The Yes Men

On my commute this morning I nearly knocked over a young woman handing out the New York Times. I briefly considered taking one, realized that I didn't have 35 cents readily available and figured I'd read it online. Underground, I saw the above the flap photograph of two helicopters flying over a mountainous region away from the setting (rising?) sun, with the headline "Iraq War Ends." Really?!?? Was Bush trying to steal Obama's thunder? Perhaps Michelle's amazing, power red dress made W. realize that he was no longer in charge and so he should try to be her new favorite person by ending the "dumb" war.





Oh, but how I was fooled! When I emerged on 1st Avenue I saw a pile of these fake papers. Too thin to be the real thing, too progressive even for the Salzbergers, too much fun for the morning edition, it had other hopeful headlines proclaiming a true cost plan to reflect how much environmentally unfriendly products damage society, a recall of all gas guzzling cars and, my favorite, that Harvard Business School would be closing its doors. (Sorry Matthew! You really belong in education, anyway!) It's turns out that it was produced by an organization called The Yes Men, which is a name I happen to love and find pleasingly ironic.

I don't usually like being tricked but this little hoax brightened my morning and made this very hectic, whirlwind day that much easier.