Replies

Now that’s info towards accountability.

FYI, someone at the so-called NYTIMES-SE apparently sent out two emails notifying the public of the twisted joke. I’m not sure how the hell I received these; I wish I hadn’t.

Email one:

NEWSPAPER BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR

from New York Times Special Edition special@nytimes-se.com
to [snip]
date Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 6:31 PM
subject NEWSPAPER BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR

November 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPECIAL TIMES EDITION BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR

* PDF: http://www.nytimes-se.com/pdf
* For video updates: http://www.nytimes-se.com/video
* Contact: mailto:writers@nytimes-se.com

Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out
that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had
come to an end.

If, that is, they happened to read a “special edition” of today’s New
York Times.

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million
papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged
pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass
them out on the street.

Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the
establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate
lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the
war.

The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well as
editorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including a
recall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also a
timeline describing the gains brought about by eight months of
progressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama’s “Yes
we REALLY can” speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)

“It’s all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,”
said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper’s writers. “We’ve got to make
sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do.
After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven.”

Not all readers reacted favorably. “The thing I disagree with is how
they did it,” said Stuart Carlyle, who received a paper in Grand
Central Station while commuting to his Wall Street brokerage. “I’m all
for freedom of speech, but they should have started their own paper.”

# 30 #

Email two:

November 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
writers@nytimes-se.com
917-202-5479
718-208-0684
415-533-3961

“SPECIAL” NEW YORK TIMES BLANKETS CITIES WITH MESSAGE OF HOPE AND CHANGE
Thousands of volunteers behind elaborate operation

* PDF: http://www.nytimes-se.com/pdf
* Ongoing video releases: http://www.nytimes-se.com/video

* The New York Times responds: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/pranksters-spoof-the-times/

Hundreds of independent writers, artists, and activists are claiming
credit for an elaborate project, 6 months in the making, in which 1.2
million copies of a “special edition” of the New York Times were
distributed in cities across the U.S. by thousands of volunteers.

The papers, dated July 4th of next year, were headlined with
long-awaited news: “IRAQ WAR ENDS”. The edition, which bears the same
look and feel as the real deal, includes stories describing what the
future could hold: national health care, the abolition of corporate
lobbying, a maximum wage for CEOs, etc. There was also a spoof site, at
http://www.nytimes-se.com/.

“Is this true? I wish it were true!” said one reader. “It can be true,
if we demand it.”

“We wanted to experience what it would look like, and feel like, to
read headlines we really want to read. It’s about what’s possible, if
we think big and act collectively,” said Steve Lambert, one of the
project’s organizers and an editor of the paper.

“This election was a massive referendum on change. There’s a lot of
hope in the air, but there’s a lot of uncertainty too. It’s up to all
of us now to make these headlines come true,” said Beka Economopoulos,
one of the project’s organizers.

“It doesn’t stop here. We gave Obama a mandate, but he’ll need mandate
after mandate after mandate to do what we elected him to do. He’ll need
a lot of support, and yes, a lot of pressure,” said Andy Bichlbaum,
another project organizer and editor of the paper.

The people behind the project are involved in a diverse range of
groups, including The Yes Men, the Anti-Advertising Agency, CODEPINK,
United for Peace and Justice, Not An Alternative, May First/People
Link, Improv Everywhere, Evil Twin, and Cultures of Resistance.

In response to the spoof, the New York Times said only, “We are looking
into it.” Alex S. Jones, former Times reporter who is an authority on
the history of the paper, says: “I would say if youÕve got one, hold on
to it. It will probably be a collectorÕs item.”

-30-

Bull-shytte. I’ll manage to keep myself from getting hot-headed about this, but those SOBs have no idea how that bogus POS “spoof” could affect families of service members, and — may I say it so bluntly — they’re some real jackass POS fools for abusing the freedom of free speech like that.

They go trying to making a goddamned joke out of our nation. I wait for something *legal* to come bite ‘em in the ass for it.

If it’s even worth the time to read it, the NYT’s response: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/pranksters-spoof-the-times/ — those “liberal pranksters”, saying like “those silly little cads”, real damned fool SOBs. The ***** NYT applauds the jakasses. What the hell is going on in their paper?

I guess the investors in the NYT must be applauding it, too? I mean, WHY is the NYT NOT making a responsible response about it? Do they make a hockey-puck out of accountability, up there?

I’d rather forget I ever saw it, forget *this* is a part of the nation I enlisted to defend.

That little corpuscle of twisted foolishness, theirs, will undoubtedly resurface on the date post-dated into it, that twisted “spoof”. I really hope every one of those “editions” winds up in the trash, before then. That’s where it belongs, after all — or on its way to being recycled toilet-paper.

If it caught too much press, that would undoubtedly flatter the **** perpetrators of it. So, I suppose it’s fair enough if most people don’t know about it. I really wish I didn’t know about it, myself.

Such a level of irresponsibility — and mass irresponsibility — as has occurred to the publication of that POS rag, I’m afraid if it may bode ill for the state of the nation.

Obviously, I can say nothing good about it, nor about the publishers of it. I’ll try to forget I ever saw of it, supposing that nothing good can come of such a twisted event.