“Many creative writers keep journals; the sociologist’s need for systematic reflection demands it.” -C. Wright Mills

The New York Times reports that pranksters have distributed a faux NYTimes dated a year into the future that describes a liberal utopia. If, like me, you were unlucky enough not to get a copy, there is an accompanying website that mimics the Times’ actual site. Apparently the paper was put together by the Yes Men with a wide range of assistance.

I’m particularly struck by the potential of this brilliant approach. At the conference celebrating Peter’s contributions in Berlin this past weekend, we ended by calling for the academics to organize and take action. Given the vital need to present alternative futures at this juncture in which it is highly likely that Obama will not take us very far left, this kind of utopian pranksterism is genius. It also seems like it could be (have been?) a fun project around which to organize academics’ efforts. Perhaps we need to introduce a Situationist praxis into the academic left?