The Babylon Bee

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Babylon Bee''}}
[[File:Babylonbee.png|thumb||165px|Their logo is funnier than most articles you'll see on their site.]]
{{media}}
'''''The Babylon Bee''''' is a [[satire]] site that tries and fails to be the American [[Christian]] [[Political spectrum#Conservatism|conservative]] equivalent to ''[[The Onion]]''. The site is even designed similarly, but generally lacks both the wit and the subtlety. This is largely because they rely on reiterating or throwing in conservative [[talking point]]s and [[Straw man|strawmanning]] their opposition rather than delivering actual punchlines making fun of their opposition, or worthwhile commentary on society. Much of their humor is their discovering sarcasm while punching down people or being obviously self-deprecatory. It's never a good sign when their videos end with them laughing at their own jokes.  ''The Babylon Bee'' often targets far-right religious figures such as [[Joel Osteen]]<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (June 10, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/osteen-an-attack-on-me-is-an-attack-on-the-bible Joel Osteen: 'Attacks Against Me Are Attacks Against The Bible']". Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref><ref group=note>But, of course they couldn't resist the urge invoking language of the easily offended "liberals" by having Osteen accuse critics of being an "anti-Bible bigot".</ref><ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (May 18, 2020). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/joel-osteen-it-is-far-too-soon-to-reopen-the-bible Joel Osteen Warns It Is Far Too Soon To Reopen The Bible]". Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref><ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (April 16, 2020). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/osteen-ordered-to-wear-mask-to-slow-spread-of-heresy Joel Osteen Ordered To Wear Soundproof Mask To Stop Spread Of False Gospel]". Accessed June 16, 2020.</ref> and [[Pat Robertson]],<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (October 5, 2017). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/christianity-not-religion-personal-relationship-donald-trump/ Op-Ed: Christianity Is Not About Religion—It's About A Personal Relationship With Donald Trump]". Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref> but that doesn't make them any more witty.

Perhaps at one point in history, going as far back as their founding in March 1, 2016, they didn't have just mostly juvenile mean-spirited content{{efn|Their first transphobic "I identify as x" article came in only around a month after they were established.<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (March 4, 2016). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/brave-man-chooses-self-identify-man Brave Man Chooses To Self-Identify As Man]" Accessed March 21, 2022.</ref> Their very first article also used their ongoing recurring theme of the upset intolerant caricature of a Democrat.<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (March 1, 2016). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/christian-news-satire-site-launches/ Christian News Satire Site Launches]". Accessed March 21, 2022.</ref> They were pretty slipshod right from the very beginning.}} and had headlines that had maybe a bit more of a point,<ref>''Babylon Bee'' main page. (March 17, 2016). [https://web.archive.org/web/20160317023432/https://babylonbee.com/]. ''Wayback Machine''. Accessed May 1, 2020.</ref> and they even raised alarm at [[Donald Trump]]'s popularity among [[evangelical]]s years ago,<ref name="NYT">Goldberg, E. (October 11, 2020). "[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/11/us/politics/babylon-bee-conservative-satire.html What ‘The Babylon Bee’ Thinks Is So Funny About Liberals]". ''The New York Times''. Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref> but a lot of their recent content is so bad, ''The Babylon Bee'' qualifies in an updated ''[[Cracked]]'''s "5 Awful (But Revealing) Examples Of Conservative Comedy".<ref>Seanbaby, [https://www.cracked.com/blog/5-awful-but-revealing-examples-conservative-comedy/ 5 Awful (But Revealing) Examples Of Conservative Comedy]. Cracked, 15 August 2018.</ref> However, they're still capable of fooling conservatives every now and then, including at least one [[Donald Trump|fake-news hating schmuck]],<ref>Miller, R. (October 16, 2020). "[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/16/donald-trump-tweets-babylon-bees-satirical-news-story-joe-biden/3676071001/ Trump tweets satirical news story: What is Babylon Bee and is it 'fake news'?]." ''USA Today''. Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref> and so their content tends to show up in [https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/ R/AteTheOnion].

Despite ''The Babylon Bee'' apparently protesting about the loss of conservative voices and playing [[Persecution complex|persecution]],<ref group="note">When you try to hit subscribe, you're met with a typical whiny persecution complex message: "If you value ''The Babylon Bee'' and want to see us prevail against ''[[The New York Times]]'' and anyone else who might seek to discredit or [[deplatform]] us, please consider becoming a subscriber."</ref> viewing and posting comments requires a premium subscription.<ref>[https://babylonbee.com/plans Subscribe to the Babylon Bee]. ''The Babylon Bee.''</ref> To be fair, ''The Onion'', however, does not even have comments sections.

