The following came to me from some mainstream ag folks in Wisconsin
who found this very funny. Thought some of you might share that.
My point in sharing this is a serious one. Throughout human history,
Carnival Humor has been a way of de-iron-izing the stiffly ramrodded
and reminding us all of what life is really about. In this case:
commerce that supports rather than exploits, laughter that is warm
and human rather than cold and derisive, and humanity that is
playful and feisty, rather than beaten into its Assigned Roles and
trudging the treadmill as consumers or workers. And Carnival Humor is
always about challenging whatever authorities who come to think of
themselves as insulated from any forms of dissent or disagreement.
I also like to see CEOs reminded that it is owing to the forebearance
of those who disagree with them that they receive pies in the face.
Some people get bullets in the back by way of dissenting opinion.
peace
misha
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Activists throw pies at Monsanto CEO
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Activists protesting genetically engineered
crops threw two pies at the chairman and CEO of life sciences firm
Monsanto Co., one of which hit the executive in his face, officials
said Wednesday.
Robert Shapiro, chief of the St. Louis based company that has
developed genetically enhanced soybeans, potatoes and other crops, had
just finished delivering a keynote address Tuesday night at a
conference in San Francisco's glitzy Fairmont Hotel when he was
approached by a heckler.
An official with the conference said that as Shapiro stopped to have
a discussion with the heckler, he was ambushed by two activists
wielding pies.
In a statement, a group calling itself the "Biotic Baking Brigade"
(BBB) said two "field agents" threw a tofu creme pie and a sweet
potato pie at Shapiro. The tofu creme hit him in the face while the
sweet potato pie missed its mark.
"The vegan tofu creme pie symbolized the millions of acres of
Monsanto's genetically engineered soybean crops and other
'Frankenfoods' coming to harvest this season," BBB said.
Both pie-throwers, whose names were not made public, were detained by
security and later arrested by police. It was not known whether
charges would be filed.
A spokesman for Monsanto was not immediately available for comment.
BBB said the incident was the second in two weeks in San Francisco
and was designed to emulate the tactics of Belgian pie-thrower Noel
Godin, whose targets have included Microsoft chief Bill Gates and film
director Jean-Luc Godard.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman suffered the same fate
as Shapiro on Oct. 9, when a BBB activist hurled a pie in his face.
******************************************
"Let's pie! Let's pie! Nincompoop guys!"
--slogan of Noel Godin and his band of entarteurs, who pied Bill Gates in
Brussels
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