Friday, October 29, 2004

NEWS FLASH! Not All Protesters Are Getting Laid

This is an interview with Andrew Boyd, who is the founder of "Billionaires for Bush."

Like most gothamist.com interviews it pretty much sucks but I've been wondering on and off about this group. Like most types of "street theatre employing guerilla communication tactics" it pretty much sucks. Apparently there are a hundred chapters of this group which has people dress up like billionaires (including a chapter at the School For Former Chimney Sweepers, AKA Harvard) and carries slogans like "Corporations are People to." As Boyd explains for those really stupid people who can't tell that this is a joke:

Billionaires for Bush - by impersonating the super-wealthy in a boosterish, over-the-top manner, and ironically cheering on George Bush and his economic policies - are better able to paint the President as a friend of the corporate elite.


He also brags that Art Speigelman made a comic about them. Yeah, well Art Speigelman also made a comic about the Holocaust. You see, he'll touch anything. (On a personal note, I've met Speigelman, and he has to be one of the nastiest people I've met. I'm not alone on this. Anybody who says they have to resign from their fancy position at the New Yorker because it was "too conservative" should really be shot.)

Back to Billionaires. Anyway I love, love when he describes how they got covered by the NYT, "luckily, the New York Times was writing this all down." You mean, you're surprsied the Times didn't love this? Oh Andrew, you really are a fool!

My favorite part though is the most obvious: Boyd describes himself "depressed", BFB being the only thing "getting me up in the morning." He also does a lot of online dating and describes himself as having" a love-hate relationship with both post-modern and self help." I guess if activism can't even help a 42 year old depressed male get laid, then what's it good for?

2 comments:

Nick said...

BFB was present at something I watched on C-SPAN online (it's what you do when you're home all day, instead of writing your book). It was a BOOKTV event that had Toni Morrison, called "Books, Politics, and the Culture War" and Morrison's comments were really insightful.

BFB looked like a huge, dumb, joke, and Al Franken said "leave the joke-telling to me."

hee, hee.

Anonymous said...

Nick-

If I had your job I would be watching "A Wedding Story" and "2nd Chance" all day long.

You're really taking the intellectual route on this one.

-Molly (too lazy to sign into blogger).