==Why their content sucks==
{{cquote|The things we see as most absurd, the bad ideas most deserving of ridicule tend to be ideas on the left.|||Seth Dillon, the chief executive of a newspaper whose target audience believes in [[creationism]], [[QAnon|Qanon]], [[Supply side economics|trickle-down]], [[Abstinence programs|abstinence-only sex education]], [[Global warming|climate change denial]], [[Anti-vaccination movement|anti-vaccination]], [[COVID-19 denialism]], [[Obama citizenship denial|birtherism]], and more, and takes the likes of [[Ted Cruz]], [[Fox News]], [[Ben Garrison]], [[Breitbart.com|Breitbart]], and [[Newsmax]] seriously.<ref name="NYT"/>}}

''The Babylon Bee'' often just opts in standard right-wing commentary or all-too-common right-wing portrayals of their opponents by having them be oversensitive, [[censor]]-happy, and easily outraged crybabies, and then adds a layer of absurdity to pass off as satire.

Regarding people reacting with alarm to Trump's and the [[Republican Party]]'s willingness to threaten them with [[racist]], [[sexist]], and [[transphobic]] laws,<ref group="note">See [[Donald Trump#Policies|policies under Donald Trump]]. Racist measures the Republican Party presided over include, but are not limited to, new voter suppression measures that target black communities and immigrant [[human rights]] violations. Sexist measures include [[War on Women|laws stifling abortion access]]. Trump is also known for racking up multiple sexual harassment allegations. Transphobic policies include [[Transphobia and public restrooms|bathroom bills]], as well as threats to remove insurance coverage for essential medical treatment for [[trans]] people.</ref> as well as Trump's willingness to engage in blatant Constitution violations such as the emoluments clause, gleeful displays of overt corruption, openness to foreign election meddling, and [[2021 U.S. Capitol riot|instigating an outright coup attempt]]; as well as rolling back clean air regulations, protections for endangered species, and mitigation of climate change; and the promotion of human rights violations at the U.S. Mexico border such as family separation, locking kids in cages, and mass forced hysterectomies: all these are just absolutely ''hilarious'' liberal material to work off. A 2020 analysis by ''[[The New York Times]]'' said:{{quotebox|When Mr. Trump first took office, the Bee’s staff worried that it would be harder to make conservative comedy under a Republican administration. But they soon found that Mr. Trump’s outsized personality, combined with the rage he inspired on the left, presented plenty of material. Mr. Mann said he might like to see Mr. Trump re-elected, if only for his comedic value.<ref name="NYT"/>}}

===Strawmanning their opponents and persecution complex===
{{main|Straw man}}
;"Dems 'If America Isn't Racist, How Do You Explain [[Ku Klux Klan|These White Hoods We're Wearing]]?'"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (April 19, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/dems-if-america-isnt-racist-how-do-you-explain-the-hats-were-wearing Dems: 'If America Isn't Racist, How Do You Explain These White Hoods We're Wearing?']". Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref>
;"Congress Passes Law To Recognize Juneteenth, The Day Republicans Freed All The Democrats' Slaves"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (June 16, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/congress-passes-law-to-recognize-juneteenth-the-day-republicans-freed-all-the-democrats-slaves Congress Passes Law To Recognize Juneteenth, The Day Republicans Freed All The Democrats' Slaves]". Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref>
;"House Democrats Draft Legislation That Would Make It A Hate Crime To Eat At [[Chick-fil-A|Chick-Fil-A]]"<ref>[http://archive.ph/zPcan House Democrats Draft Legislation That Would Make It A Hate Crime To Eat At Chick-Fil-A] (June 12, 2018) ''The Babylon Bee'' (archived from 13 Jun 2018 14:48:44 UTC).</ref>
;"Liberal Activist Explains Notion Of Tolerance To Man She Just Called A ‘Worthless [Expletive]’"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (August 19, 2016). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160821200919/http://babylonbee.com/news/liberal-activist-explains-notion-tolerance-man-just-called-worthless-expletive/ Liberal Activist Explains Notion Of Tolerance To Man She Just Called A ‘Worthless [Expletive]’]" ''Wayback Machine''. Archived August 21, 2016.</ref>
;"Sesame Street Introduces 'Todd', A White Male Muppet Who Is Blamed For Everything"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (March 29, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/sesame-street-introduces-todd-a-white-male-muppet-that-is-blamed-for-everything Sesame Street Introduces 'Todd', A White Male Muppet Who Is Blamed For Everything]". Accessed May 6, 2021.</ref>
;"Ocasio-Cortez Gets Head Stuck In Bucket, Journalists Rush To Explain Why It Was Actually A Genius Move"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (June 20, 2019) "[https://babylonbee.com/news/ocasio-cortez-gets-her-head-stuck-in-a-bucket-nations-journalists-quickly-explain-why-it-was-a-really-smart-thing-to-do Ocasio-Cortez Gets Head Stuck In Bucket, Journalists Rush To Explain Why It Was Actually A Genius Move]". Accessed August  18, 2021.</ref>
;"AOC's Rant Against Capitalism Undercut By Her Having Pringles Canisters Stuck On Each Hand"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (October 20, 2021) "[https://babylonbee.com/news/aocs-rant-against-capitalism-undercut-by-her-having-pringles-canisters-stuck-on-each-hand AOC's Rant Against Capitalism Undercut By Her Having Pringles Canisters Stuck On Each Hand]". Accessed November 26, 2021.</ref>

