HAHA. Funny, though I do think his thesis is sort of on point in The World is Flat.

heh.



UPDATE: Footage, courtesy of the Greenwash Gorillas themselves... even as this was a pretty amazing spectacle, the footage kind of makes me want to give Tom a big hug. While I understand the criticisms of Friedman's work, I wonder if this was an effective way to get the message across, or whether this merely reflects poorly on the University... thoughts? Could the pie-throwers have raised their dissent during the Q&A with as much flair?

[YOUTUBE:http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=sv6nvMUq10U]

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman had just begun his Earth Day lecture at Brown last night, when Molly Little '08.5 and a colleague let him know what they thought of his work.

The Brown Daily Herald reports:

A female audience member ran on stage last night and threw a green pie at New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman [...]. The woman had been sitting in the south side of the auditorium's front row when she pulled the pie out of a Brown Bookstore plastic bag that had been tucked in a red backpack and leapt out of her seat.



More... At the same time the woman threw the pie, a male accomplice seated a few rows back ran down the aisle and onto the stage, throwing small pamphlets explaining the actions into the crowd.



[...] One side of the pamphlet contains an excerpt from a September 2006 review of Friedman's book, "The World is Flat," written by Raymond Lotta for the journal "Revolution," which styles itself as the "Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA." The review is highly critical of Friedman, who the review claims cannot see his own errors while "seated in the business class of his analytical jetliner.

"

The other side contains five bullet-points explaining why "Thomas Friedman deserves a pie in the face," which include reasons like "his sickeningly cheery applaud for free market capitalism's conquest of the planet," and "for helping turn environmentalism into a fake plastic consumer product for the privileged.

"

The pamphlet declares "Thomas Friedman's 'Green' as fake and toxic to human and planetary health as the cool-whip (sic) covering his face.

"

After taking a brief hiatus to clean up, Friedman delivered the rest of his speech, which received two standing ovations. On the pie incident, Brown President Ruth J. Simmons chimed in, "We really very much defend the right of anybody to contest any speaker's opinions. But nobody here favors assault.