Inauguration Day Is the Saddest Day of 2013, According to Fox and Junk Science
This morning Fox and Friends devoted an entire segment to the claim that today — the third Monday of January, and the date of President Obama's second inauguration — is the most depressing day of the year. "They figured it out about five years ago," co-host Steve Doocy says, "It has to do with drab weather, holiday bills, and resolutions that we have not met." The segment was pretty much the opposite of subtle: Fox News, and especially Fox and Friends, are vociferous critics of the Obama administration, and they very much did not pass on a chance to discuss "Blue Monday" on the same day a Democratic president gets sworn into office.
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Many were quick to blame Fox's convenient timing, but the thing is, "Blue Monday" isn't real. Despite widespread coverage, The Guardian reports that the entire notion of a "most depressing day of the year" is pseudoscientific nonsense. It's based on a bogus paper that was commissioned for an airline's marketing campaign. Indeed, the paper's original author has urged others to ignore what he wrote:
"I'm pleased about the impact it if it means people are talking about depression and how they feel but I'm also encouraging people to refute the whole notion of there being a most depressing day and to use the day as a springboard for the things that really matter in your life," he said.