A recurring theme among ''The Babylon Bee'' is a persecution complex: their opponents are frequently sensitive, easily-set-off, and [[hypocritical]] folk who successfully alter "[[Cancel culture|cancel]]" or "ban" those who display even the vaguest of gestures. This was apparent even years ago when ''The Babylon Bee'' was supposedly better.<ref name="NYT"/> ''The Babylon Bee'' often suggests "the Democrats are the REAL racists", which we must say: if you want to write satire, ''you must get your history correct''. [[Southern Strategy|Do your goddamn research.]] And ''be original''. One of the examples is from 2016, so ''The Babylon Bee'' has been doing this for quite a while now.

There's of course, someone responsible for these jokes. Kyle Mann, editor-in-chief of ''The Babylon Bee'' has a series of tweets<ref>@The_Kyle_Mann (September 25, 2021). [https://twitter.com/The_Kyle_Mann/status/1441934260701515782]. ''Twitter''. Accessed September 27 2021.</ref> where he fails to grasp both the concept of comedy and the general media landscape as well as having such scope limited to the United States only. In response to the accusation that his site punches down, he retorts that the site aims at powerful institutions including universities, the news media, politicians, televangelists, corporations, and the president of the United States. He's under the mistaken impression that "There are no restrictions to what it can make fun of," and that "When someone tries to tell you what's off limits for comedy, it means they're starting to get scared."

''The Babylon Bee'', however, is crap at comedy, not because it offends, but because it offends for the ''sake'' of offense. Mann 
believes
 claims "the left" controls "virtually every major cultural institution", which is not even remotely true even within scope of the United States, and even if you define "the left" as generally center-right center-left neoliberals. Radios, cable TV, newspapers, YouTube channels, books: these all have significant, if not leading, right-wing outlets, especially talk radio. His site, on the other hand, regularly attacks trans and non-binary people, who have effectively zero representation in government in spite of very occasionally ratioing assholes on Twitter and successfully rallying a few of said assholes to get the boot, who are violating conduct and terms of service anyway. The aim at universities is rather odd, as they don't have much political power, and their culture is usually self-contained, especially compared to media conglomerates.

Apparently, according to Kyle Mann in an interview with ''The Atlantic'',<ref>Green, E. (October 14, 2021). "[https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2021/10/babylon-bee-news-political-satire-kyle-mann/620385/ The Experiment Podcast: Liberals Don’t Get The Babylon Bee. Neither Do Conservatives.]" ''The Atlantic''. Accessed December 1, 2021.</ref> the brain-dead [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez|AOC]] humor articles were intended to be an absurd version of memes shared by AOC haters, but the message is lost and Mann reports "upset" responses from people going, "Hey, your article isn't funny". Mann characterizes these articles as "making fun of stupid Boomer jokes about AOC" and as part of "a weird Andy Kaufman bit", though even in the interview, he is a bit incoherent trying to explain what exactly he means by this.

