wildfire to people's pages which painted an election that was "rigged by da Dems" and how Hillary was "crooked" (no candidate is perfect but a huge deal was made about her emails, meanwhile, Trump's staff was found guilty of the same thing) shows just how big of an impact actual fake news has on society.
