Our fact-checking saga continues with a light-hearted joke about the Amish (sorry not sorry, broad-brimmed brethren). The fact that we even have to write about such a thing seems hysterical on its face — but in reality, it’s no laughing matter. This is just one more example of leftists waging their war on speech, humor, and all that is good in our world.

USA Today has demonstrated its total lack (or maybe intentional lack) of understanding for humor. In a recent “fact-check” labeled “Fact check: Amish communities have been affected by COVID-19 pandemic,” the unfunny “fact-checkers” decided that a meme joking about the Amish not having TVs was somehow false information. The clearly humorous image jests about the Amish not being affected by COVID-19 because they are not susceptible to Leftmedia propaganda.

But that wasn’t clear enough for the fine folks at USA Today.

As seems common for “fact-checkers,” they took the meme to a literal extreme. It’s reminiscent of what they did last year with this hilarious meme joking about Donald Trump’s DNA being “USA,” which they “fact-checked” because they hate humor as much as they hate conservatives. Sure, the Amish are human beings and just as susceptible to getting sick as anyone else. That is common sense, and everyone knows it. That’s not the point. The reality is that leftist “fact-checkers” aren’t interested in the truth; they want to BE the truth. They do not believe normal people can determine how an Internet meme should be interpreted. They do not believe people should be able to think for themselves.

Picking apart humorous content as literal is a bad faith practice, and it is intentional. If leftists can discredit humor by requiring everything to be literal, they discredit speech itself. This tactic causes everyone to fear saying anything at all. It beats good people into submission. It hands the reins of power only to those who have approved speech.

Because our instance of this meme was not the exact iteration highlighted by USA Today, Facebook’s trusty band of AI bots flagged our post automatically, grouping it in with similar content. This is a method used by Facebook that we mentioned in a previous altercation, and it means we have no recourse. It doesn’t matter that we clearly say the meme is meant as humor at the bottom of the frame. We take the punishment on the chin. We’re effectively discredited and diminished, which is exactly the way the Left likes it.