{{quotebox|Mann: The great thing about this headline is we’re making fun of stupid Boomer jokes about AOC, because, at the time, you know, there were just constant memes about AOC being dumb or whatever. And so we said, “Well, what if we just kind of went all in with this weird Andy Kaufman bit where we’re making fun of ourselves, but we don’t tell anybody we’re making fun of ourselves?”

It really is this kind of weird litmus test where, you know, if you see it and you know what we’re doing, which most of our audience does, they laugh at it. If you don’t know what we’re doing, people on the right who don’t like AOC, they'll be like, “Yeah, I don’t like her either. But, you know, this joke isn’t very good.” And then, uh, [Laughs.] people on the left just … I don’t know. I think people on the left think that we’re always 100 percent serious and we’re always saying what we’re saying. Um, they don’t understand that comedy can take this ridiculous position just to kind of mock it a little bit.
}}

If we were to take this at face value and not dismiss it as an excuse for poor, obtuse satire, this calls the question: which parts of ''The Babylon Bee'' are mocking their audience and which parts agree with their audience? Are those constant repetitive transphobic jokes also "weird Andy Kaufman bits", making fun of transphobes' tendencies to be repetitive? Or did they finally realize that their content is terrible and make up an excuse?

===Transphobia: the one joke===
[[File:Babylonian Bee one joke.jpeg|thumb|right|500px|One dozen headlines, one joke.]]
''The Babylon Bee'' seems to understand neither [[gender identity]] nor creating new material on this subject. The real sin, though, is that ''The Babylon Bee'' repeats [[Argumentum ad nauseam|the one tired joke]] to the point where if there was any humor to begin with, it was milked dry long before.<ref>@9_volt_ (May 12, 2019). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20200127114453/https://twitter.com/9_volt_/status/1127612977585299457 you guys have like one joke you tell over and over again]". ''Twitter''. Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref>  Other conservatives use the same joke to mock trans people, which is exaggerating the amount and flexibility of gender identities, so it's not exactly original content. In spite of Mann's claims that ''The Babylon Bee'' punches up, they target a demographic that has laws denying them basic rights, encouraging invasive behavior on teenagers (which ''The Onion'' has successfully capitalized on),<ref>''The Onion''. (April 4, 2021) "[https://www.theonion.com/new-arkansas-bill-would-require-teen-residents-to-keep-1846651631 New Arkansas Bill Would Require Teen Residents To Keep Genitals On Full Display At All Times]". Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref> and even legalizing criminalizing their very existences.

;"[[Bigot]]ed [[Boy Scouts]] Welcome Girls But Still Exclude All 49,247 [[Non-binary gender|Other Genders]]"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180811203326/https://babylonbee.com/news/bigoted-boy-scouts-welcome-girls-but-still-exclude-all-49247-other-genders/ Bigoted Boy Scouts Welcome Girls But Still Exclude All 49,247 Other Genders] (May 2, 2018) ''The Babylon Bee'' (archived from August 11, 2018).</ref>
;"Columbia University To Hold Separate Graduations For All 7,895 Genders"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (March 18, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/columbia-university-to-hold-separate-graduations-for-all-7895-genders Columbia University To Hold Separate Graduations For All 7,895 Genders]"</ref>
;"Congressional Prayer Lasts Two Days As Democrat Includes All 5,787 Genders"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (January 4, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/congressional-prayer-lasts-three-days-as-democrat-tries-to-include-amen-versions-of-all-5787-genders Congressional Prayer Lasts Two Days As Democrat Includes All 5,787 Genders]". Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref>
;"New Ultrasound Technology Can Detect Up To 50 Genders"<ref>''The Babylon Bee'' (November 25, 2019). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/new-prenatal-ultrasound-detects-up-to-50-genders New Ultrasound Technology Can Detect Up To 50 Genders]"</ref>
;"[[Dungeons & Dragons|Dungeons And Dragons]] Introduces New 100-Sided Die For Determining Your Character's Gender"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (April 22, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/dungeons-and-dragons-introduces-new-100-sided-die-for-determining-your-characters-gender Dungeons And Dragons Introduces New 100-Sided Die For Determining Your Character's Gender]."</ref>

Their opponents are depicted as offended by a intentionally absurd situation, though conservative comedians already do this all the damn time, and it's never funny, especially not 7,895 times.<ref group=note>They managed to denigrate [[asexual]] people by lumping them under "Atranspolyqueergreyacepokemon", which has a very real "[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-do-you-do-fellow-kids how do you do fellow kids]" vibe.</ref> The Dungeons and Dragons article, for example, describes a situation where "screeching leftists on [[Twitter]]" forced the Dungeon & Dragons producers' hands and that rules were amended to not "offend" non-binary folk and that [[misgendering]] kills your character.

