Finally, the truth comes out about those birds

It turns out that birds are not real. Just check out the billboards, T-shirts, social media postings and the messages on a truth van touring the country. Birds are actually government surveillance drones that recharge themselves by perching on power lines right over our heads. That explains a lot. The fact that Twitter has a little bird as its symbol should tell people everything they need to know about the powerful forces at work.

Of course, the “pro-bird” crowd will make the typical, predictable arguments about how there’s nothing to worry about, and that these are just, well … birds. But clued-in people know better. Wake up, America! Especially you “Cardinals” fans.

A healthy movement is afoot across the country to inject a little bit of humor into the crazed conspiracy “truther” mindset that inspired some of the insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6. QAnon has finally met its match in 23-year-old Peter McIndoe, principal messenger behind the Birds Aren’t Real movement.

This viral movement underscores how easy it is to create conspiracy theories out of something as stupid as the existence of birds.

McIndoe travels in a white van covered with messages exposing the truth about birds. There’s even a satellite dish on the van’s roof. He stood atop the van in July near the Gateway Arch to burn a Cardinals flag in protest of the flag’s “pro-bird” message.

His Memphis billboard proclaiming, “Birds Aren’t Real” in giant black letters has prompted what he says is an outpouring of support from “bird truthers.” The billboards have spread to Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

The truthers are everywhere. But then … so are those birds.

This is seriously funny stuff — for a nation that badly needs to recover its sense of humor.