Joey Skaggs

It is the fool who thinks he cannot be fooled.

Any journalist worth his or her salt wouldn’t trust me.

But I learned first-hand how the news media operates by watching how they interpreted, changed, and misrepresented my intentions.

I learned more complex ways to manipulate the manipulators, to bring attention to issues about which I felt passionate.

Any deviation is looked upon as a perversion, is feared, and is usually a target of hatred and prejudice.

We function in a pack mentality. This is our tribe. And this is how we are exploited – sold a bill of goods and a household of products.

If I’m successful in fooling a wire service, I don’t really have to do anything else to promote the story.

Most reporters who come to me get their stories directly from press releases. Very few do what one would consider to be their professional duty.

The media’s job is to question a premise.

It would make life much easier if I could have total faith and not question everything all the time, but I can’t do it and I won’t do it.

My art became very public.

Most important to any fake story is a plausible, realistic edge with a satirical twist that is topical.

I’ve always been a fine artist.

But my favorite work is always my next piece.

My challenge as a satirical artist is how to present ideas to people to enable them to question and reexamine their beliefs. My hope is, that my work provokes people to look at things in a new way.

When I create a false reality, I always try to create a plausible structure to help convince people.

What do we believe? Why do we believe it?