===Millennial "jokes"===
;"Millennials Finally Take Coronavirus Seriously As Avocado Toast Supplies Run Out"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (March 17, 2020). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/millennials-finally-taking-coronavirus-seriously-as-avocado-toast-supplies-run-out Millennials Finally Take Coronavirus Seriously As Avocado Toast Supplies Run Out]". Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>
;"Unsatisfied By Thrill Of Eating Tide Pods, Millennials To Storm Military Base"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (July 15 2019). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/unsatisfied-by-thrills-of-eating-tide-pods-millennials-to-storm-military-base Unsatisfied By Thrill Of Eating Tide Pods, Millennials To Storm Military Base]". Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>
;"'Darned Millennials!' Screams Boomer While Driving Car Off Cliff"<ref>''The Babylon Bee.'' (August 9, 2018). [https://babylonbee.com/news/darned-millennials-screams-boomer-while-driving-car-off-cliff 'Darned Millennials!' Screams Boomer While Driving Car Off Cliff]. Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>
;"Proud Parents Of 28-Year-Old Millennial Post Annual Back-To-Basement Picture".<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (August 16, 2019). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/parents-of-28-year-old-millennial-post-annual-back-to-basement-picture Proud Parents Of 28-Year-Old Millennial Post Annual Back-To-Basement Picture]". Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>
;"Police Calm Millennial Protesters By Handing Out Participation Trophies"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (November 10, 2016). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/police-calm-millennial-protesters-handing-participation-trophies Police Calm Millennial Protesters By Handing Out Participation Trophies]". Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>
;"Boomer Criticizes Millennials For Constantly Craving Recognition, Attention, Food, Shelter"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (December 17, 2018). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/boomer-criticizes-millennials-for-constantly-craving-recognition-attention-food-shelter Boomer Criticizes Millennials For Constantly Craving Recognition, Attention, Food, Shelter]". Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>
;"Tough Housing Market Forces More Millennials To Live In Van Down By The River"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. "[https://babylonbee.com/news/tough-housing-market-forces-more-millennials-to-live-in-van-down-by-the-river Tough Housing Market Forces More Millennials To Live In Van Down By The River]". Accessed May 3, 2021.</ref>

''The Babylon Bee'' has made obvious digs about [[Fun:Millennials|millennials]] that everyone already has heard of thousands of times already. They have some occasional articles, such as in the last examples, where they take a more sympathetic stance on millennials and criticize older church-goers for repelling millennials. The article in particular (with, albeit, little subtlety) depicts an out-of-touch baby boomer, who bought a house when it was cheaper in the '60s, telling millennials to "scrape together $800,000 or so and get themselves a nice little bungalow", and another article also depicts out-of-touch baby boomers making similar useless suggestions for saving a million dollars for a fixer-upper.

===Other unfunniness===
;"'It's Okay To Cry,' Says Pathetic Excuse For A Man"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (April 23, 2020). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/its-okay-to-cry-says-pathetic-excuse-for-a-man 'It's Okay To Cry,' Says Pathetic Excuse For A Man]".</ref>
The content, actually sympathetic to the man in spite of the headlines, somewhat engages in absurd self-parody by depicting a stoic man as absurd as a crying one. But the delivery has the subtlety of a sledgehammer for no reason. The headline, regardless, is not the best choice to satirize such things, as the target audience has an inclination to the real concept of [[Feminist glossary#Toxic masculinity|toxic masculinity]] that harms men.

;"Shocking New Study Suggests Disagreeing With Gay, Trans People Not Same As Hating Them."<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (July 10, 2017). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/shocking-new-study-suggests-disagreeing-gay-trans-people-not-hating Shocking New Study Suggests Disagreeing With Gay, Trans People Not Same As Hating Them]". Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref>
While their content on [[homosexuality]] is nowhere near as common as their approach to [[gender]], they still engage in some [[homophobia]]. The example article, from 2017, is among the worst offenders. This article just reiterates, sarcastically, word-for-word, a conservative talking point that veils bigotry behind a nice sounding phrase of just "disagreeing with a gay or trans lifestyle" (as if an identity is a "lifestyle" the same way as web surfing) and then, as usual for ''The Babylon Bee'', creates a scenario of outraged groups censoring them and appearing unreasonable. This also proves that ''The Babylon Bee'' doesn't understand how their enemies<ref>In previous years we would have said "political opponents", but it's become increasingly obvious that today's MAGA Republicans think of Democrats (and all non-Republicans, really) as actual ''enemies''.</ref> think.

