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American Apparel raided by FBI
Posted by D-Rock on 09/19/07 (Links)
Several models said they were initially drawn in by American Apparel’s progressive environmental policies, sweatshop-free manufacturing, and youthful corporate identity. But their dreams of success were soon shattered.
“Before I knew it, I was squatting on the floor in this humid room with a camera pointed at my crotch,” said model Gabrielle.
Read: 14 American Apparel Models Freed In Daring Midnight Raid
16 fragments of dialogue thus far ...
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Comment by saoirse on September 19th, 2007 at 5:20 pm:
I have to say lads, I don’t find that funny.
To me, this seems far more interesting: http://news.google.c...esnum=1&ct=title
In particular, this incredible read: http://www.groupnews...d-where-you-are.html
Comment by D-Rock on September 19th, 2007 at 5:57 pm:
Caitlín: I, on the other hand, don’t find the story of the Jena 6 very funny.
Racism is never funny.
Comment by jammer on September 19th, 2007 at 7:05 pm:
haha I didnt know what to expect - I think its funny - the onion story. Why is it not funny? explain so I can repent.
the Jenna six is pretty fucked up. I know I shouldn’t be shocked by now but I still am.
ya how does everyone feel about ‘merican apparel moving onto Osborn? insights? Wonder if we’ll find any size 6 body’s in their walls.
BTW I think every band on earth should completely rip off the Fucking Champs it will ensure I never get bored with music again.
Comment by jammer on September 19th, 2007 at 7:25 pm:
anyone like the new weakerthans album? hope this isnt heresy to say it think its moderately- fairly decent. Honorable mention to “hymn of the medical oddity”.
a song about someone from my neighborhood I bagged groceries for.
great song. staggering story.
http://en.wikipedia....rg/wiki/David_Reimer
http://www.cbc.ca/ne...s/background/reimer/
Comment by saoirse on September 20th, 2007 at 2:24 am:
Very droll Derek. I dunno, perhaps spending too many days immersed in case studies of sexual harassment has ruined my sense of humour, but that story just seems flippant and stupid. In case anyone doesn’t actually know about AA, theres a pretty good article on knowmore.
Yeah, the Jena story is very fucked up. People’s reactions are pretty damn interesting.. I’d like to read a lot more about white privilege.
Comment by D-Rock on September 20th, 2007 at 5:25 am:
caitlín: The whole point is that the Onion satire does a great job of pointing out exactly what is wrong with AA. That’s why it works as satire. The whole time reading it I kept thinking that it was actually the best critique I’ve read of them yet - the comprehensive and excellent Knowmore piece included.
There’s a difference between “being funny” and “making fun of”.
Re: The Jena 6 - Democracy Now! has been covering it extensively (almost too much so) in the last few weeks - lots of good archived pieces on their website, including a kinda crazy interview with some old cracker there yesterday.
Comment by saoirse on September 20th, 2007 at 6:45 am:
Therein lies my problem with it: I just don’t find it funny. Sometimes the Onion is hilarious, but I find it pretty hit and miss. I certainly wouldn’t compare this to the knowmore piece, but I guess you see hidden depths to it that I don’t. Fair enough. Like I said, maybe I’m being over-sensitive, maybe we just have different senses of humour. Or both.
As for the Jena 6, I didn’t actually realise the story was so big! I heard about the rallies and stuff but there really is a *lot* of coverage there. I guess any story like this that penetrates the mainstream is a good thing. There’s an interesting interview with one of the campus organisers here: http://www.zmag.org/...=30&ItemID=13795
Comment by diddee on September 20th, 2007 at 10:34 am:
Horses for courses i guess. Monty Python aside, I myself don’t care much for british humor …
I thought that Onion piece was a withering social critique on those wacko owners at AA. And funny as hell at the same time!
This Jena case is a truly distrubing manifestation of racism and a travesty of justice. Sad to see that bigotry is still alive & well in 2007.
Michael Vick and O.J. are still dead to me, however.
Comment by falcore on September 20th, 2007 at 12:34 pm:
so was that story about the models true or not?
