“It’s high time that we retaliated against these Houthis. They sound like they might be some alien tribe – space nomads who have been raiding the earth, abducting our women and molesting our cattle,” declared top internet political commentator ‘Dan Lackey – Maker of Bullshit’, during a telephone interview on ABC’s ‘Nightly News’. “It is great that the West is finding ever more exotic enemies to fight with, rather than those boring and commonplace Iraqis, Russians, Libyans and Chinese.” His ‘contribution’ has raised alarm bells in many quarters as to the current levels of political discourse on social media. Despite the TV show’s host’s attempts to correct ‘Dan Lackey’, trying to tell them that the Houthis are a rebel group currently in conflict with the government of Yemen, the social media ‘expert’ doubled down on his claims. “Listen, these Houthis definitely sound as if they might have four arms and green skin and possibly ride around on strange alien beasts with six legs and big teeth,” he asserted. “Frankly, if they really have been going around occupying part of Yemen, disintegrating innocent earth people or stealing their brains or whatever else it is these aliens do, then they fully deserve to have the might of earth’s military ranged against them!”

Condemned as an ‘ignorant bastard’ in the real world, ‘Dan Lackey’ as, nonetheless, sparked a spirited debate in the world of online unfounded political speculation, with rival ‘expert’ ‘TrumpWon998’ taking issue with his depiction of the Houthis as aliens. “I was with him on the issue at first, but then I saw the term ‘Hamas and The Houthis’ trending on Twitter,” they claimed on their Tumblr account. “It became clear to me that they were actually a musical act of some kind, supporting the well known Middle Eastern singer Hamas. I should imagine that they end their performances by blowing up the venue and slaughtering their audience. Especially if they are performing in Jerusalem.” Later, after speculating that the backing group might be a spin off of unaccountably popular nineties band ‘Houthi and the Blowfish’, ‘TrumpWon998’ posted several videos purporting to show the group in concert, with lead singer ‘Hamas’ ending the set by firing rockets into the crowd, before the Houthis’ drummer revealed himself as a suicide bomber, leaping into the remaining audience and exploding. “Apparently, they get through a lot of drummers,” commented the social media ‘expert’. The videos have since been debunked by other social media users, who have claimed that they are, in fact, a series of crude drawings even more crudely animated.

But ‘Dan Lackey’ is sticking to his guns, claiming that the whole narrative of the Houthis simply being Yemeni rebels is a construct on the part of the ruling elites, aided by the mainstream media, designed to cover up the truth that the earth has been invaded by aliens. “Obviously, this is all Biden’s fault – if hadn’t ordered all those UFOs shot down last year, claiming that they were balloons, the Houthis wouldn’t have retaliated by seizing part of the Yemen,” he opined on social media network Truth Social. “But now they are here, sinking our ships, we have no choice but to resist them with maximum force!” He speculated that the Houthis chose Yemen for their foothold on earth because of its status as a Muslim nation. “As everyone know, groundbreaking research, repressed by the liberal academic establishment, has shown that the Muslims themselves originated from outer space,” he mused. “Which is why the Houthis are allegedly trying to destroy ships supposedly carrying cargoes to Israel – it is all part of the Interstellar Muslim Brotherhood’s war against the Chosen People.” He further argues that the world needs to focus its military effort on fighting the Houthis and abandon other petty conflicts around the world. “Look, the sooner we let the Israelis finish the job in Gaza, destroying those Houthi Fifth Columnists, the Palestinians, the better,” he posted. “As for the war in Ukraine – we’ll need Russia’s military strength to help us defeat these aliens, so we have to stop the Democrats from propping up Ukraine and let Russia finish the job, so that they can join us in the real fight!”

The online commentator also dismissed those condemning UK and US military action against the Houthis. “It’s all very well all those middle class virtue signallers going on about how we should ‘Stop the War’ and not kill alien larvae on social media, but they aren’t the one who have had to suffer the alien attacks.” he pointed out. “Believe me, if they were the ones getting buggered by four armed aliens with barbed penises which pull their entire asshole out when they withdraw, they’d be singing a different tune.” ‘Dan Lackey’ has even less time for those advocating that we take the pacifist approach, not resisting the Houthi invasion and instead allowing them to take over, then resisting the occupation peacefully. “So, despite the aliens being the ones committing atrocities, these ‘peaceniks’ are all waving their arms around and wailing about how we should just let the aliens invade and then resist them peacefully,” he says, scornfully. “Yeah, keep resisting as they inject they’re eggs into our till living bodies and use us as incubators, they’re growing offspring slowly eating us alive, from the inside out – like the socialist welfare state!”

Mainstream commentators remain unimpressed by ‘Dan Lackey’ and others who peddle such obviously false narratives, not just on social media, but increasingly in the legitimate media. “Their ignorance might seem amusing, but it poisons the political discourse, making rational debate impossible,” observes Washington Democrat columnist Bob Crabett. “Is it any wonder that Donald Trump, despite facing multiple criminal trials, is apparently still a serious contender for the presidency?” Indeed, Crabett believes that the promotion of conspiracy fantasies informed by ignorance is a key element of the far right’s political strategy. “They don’t just keep repeating lies in the hope that they will displace the truth, but they organise them into moronic narratives that play to the morons most likely to vote for them,” he says. “They lap them up because, not only do these false narratives reinforce their own ignorant perspective on the world, but they also obviate the need for them to actually think, providing a simplistic ‘explanation’ for every problem they encounter.”