;"'We Must Stop Eating Beef To Fight Climate Change,' Says Scientist Who Looks Suspiciously Like Chick-Fil-A Cow In A Lab Coat"<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (April 27, 2021) "[https://babylonbee.com/news/scientist-saying-we-need-to-stop-eating-beef-to-prevent-climate-change-looks-suspiciously-like-a-chick-fil-a-cow-in-a-lab-coat 'We Must Stop Eating Beef To Fight Climate Change,' Says Scientist Who Looks Suspiciously Like Chick-Fil-A Cow In A Lab Coat]". Accessed May 1, 2021.</ref>
This one is one of the less harmful examples, but it depicts an obvious [[conflict of interest]] and way too directly references [[Chick-fil-A]]'s use of cows for advertising. And ending the article in typical tasteless ''Babylon Bee'' fashion, a scientist gets sent to a [[gulag]].

;[[Nazi analogies|"Biden Proposes Some Kind Of Mark Or Patch To Identify Those Who Aren't Vaccinated"]]<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. (March 31, 2021). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-proposes-some-kind-of-mark-or-patch-to-identify-those-who-arent-vaccinated Biden Proposes Some Kind Of Mark Or Patch To Identify Those Who Aren't Vaccinated]". Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref>
This one falls a bit under the first blueprint of ''The Babylon Bee'' trying to depict opponents as oppressive, but has an underlying statement: the requirement of proof of vaccination is akin to the yellow star of David Jewish people wore during Nazi Germany. This is a harmful position conservative anti-vaxxers have advanced (not to mention, have been doing this for years),<ref>Bond, S. (June 1, 2021). "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/01/antivaxxers-yellow-stars-holocaust/ Anti-vaxxers are claiming centuries of Jewish suffering to look like martyrs]". ''The Washington Post''. Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref> something the anti-vaxxers have faced actual widespread condemnation for.<ref>''BBC News''. (May 30, 2021). "[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57297902 Nashville hat shop faces backlash for selling anti-vaccine Nazi Jewish star]". Accessed June 16, 2021.</ref> Additionally, they resort to "Biden is senile" jabs<ref>See what we did there?</ref> and depict Kamala Harris cackling evilly.

;'''Mamdani [[Poisoning the well|Vows]] To [[9/11|Knock Down World Trade Center]] To Build More Affordable Housing'''<ref>''The Babylon Bee''. [https://archive.ph/xr4BA Mamdani Vows To Knock Down World Trade Center To Build More Affordable Housing], Accessed June 27, 2025.</ref>
In an extreme display of [[Islamophobia]], the ''Bee'' [[False equivalency|equated]] the [[Muslim]] [[Democratic Party]] nominee for Mayor of [[New York City]], Zohran Mamdani's plans to build low-rent apartment buildings to [[al-Qaeda]]. The article then went on to regurgitate several [[Truther]] claims, stating that the "tower would be almost impossible to take down, unless the support structure were to be melted or something," and "Mamdani said he has a plan he's been working on for years with a dozen or so experts, but I'm skeptical." The text concluded by implying that Mamdani was [[Anti-Semitism|antisemitic]], writing that he planned to purge all of NYC's [[Judaism|synagogue]]s.

==Suspended on Twitter==
''The Babylon Bee'' has had a history of running afoul of filters before, though the first times were filtering goofs that mistook satire for deliberate disinformation. In March 2022, however, ''The Babylon Bee'' had been suspended from Twitter by sharing an especially repulsive article that skips satirical pretense and goes straight to open personal attacks on {{wpl|Rachel Levine}} by [[Transphobia#Misgendering_and_deadnaming|intentionally naming her "man of the year"]].<ref>''The Babylon Bee'' (March 15, 2022). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/the-babylon-bees-man-of-the-year-is-rachel-levine The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine]"</ref> This is in tandem with their other revolting "Women Of The Year" article, except they listed men with various "female" clothing and "female" attitudes (which can be easily substituted for any sort of cisgender man, cross-dressing or not; such is the nature of lazy jokes by ''The Babylon Bee'').<ref>''The Babylon Bee'' (March 16, 2022). "[https://babylonbee.com/news/here-are-the-winners-of-the-babylon-bees-women-of-the-year Here Are The Winners Of The Babylon Bee's Women Of The Year]", Accessed March 21, 2022.</ref> 

