While this video is just a joke and was created by actors, I still think there is good value in watching it. Many people take life at face value and when they see a sad face or a tragic story, they fall into the grasp of prey. Or when they are offered a “too good to be true” become rich opportunity, they buy into it. They get emotional and their critical thinking levels drop. This is exactly how serial killers lure their victims, and how scam artists succeed in conning people. While I am not trying to scare people and many of you saw red flags at various levels, I thought I would break down some of the notable points of this video for you.

When you first watch the video, what is the first thing you notice?

Read moreYou should be immediately struck by what the host says about saving money, “We’re going to show you how to guilt your kids into dropping out of college.” I can be confident that many people missed this. We get drawn into stories and when we hear a tragedy, we often get emotional and miss basic details. Being fine-tuned into the details is a big head-start into spotting deception. Truly listening to people is so critical and I am amazed at how many people fail to do this. It’s one of the easiest ways to increase your ability to spot deception. If you listen critically to what is being said, you have a much higher likelihood that you’ll hear inconsistencies, which is one of the bigger red flags to deception.

The second thing that caught my eye was the photo of the python with the child in its belly. It’s so horrifying, if this were real, you can be assured it would not be shown on TV. Did this give you pause?

I find it fascinating how the mom says, “It was just a regular morning”. If this was a tragedy as we are being told, she wouldn’t be recalling it as a ‘regular morning’. This shows lack of emotional by-in to the storyline.

When she says, “Rich was taking the girls to school and Zack was playing in the habitat,” her emotions are flat. Did you hear here say this when you first watched it?

We would expect to see pain, fear, stress, concern, worry–something on the mom’s face, but we see nothing. Instead, she looks at the reporter with a classic expression of “Am I believable? Do you believe me?” Something about liars, they look for assurance that their storyline is being bought into. I see it time and time again.

You’ve got to laugh that Zack shared a room with the snake and that Zack was playing “in the habitat” while she was in another room painting. Did you catch this detail? Of course, this is absurd and no parent caught in this nightmare would ever admit to this. They’d be panicked their other children would be taken away and they would lie to cover this, if it were true. People self-preserve. Its part of our nature as humans.

If you listen to the mother’s voice as she talks, it is quite interesting that many of her statements end in a high note, like a question, rather than in a down tone like a statement.

I continually notice the mom’s expressions are flat, and when she does finally break down, its labored. You can almost feel her working at becoming upset and there are absolutely no tears! Did you notice? At one point, I almost wonder if she started to laugh as she fake-cried when she put her head down. I can’t be sure. She must have thought of something sad though, because she did pull off for a couple of seconds a good sad expression.

You have to laugh at the father when he says, “You never think your python is going to bring the family anything but joy.” And the reporter when he says, “Its the kind of thing you think can only happen to other people…”

It’s even more funny how the father says, “We tried to be safe parents. We would never let Zach by the pool unless he was supervised by one of us or the python.” Did you hear “or the python” when you first listened to this video?

You’ve got to be laughing at this point. His wife just said they left him alone in the “habitat”. Big inconsistencies and absolute craziness–the snake watching the boy in the pool. It’s over-the-top. There were so many things that should have caught people’s attention, but I bet I can be confident we all missed details, myself included.

The mom goes on, “I keep thinking what if I had checked on them before I went shopping and the movies.” Hello! Who leaves a little boy alone to go shopping and to the movies? Remember, dad was out with the girl(s).

The father says, “We were going to put a lock on the habitat. I mean a door and then a lock on the habitat, but…” He goes on, “We even thought about putting the snake outside…especially since he ate our Boston terrier a couple of months ago.” Did you catch these–that there was no door on the habitat? That the snake ate their Boston terrier?

Hello?!

No parents in their right mind would admit to being so careless unless they were severely disabled. People have a natural sense of preservation, which is clearly missing from this comedy, for obvious reasons :).

I could go on, but since this is a joke, and I will stop here. If you believed these people, because you are new to The Onion, its okay. Don’t beat yourself. Maybe this is a good experience that you can improve your listening skills. Simply doing that, you will help dispel more deception than you’ll ever realize.

I’d be curious to hear from people, after reading this, did you see more in writing than you actually heard? I can honestly admit even I did not hear everything the first time through myself. Why is that?

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I think what is key in hindsight is that if you knew of The Onion, you would know to look out for all the humor. If you didn’t know The Onion, then what I have written above would apply.