People are now smashing their own TVs to send a message to the media. A letter would've cost less.

Come rain or shine, recession or boom, pandemic or plague, you can always count on conspiracy theorists to keep things interesting. Especially if they're conservatives who quite probably chant "fake news" in their sleep and would die for a good old "mainstream media sucks" protest. These fearless warriors in pursuit of the supposedly hidden "truth" never fail to throw tantrums about anything even remotely related to news outlets that don't align with their extremist views; even if it makes them look like a bunch of tin foil hat-wearing overgrown babies. Even if it means having to destroy their own property to send a message to their nemesis.

Apparently, smashing your own TVs and smartphones is the new hate mail. People are now filming themselves destroying—or in some cases, unsuccessfully attempting to destroy—their expensive TVs, computer monitors, and smartphones to supposedly send a strong message to news outlets that are allegedly trying to "program them" with lies. "This is a television. It tells us what to do. It's a tell-e-vision," says a woman holding up a TV. 10 points for the wordplay, minus 100 for the murder of logic.

"Mainstream media, you are the virus. I will watch and listen to you no longer," another woman reads out from a script. "My message to you," she adds before going at a computer screen with a hammer. She then proceeds to demonstrate just how sturdy the monitor is for the next several seconds—pounding it with the hammer and smashing it on the floor—and to be honest, we're quite impressed with the build. Also... didn't anyone ever tell her about the off switch?

"So this is my smart TV and this is what I think of your neurological, linguistic programming bull****," says another woman while a kid screams in the background, probably lamenting the lack of logical thinking in their household. Meanwhile, another lady seems to have chosen the less expensive option and opted to simply tear up a newspaper. Some guys also took advantage of the opportunity to let out some pent up steam while yelling out "No longer will we be programmed!" Wow, anger issues much?

However, our favorite of the lot has to be the gentleman who went into it without a script and improvised. He touched upon everything from the Freemasons to COVID-19 in his monologue because as long as you are smashing an expensive TV, might as well do it for everything you hate, right? Good thinking, sir. We also loved the fellow who flung his smartphone in protest—while his friend filmed him on a smartphone FYI—and then couldn't figure out where it had gone after it hits the floor. The irony of the whole bit was simply... *chef's kiss*

Most of these fake news protestors seem to be from Australia and we can't decide whether we're impressed by their commitment to this propaganda stunt or plain worried about their self-destructive behavior. The internet, of course, loved all the meme fodder provided by the protestors and we imagine the jokes about these TV smashers aren't about to get old any time soon.