For context, ''The Babylon Bee'' was responding to ''USA Today''{{'}}s article deeming Rachel Levine as part of their "Women of the Year" series.<ref>Hackney, S. (March 13, 2022). "[https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/2022/03/13/rachel-levine-honoree-usa-today-women-of-the-year/6600134001/ 'Be true to yourself': A message from the nation's highest-ranking openly transgender official]". ''USA Today''. Accessed March 21, 2022.</ref> Seth Dillion, the CEO of ''The Babylon Bee'', cried censorship because Twitter (somehow) caught them mask-off transphobic.<ref>Rumpf, S. (March 20, 2022) "[https://www.mediaite.com/online/were-not-deleting-anything-babylon-bee-defiant-after-twitter-locks-their-account-for-tweet-calling-rachel-levine-man-of-the-year/ 'We're Not Deleting Anything': Babylon Bee Defiant After Twitter Locks Their Account for Tweet Calling Rachel Levine 'Man of the Year']". ''Mediaite''. Accessed March 21, 2022.</ref> On their Facebook, they followed-up with a post that they think openly attacking a public trans woman through "satire" is not hate speech, even though it most definitely does count as hateful conduct per Twitter's terms of service and per people that aren't bigoted.

It would be a little less pathetic if they tried arguing the weird Andy Kaufman bit (which they resorted to when people found the AOC articles merely puerile) where ''uuhmmm acktschuahlee'' they're just mocking transphobes or something.

The Bee was reinstated by [[Elon Musk]] along with a shitload of fascists in November 2022 after Musk bought the company.<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/18/23466625/elon-musk-twitter-reinstatement-jordan-peterson-kathy-griffin-babylon-bee Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, starting with Jordan Peterson and the Babylon Bee: The decision comes after widespread resignations among the platform’s critical engineering staff.] by Russell Brandom (Nov 18, 2022, 11:17 AM PST) ''The Verge''.</ref>

==Not the Bee==
In 2020, the owner of ''The Babylon Bee'', Seth Dillon, started a sister site "Not the Bee", riffing of the [[meme]] "Not the Onion".<ref>[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/not-the-onion Not the Onion] ''Know Your Meme''.</ref> Seth Dillon hired his brother Dan Dillon to code Not the Bee, who then claimed, "We've also given the user complete control over their personally identifiable information, so that your name/location/email will never be shared if you don't want it to be."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230216140831/https://notthebee.com/article/a-beginners-guide A complete balloonhead's guide to Not the Bee] by Beelon Musk (Aug 31, 2020) ''Not the Bee'' (archived from February 16, 2023).</ref> As the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] found out in 2024, the site had no encryption of the contributor data, essentially self-[[doxing]].<ref name=squire>[https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2024/11/19/inside-beehive Inside the Beehive] by Megan Squire and Creede Newton (November 19, 2024) ''Southern Poverty Law Center''.</ref>{{onion}} Not the Bee claims to be "your source for headlines that should be satire, but aren't",<ref>[https://archive.ph/wip/y2pe8 Not the Bee] ''Twitter'' (archived from 20 Nov 2024 04:15:30 UTC).</ref> but is primarily an even less humorous site than its sister site, with a focus on bigotry against [[LGBTQ+]] and [[undocumented immigrant]]s.<ref name=squire/>

==See also==
*[[Babylon]] — a former [[empire]] and a [[Bible|Biblically]]-based symbol of [[evil]].
*[[Fake news]] — ferreting out the satire from the pathological [[lie]]s.
*''[[The Onion]]'' — the way-better original that does satire much better.
*[[Just a joke]] — Their response when criticized

==External links==
*[https://babylonbee.com The main site].
*[https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/ R/AteTheOnion for the occasional Babylon Bee commenters.]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:American media]]
[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
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[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Internet kooks]]
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[[Category:Parodists]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]
[[Category:Racism]]
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[[Category:Xenophobia]]

Categories: American media, Anti-vaccination movement, Atheophobia, Christianity, Conservative deceit, Conspiracy theorists, Global warming denialists, Homophobia, Internet kooks, Islamophobia, Parodists, Purity culture, Racism, Transphobia, Trolls, Webshites, Xenophobia