When I was young and naive, I believed a lot more silly and bizarre things. Then I got older and wiser and more cynical and learned to dismiss them as nutty, jokes, satire, etc.
But...
As I got older still, I accumulated so many bizarre experiences with the real world that I wrapped back around. I now have trouble again picking up on satire or easily debunking wacko theories, since I learned from experience that the world actually is that crazy. I've seen many things and met numerous characters that a fiction editor would reject for sheer implausibility.
Without a clear indicator of an author's intention, it is often impossible to tell the difference between a startup direction and a parody of one.