Yes Men pranksters make fake New York Post

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Yes Men pranksters make fake New York Post about real climate emergency 0

 

Posted 10:51 AM on 21 Sep 2009

by Jonathan Hiskes More from this author

 

The “culture jamming†prankster troupe The Yes Men contributed to the

Climate Week excitement in New York City this morning by distributing fake

copies of the New York Post. The illicit special edition of the tabloid warned

that climate change could unleash heat waves, flooding, and other disasters over

the next decades.

 

The fake paper (also online) contains actual non-fake information, the group

says:

 

Although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100% true,

with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change

experts.

 

“This could be, and should be, a real New York Post,†said Andy Bichlbaum of

the Yes Men. “Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever

faced, and it should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we

solve the problem.â€

The group says nearly a million copies were distributed by more than 2,000

volunteers.

 

The fake Post’s cover story (“We’re Screwedâ€) reports the frightening

conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists commissioned by the mayor’s

office to determine the potential effects of climate change on the City. That

report was released in February of this year, but received very little press at

the time. Other lead articles describe the Pentagon’s alarmed response to

global warming (“Clear & Present Disasterâ€), the U.S. government’s sadly

minuscule response to

the crisis (“Congress Cops Out on Climateâ€), China’s alternative energy

program (“China’s Green Leap Forward Overtakes U.S.â€), and how if the US

doesn’t quickly pass a strong climate bill, the crucial Copenhagen climate

talks this December could be a “Flopenhagen.â€

And there’s one bona-fide non-prankish plain-old-journalism scoop:

 

One article (“Carbon counter counts New Yorkers as foolsâ€) reveals that

Deutsche Bank – which erected a seven-story “carbon counter†in central

Manhattan - not only invests heavily in coal mining companies worldwide, but has

recently entered the business of coal trading itself.

Not bad. Does this mean it takes a fake newspaper to get out the real version of

the news, with the urgency the story requires?

 

Here’s the group’s video:

 

 

 

“SPECIAL EDITION†NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo

 

 

" Hobbes: Do you think there's a God? Calvin: Well, SOMEBODY'S out to get me. "

[Guest guest]

I've borrowed a Yes Men dvd from the library, and they're very entertaining.

 

Along the same lines, one of the most thought-provoking " fictional "

treatments of climate change was an episode in the British series

Spooks (called MI5 in the U.S.). It was the last episode in the 5th

season. London was faced with rising water from climate change, and a

terrorist team was about to blow up the Thames barrier that kept the

water level under control if the govt. didn't release a secret

report. The report, titled Aftermath, detailed the repressive

measures the govt. would have to put in force, the deaths expected,

etc. When questioned about why the consequences of doing nothing

wasn't revealed to the public, the govt. flunky said no one would

change, therefore it would only create panic to let them in on how

dire the situation is. Also, if only Britain made the required

changes, its economy would fail (in the short term) because the rest

of the world would not change.