515 Crew

[@nonymous]

a while back, someone posted an article here about a friend of mine who was caught up in an entrapment case with the FBI and an informant that was paid $75,000 to coerce him and his friends into blowing things up.

the May issue of Elle Magazine has an article about the case and the informant, "Anna", including an interview with her. days after it was out, readers all over the country opened the magazine to find a retraction sticker on the front of the article. is this a sign of Elle's professionalism to admit when they're wrong or a hoax designed to critique and decry the contents of an article? you decide:

from crimethinc.com

This month, as every month, I tromped over to Borders to purchase the new issue of Elle magazine. I was delighted to see that the May 2008 Elle is their third Green Issue; thanks to funding from Aveeno®, it’s even printed on 10 percent post-consumer recycled paper. But when I opened the magazine, I discovered a sticker pasted across one of the articles.

The article in question details the recent case in which an FBI employee infiltrated a group of young radicals, pressured them to carry out illegal activity, and lured them to a bugged cabin, at which they were arrested when it appeared that they were not going to go through with her plan. Eric McDavid, one of the arrestees, was recently convicted by a conflicted jury and faces up to 20 years in prison.

This sticker was in every single copy of the magazine in the store. Has anyone else come across this? Does anyone know whether this is really a retraction from the staff of Elle, or a hoax?

A pdf of the sticker is available here; as a point of reference. Please do not print this out and use it to sticker copies of Elle in other stores, if it turns out this is a hoax.

Elle magazine can be reached at:

subscriptions: elle@neodata.com
forums: http://forums.elle.com/
other inquiries: http://www.elle.com/aboutus/7939/contact-elle.html

the retraction reads:

“Following consultation with federal agencies, we at Elle wish to retract this article. Not because of the stream of factual inaccuracies beginning in the second sentence (there has never been a CrimethInc. convergence in Athens, Georgia), but because in the current political climate it is irresponsible to even pretend to give a fair hearing to radical anti-capitalists. Even if Anna’s story is a cut-and-dried case of entrapment, we have to understand this as a necessary defense of our free market freedoms. Not to say that we are not concerned about the environment at Elle. On the contrary, the global environmental crisis offers unprecedented opportunities to promote sustainable fashions (p. 98), give the meat industry a makeover (p. 245), and renew faith in this country’s discredited electoral process (p. 104); even the color green itself is making a comeback (p. 72). Consumer capitalism may be threatening life on earth, but there’s simply no other option—that is, not unless you’re willing to join the ranks of the eco-terrorists.”

[joseph]

im confused? someone at crimthinkinc buys elle?

edit- nevermind. duh. im an idiot.

[joseph]

Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.

Reason:
The Websense category "Society and Lifestyles" is filtered.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

URL:
http://crimethinc.com/

[@nonymous]

has there ever been a retraction made ON an existing article? i always thought they waited til the issues were exhausted and then made a sentence retraction in the back?

so for an outsider(me) it looks like somebody at crimethinkinc made a funny way to say print this pdf and stick it on copies of elle....

perhaps they got a flood of harsh emails regarding the article and decided to make a swift retraction?

hoax or not, i'm not sure the point of this was to make a "funny" as you suggest; it might have something to do with someone going to prison for a very long time and using satire to address a dishonest portrayal of individuals/groups involved? that is, if Elle didn't print the retraction themselves. . . .

im confused? someone at crimthinkinc buys elle?

edit- nevermind. duh. im an idiot.

[edit] - i retract my rebuttal.

[joseph]

a while back, someone posted an article here about a friend of mine who was caught up in an entrapment case with the FBI and an informant that was paid $75,000 to coerce him and his friends into blowing things up.

i missed that one.
75,000 dollars? to blow something up? why doesnt anyone ever ask...

[@nonymous]

i missed that one.
75,000 dollars? to blow something up? why doesnt anyone ever ask...

here's an overview of the case: http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/article.php?id=326

here's another perspective on the article, detailing why people may be upset: http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.p ... 2122126313

[joseph]

not as much fun as i was hoping but here you go @ http://forums.elle.com/style/board/mess ... 1258#M1258

[@nonymous]

yeah, saw that. a few other blogs/sites have picked up the story too:

http://www.celebrities.com/blog/?p=3935
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/04/23/elle ... errorists/
http://gawker.com/383325/heroic-informa ... or-to-elle

[@nonymous]

http://www.foliomag.com/2008/activists- ... reen-issue

Printed on the stickers, according to the post, is a statement related to the story claiming it contains “factual inaccuracies,” and gives a “fair hearing to radical anti-capitalists.”

A spokesperson for Elle’s parent company Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. tells FOLIO: that that the stickers “were not generated” by Elle, and that the company is investigating the situation.

fair hearing? did they read the retraction? idiots.