Comment by jammer on September 20th, 2007 at 2:08 pm:
ya I definitely think its funny. Calling out advertising strategies “ambiguously ethnic” and how the models look “12-14″ years of age yeah fuck i can get behind that bull honky. Its pretty clear that they are being ironic illustrating how absurd their ad campaigns are and how ya they definitely border on sexual harassment as they objectify women for profit. It is clear they are making fun of the company employing such practices and not sexual harassment itself. Plus its comedy- dare you to find a comedian that isn’t at least twice as offensive.
And now to flog the deadest horse of all. I’m reading “the end of america: a letter of warning to a young patriot.” by naomi wolf (who btw was on the ubiquitous colbert) and she explains how …”Academe is a tinderbox of activism, so those seeking a fascist shift punish academics and students with professional loss if they do not “coordinate”, in Goebbels’ term, ideologically. Since civil servants are the sector of society most vulnerable to being fired by a given regime, they are also a group that fascists typically “coordinate” early on: the Reich Law for the Re-establishment of a Professional Civil Service was passed on April 7 1933.
Bush supporters in state legislatures in several states put pressure on regents at state universities to penalise or fire academics who have been critical of the administration. As for civil servants, the Bush administration has derailed the career of one military lawyer who spoke up for fair trials for detainees, while an administration official publicly intimidated the law firms that represent detainees pro bono by threatening to call for their major corporate clients to boycott them.”
http://www.guardian....y/0,,2064157,00.html
at least worth considering in regards to the Churchill case. I dont have the book here(its at school) but I’ll expand on what she says later.
Comment by tom on September 20th, 2007 at 2:54 pm:
well, i was about half way through the article when i realized it wasn’t real. i think i need to stop smoking drugs so much.
anyways, then i stopped reading it, i do find it quite disturbing. onions descriptions of AA are probably quite accurate in terms of real places in real life where these places do exist.
i’ve never supported AA, though i did buy a few things though g7 that might have been AA, i dont know. but i see these adds in the weekly i like to read and it just makes me sick.
Comment by falcore on September 20th, 2007 at 11:59 pm:
So what is AA guilty of
Comment by D-Rock on September 21st, 2007 at 5:41 am:
Just to clarify for those who fail to see satire when it is presented to them, the linked article is not, in fact, “real.” It is satire. The Onion publishes purely satirical articles.
As for what AA is “guilty of”, I would say hyper-sexualized marketing, pushing to the teen porn aesthetic, an image-based hiring process in its stores, and a work environment that fosters sexual harassment. To name a few.
The aforementioned Knowmore.org link provides a good overview of the company.
Comment by Sebast on September 21st, 2007 at 11:47 am:
Well I think this whole discussion is satirical.
¡Oops!
There I go again, swingin’ away my loose blabbermouthlike lips.
Silly me.
—
¿Is the frase “The Onion will make you cry” also satirical? ¿Or is that just plain and simple strategic marketing placing? Kick my nuts and call them gummybears…
Comment by blackmetal666 on September 21st, 2007 at 2:00 pm:
I live in Southern New Jersey, about 15 minutes from Philadelphia. To put things in perspective, this is “the north”. About 35 minutes south of me, in Millville, the Klan is still VERY active. I also work with about a 50/50 mix of white and black co-workers. All of my black co-workers were very interested/upset in the Jena 6 story. The white ones? Most of ‘em probably couldn’t tell you what happened. It’s very disheartening that more people (by people I mean white) aren’t furious and fucking embarrassed by what happened and the fact that racism is still so prevalent in the U.S. Kudos on the Knowmore.org referencing. Great site, and Sage Francis is fucking awesome too.
Comment by falcore on September 22nd, 2007 at 2:09 pm:
oh ok i didn’t really get that angle from the article I though the satire was pointing out what if the visible employees were working in dreadful sweatshop conditions.
As far as hyper-sexualized that shit is everywhere I was listening to a radio station and there was a 2 min ad. for Burger King, I think, that for about the first 2/3rd’s of it was a guy singing about how he likes flat buns. It was chalk full of sexual innuendo and then at the end an announcer goes on about some new sandwich or something.
It seems like sex is the last bastion for those marketing useless products.