Naiomi Klein, writing in a Scottish newspaper, exposes Robyn Mazer, an opportunistic copyright advocate in DC who is trying to link bootleg t-shirts with bin Laden and use the Current Situation to crack down on intellectual property violations around the world. Let’s put Mazer and Larry Ellison together in a room and they can duke it out to see who gets the right to exploit the deaths of thousands.

It seems we are facing a much more complicated scenario than the facile dichotomy of a consumerist McWorld versus an anti-consumer Jihad.

In fact, if Ms Mazer is correct, not only are the two worlds thoroughly enmeshed, the imagery of McWorld is being used to finance Jihad.

Maybe a little complexity is not so bad. Part of the disorientation many Americans now face has to do with the inflated and over-simplified place consumerism plays in the American narrative.

To buy is to be. To buy is to love. To buy is to vote. People outside the US who want Nikes — even counterfeit Nikes — must want to be American, must love America, must in some way be voting for everything America stands for.

Link Discuss (via Robot Wisdom)