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The NY Auto Show got a jump-start to their week long residency at the Javits Center, with a little help from Reverend Billy and his troupe the Stop Driving Gospel.
We're told there was "a little drama involving 'Lady Liberty' ready to finally marry The Automobile after a torrid, 100 year romance. But she leaves Mr. Auto at the altar for her true love, Alternative Transportation, and they elope in a pedicab!"
As most good protests go, this one got the cops attention quickly and the Rev was "hustled out down the stairs...tempted to pratfall in an homage to Jimmy Cagney at the climax of the classic White Heat." Not wanting to end up in The Tombs, he kept vertical while being shoved down 11th Avenue as his choir sang "Stop Driving, Start Biking...".
UPDATE: Check out video here.
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is that a state trooper or a rent-a-cop dressed up like one?
i have zero respect for rev billy.
He needs to get over himself. More and more he's looking to just be an attention whore. You prefer the product of a large corporation? Fine. You want to support the local mom & pop shop? That's fine too. Your life, your choice.
He's resisting arrest. Why doesn't the cop just shoot him?
Fighting corporations...because they're all corporationey... and they make money. Coool doooode.
Why is this drivel on the front page? Are we all still in high school and trying to rebel against something?
This is great.
I thought all the clowns in the city were at Ringling Bros.
And, no, the Javits Center has real live NY State troopers on site.
And this is news?
Whether you agree with him or not, please admit that arresting or otherwise manhandling Rev. Billy is pointless. He and his supporters show up, do their protest, and then their gone. They only get more attention when they are wrongfully arrested. Rev. Billy was ARRESTED FOR READING THE FIRST AMENDMENT ALOUD last year. That kind of excessive police power has no place in America.
There needs to be more awareness of how emissions from automobiles further pollute our environment. We have to have cars that have fewer emissions, and there is the greater need for the average person to understand what his or her impact on the environment is.
time to go key some kars.
then shmoke some weed.
God Bless You, Reverend Billy
It's all about Rev. Billy. He should really get over himself and so should the media coverage of his sophomoric antics.
For those who think it's all about the Rev you are SO wrong
He's trying to point out issues that people need to start thinking about instead of swallowing all the hype that is constantly aimed at us 24/7 The advertising media and the corporations control us as much as they possibly can. They depend on our money to exist to make more money, damn you damn the environment.
You are what you BUY - the cars that pollute and waste resources, the sweat shop products you wear on your back, the hybrid cloned overly processed stuff they call food. Yeah it's your choice - so maybe you should actually use your brain to make it
The earth and all it's inhabitants to be depend on the decisions we make today
At least he has the guts to actually try and do something about it
It's so great to have a person who is willing to take on the responsibilities of a cause. A leader who listens, who never acts like he is "the decider." And someone willing to get up and make a fun of himself along with all of the established hogwash that keeps life dull and the same in every town of America. ROCK ON REVEREND BILLY!!
@mssmith2:
"At least he has the guts to actually try and do something about it"
He's not doing anything constructive and that's the problem. His method doesn't invite reasonable debate. Granted, I wasn't at the Javits during his appearance but from his own photos on Flickr, it looks like he's yelling at the top of his lungs about what people are "doing wrong" and that he was being escorted out of the Javits for disorderly conduct, which would be the right thing to do.
"Yeah it's your choice - so maybe you should actually use your brain to make it", "For those who think it's all about the Rev you are SO wrong"
Condescending comments like that just turn people off. Apparently, most of us are "SO wrong" and therefore helpless, brainless idiots. You come off as a hipster regurgitating hypocritical and sometimes irrelevant mantras.
Rev Billy is the man! Rock on. I hear he's moving the ministry to Billytown, Guyana.
Agreed. I've never paid closer attention to Reverend Billy because from where I stand, he looks like another loudmouth show-off whose method of addressing social wrongs is turning the complex issues of consumerism and its effects into an oversimplified good vs. evil, us vs. them mentality which puts people who shop at certain retailers squarely on the "evil" side and tries to guilt them into changing their ways. He looks belligerent. And someone who looks belligerent is not going to attract me as a follower. It's not that I don't care about these issues -- it's that I don't care about him and his publicity stunts. (For someone who places the entire advertising industry in the "evil" category, he sure knows a thing or two about self-aggrandizing PR.
And it's clear to me that his followers squash reasonable debate. Because they make the choice simple: buy what we buy, or you're a brainless sheep. Never mind that biking isn't an alternative for families with children who don't have reasonable access to public transportation, or for people who need to transport large items. Never mind that lower- and middle-income working people can only afford processed food, and don't have the money to buy local and organic, and don't have the time in their busy schedules to make certain foods from scratch instead of buying them pre-packaged. What about the limited availability of non-sweatshop clothing in most parts of America, and the fact that some alternatives to sweatshop-produced clothing -- American Apparel comes to mind -- come with other sets of problems, like a "sex sells" advertising campaign?
"Stop Shopping." "Stop Driving." Sure, put the blame on the people who do the shopping and the driving. It's easier than tackling the real issues behind widening income inequality and suburban sprawl and corporate corruption and political meddling in the FDA and the rising prices of goods and services which mean that, for the vast majority of Americans who can't afford to live in places like this one, there ISN'T much of a choice to make.
Rev. Billy reminds me of "Fundamentally Oral Bill," one of the many reincarnations of Bill the Cat in Berke Breathed's Bloom County comic strip. Who knows, maybe he licensed his image out.
I think he got his point across.
reverend billy is great at what he does, which is political theater. and its clearly doing what its supposed to if it gets all you grab-what-i-ca-in-life libertarian gothamist commenter fucks uncomfortable. i love these fascist comments like "shoot him, he's resisting arrest." get a sense of humor you losers
also, spiny, those are all the things this is designed to make you think about. why isn't there more public transportation? why aren't fresh food and american made clothing more available to low income families? why are poorly made, exploitative goods and over-processed fat laden foods the standard?
*I think he got his point across.*
I do too. I heard the auto companies closed up shop.
in fact, i didn't see one fossil fuel vehicle this morning on my way to workâvery strange.
OK OK Don't shoot him. The blood would spoil his white suit and then it couldn't be donated to the Salvation Army. Hang him.
I just read that Starbucks and GM are closing down due to his ongoing fight against injustice. We will be drinking coffee grown in south Jersey and driving dung powered skateboards made out of compressed pigeon shit.
I could care less about the Rev, but I abhor seeing police of any kind using force against a non-violent offender. Reminds me a little bit of the kid standing in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square.
It was treatment like this that changed the actions of a lot of the civil rights protesters of the 60's from those espoused by MLK to those of Malcolm X.
I think he could choose his targets/spend his energy better.
As several other people have said, he's essentially preaching to the choir. Those who don't already share his sensibilities are going to be put off by his juvenile "look at me" behavior.
I AGREE with him on a lot of things and he makes me angry.
Reminds me a little bit of the kid standing in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square.
that wasn't a kid, that was a man. He anonymously stood up to a LINE of tanks, and has since disappeared.
"Reverand Billy" whether you think he's a public crusader, or a publicity seeking clown, is not risking anything except possible arrest. He is not in the same league, at all.
"that wasn't a kid, that was a man. He anonymously stood up to a LINE of tanks, and has since disappeared."
I thought he was a college kid. If not, then I'm wrong.
"He is not in the same league, at all."
I used the image of man vs. tank as hyperbole to get my point across. I know they're not the exact same, but if we allow our government and police to treat us in this way, it's not that far fetched.
I'd take him more seriously if he didn't have people who worked for hedge funds in his choir.