8 Ways to Sunday

I am so glad that Amazon enabled commenting on product reviews. Now I can enjoy vitriolic Internet flame wars without even having to visit Slashdot or a discussion forum!

Case in point: Read the back-and-forth between E. Keech and Jim Harrigan in the comments on this review of An Inconvenient Truth (the book, not movie). It’s like watching some kind of bizarre postmodern comedy skit, wherein two allegedly educated professional men discuss the issues of the day by sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming at one another full-volume. They’re only reading enough of each other’s comments to figure out which canned talking points to copy-and-paste next.

Repent, brothers and sisters, for the sin of rampant consumerism! Repent, for the Shopocalypse is near!

Reverend Billy is the creation of Bill Talen, an activist and performance artist from New York City. As head of the Church of Stop Shopping, Billy tours with the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and preaches a message of revival — revival of the days when local merchants were the way people shopped, and when big box retail chains weren’t shutting down main streets all across America and around the world. Borrowing the style of charismatic televangelists, Talen carries the word of the God that is Not a Product forth into the hostile environments of mega-malls and Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lots. He has also been known to exorcise Starbucks cash registers.

If you’re at all concerned with keeping small businesses alive in the face of the big-box juggernaut, Reverend Billy should at least be good for a laugh and a nod of agreement. If you’re of a more activist mindset… well, I understand he could use a few good tenors in his choir.

(Props: AnomalousNYC’s photo entitled Can I get an Amen?)

The Times of London has the whole story.

(Props: Pandagon)

Nope, not at all.

An interesting perspective on the alleged War on Christmas, from a Jew living in this “Christian nation” of ours.

Ultra-conservative, FOX News-owning media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is buying Intermix Media Inc., the parent company of MySpace. Already, alarmed conservatives who consider MySpace “a virtual candy store for pedophiles” are making preemptive calls for Murdoch to “clean it up.”

While I’ll concede that there may be more that can be done to police the site’s age restrictions, I don’t relish the thought of News Corp. putting its foot down on a thriving online community. While not a MySpace user myself, I’d hate to see neo-con censorship applied to a community that thrives on free speech and association.

Updates

This just in, from the Los Angeles Times:

The young hipsters who congregate on MySpace.com are known for posting revealing information about themselves. So when Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. announced this week that it had agreed buy the popular social networking website’s parent company for $580 million, pranksters rushed to set up phony profiles of the 74-year-old media tycoon.

In keeping with the site’s subversive tone, listed among his general interests are “World domination,” “Games, specifically Monopoly” and “Making Ted Turner squirm,” referring to his rivalry with the CNN founder.

Under musical preferences, one says, “Yes, money is music to my ears.”

“I encourage my television and radio stations to become Republican soapboxes,” another profile says, adding, “There are important benefits to fascism.”

The site is one of the most popular among teens, and spoofs are common. There are hundreds for President Bush, and such celebrities as Britney Spears are parodied.

News Corp is doing an admirable job of staying cool, at least on the surface:

News Corp. President Peter Chernin vowed to protect the uncensored site.

“If we try to impose our own sensibilities on MySpace, it would be a dopey thing to do,” he said.

News Corp. spokeswoman Teri Everett said the company was aware of the Murdoch profiles.

“But asking for their removal is something we wouldn’t consider,” she said.

Late Wednesday, more than 300 MySpace users were signed up as Murdoch friends, including “Gangsta,” “Bejeezus,” “Lady Love” and “Dr. Teeth.”

Most asked for money. A few wanted movie parts.