Ed Notes brings '1984' appreciation to AFT Bill Gates event
New York's Ed Note Online said is best this morning: "Bill Gates at the AFT - 1984 The brilliant idea to use the famous 1984 Apple Super Bowl commercial, an intro to the Macintosh and a takedown of IBM and Microsoft, to parody Bill Gates' appearance at the AFT convention where Unity Caucus drones cheered him on while a small band resisted was hatched over dinner Sunday night in Seattle with George Schmidt and some CORE members. What a perfect metaphor for what occurred. Monday AM I emailed David Bellel with the idea and voila, by the time I got home Tuesday morning he had it ready. A few refinements on my end and here it is. All you Gates Windows supporters, come on over to the Mac and see how easy all this stuff is to do. Enjoy!"
Four big screens showed Bill Gates reading from his prepared speech during the 2010 convention of the American Federation of Teachers, adding to the Big Brother atmosphere in the huge convention hall. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Although the majority of the delegates (who were, after all, from New York City's UFT or various locals in New York State, all under the tight control of AFT President Randi Weingarter) at the 2010 American Federation of Teachers convention embarrassed themselves and the labor movement by ignoring the history of union struggles in the Pacific Northwest (including the Seattle General Strike of 1919) and giving a standing ovation to the most famous plutocrat of the New Gilded Age, the sin was only by the majority of AFT delegates — not all.
A number walked out.
Another large number sat in stony silence while their colleagues cheered Gates in frenzied adulation.
Now, Ed Notes from New York City has produced a You Tube video, with a nod to the famous '1984' Apple Macintosh ad from the Super Bowl, putting another perspective on the Bill Gates affair.
Despite the fact that delegates from New York and other locations were ordered by Randi Weingarten's Progressive Caucus to cheer Gates, many — including the entire Chicago delegation — sat in stony silence following the end of the speech. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.You can get to it by cutting and pasting in your browser. Sorry, our link connection is not working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYQzoDy_ocA&feature=player_embedded
