As the New York Times itself reported, "Liberal Pranksters" (in the NYT terminology) published a brilliant hoax newspaper this morning. They stood on street corners, near subway entrances, and handed out a "free special edition of the New York Times."
I took one.
As I sat down on the subway, I started reading. Of course, the headline gave me a great start: "Iraq War Ends." Then I looked up at the date - July 4, 2009. Then I looked at the top of the page, where it read, "All the news we hope to print."
Ah, it was pretend. Alas. As I started to read the various stories, I smiled with both joy and sorrow: joy, at the possibility of these stories coming true, and sorrow that they were just mere fiction.
It seems to be the product of a group called the Yes Men. According to Wikipedia,
"The Yes Men are a group of culture jamming
activists who practice what they call "identity correction" by pretending to be
powerful people and spokespersons for prominent organizations. They create and
maintain fake websites similar to ones they want to spoof, and then they accept
invitations received on their websites to appear at conferences, symposia, and
TV shows. Their newfound, self-proclaimed authority to express the idea that
corporations and governmental organizations often act in dehumanizing ways
toward the public has met both positively and negatively with political
overtones. Elaborate props are sometimes part of the ruse, as shown in their
2003 DVD release The Yes Men."Pretty Cool, Huh? Let me know if you saw it, heard about it, or
what you think!
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2 comments:
I'm just envious you snagged a copy! My co-worker is still trying to hunt one down.
I commend the folks who put this fake NYT issue. Hope is a good thing, as we've all learned recently.
Oh my gosh, their website is so cool. They've done such crazy and wonderful things. That paper's gonna be worth a lot of money. Between that paper and the one I snagged on November 5th, we're rolling in it!
hehe
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