June, 2004
Although over 4 million copies of the Deception Dollar have been printed and distributed one-by-one, hand to hand, they have not had much media coverage since they sprang on the scene in Autumn 2002. Not even from a major arts and entertainment editor, although the artistic merit of the $911 notes has gained them a place in art museums. And hardly even in the alternative print media, although they are a spreading underground counter-culture phenomenon.
Right now $911 fans all seem to have the same idea – hand out funny money to the crowds at premieres of Fahrenheit 911 on June 25th. Under the banner, “Dude, there’s more to the story,” guerrilla publicist Bill Douglas has been e- mail blasting activist lists to leaflet the openings of Michael Moore’s 9/11 documentary. (Bill’s website: http://septembereleventh.org.)
The anti-war protests last spring were the ideal ‘cultural medium’ to help “$911 D-Dollars” spread. The alternative weekly Metro Santa Cruz broke the story in April 2003, under the caption: “Would You Protest Bush Administration Policy For a Dollar? ‘Bush Bucks’ like these have been showing up all over town.”
Cunningly entitled “Embarrass Mint,” Metro’s feature opens with, “They’re called Bush Bucks, or Deception Dollars, and they look remarkably like the real thing – except they carry Bush’s mug shot instead of George Washington’s, say ‘In Fraud We Trust’ and list websites that reportedly ‘reveal tender, public and private truths about 9/11 and the war on freedom.’”
In Summer 2003, the artistry of the bills earned them an honorable mention and reproduction in PRINT – America’s Graphic Design Magazine (see www.deceptiondollar.com/news/ArtMagPage.htm). “There’s a new dollar bill in circulation, bearing a portrait of President George W. – not prim George Washington, but a pugnacious George W. Bush. The bill is a Deception Dollar, brainchild of designer Blaine Machan of Calgary, Alberta, whose fake note – bearing skull-and-bones symbols, names of well-connected corporations like Halliburton, and URLs for alternative media groups – has recently traded hands at anti-war protest rallies.”
Next, a unique, offbeat viewpoint appeared in a non-mass media nano-niche: the online journal of The Numismatic Society in Calgary, of all places. “Numismatics and Political Protest” displays four specimens, the Deception Dollar and three antique coins, dating from the occupation of Judea by the Romans to that of Canada by the British. The article concludes, “How effective, then, is ‘funny money’ as a means of getting across one’s political message? If history is any indication, handing out the Deception Dollar at rallies is certainly a better way of communicating political views than simply handing out leaflets, and the Deception Dollar may well be around to teach our great-grandchildren a little of the history of the early 21st century.” (Hold onto this collector’s set!)
The notes have even found a niche in the Federal Record: “On Monday, October 6, 2003 activists in Seattle presented Congressman Jim McDermott with 87 one billion Deception Dollar notes along with a poster. On October 8, Mr. McDermott presented the special edition Deception Dollars and the poster to Congress.” (www.deceptiondollar.com/news)
Few of us have a congressman’s pull, though. Indeed, Carol Brouillet, California-based activist publisher and organizer of the deception dollar project, says a main reason for the $911s was the media’s studied ignorance of demonstrations against the 9/11 subterfuge (in her useful memoir on the $911 notes, www.communitycurrency.org/aoa.html).
A December, 2003 anecdote from Carol (www.communitycurrency.org/9-11.html):
“I went to Massachusetts last week to speak on ‘The Secret Economics of Empire’ at Hampshire College. Adam Hurter of Media Magicians had pulled the event together and we visited nearby Amherst the day of the event, to pass out Deception Dollars and a few flyers. I was amazed to find the first bookstore we went into selling Deception Dollars for fifty cents each!!!! Apparently, there was quite a market for them, in less than an hour, we sold one hundred each to four bookstores.”
This spring, Reuters captioned a close-up of the $911 note at an anti-war protest in Brazil (www.prisonplanet.com/032204deceptiondollar.html). About the same time, a $911 photo from a NYC peace protest made it into the NY Daily News, too (www.deceptiondollar.com/news/ NYDailyNewsPixMarch20.htm.)
The flashy-graphics website of the artist, Canadian Blaine Machan, is the best place to collect information about the bills. You may contact him at deceptiondollar@yahoo.ca. There is also a DVD of a panel discussion with him on the 911 notes.
Adam Hurter has written a piece that will be published in Clamor magazine this fall. He quotes artist Blaine:
“The Dollars make people laugh,” said Blaine Machan. “It’s empowering to look at something that is so frightening and threatening to all of life, and be able to laugh. Plus, money has a powerful psychological effect on people– they generally find it irresistible.”
What is so extraordinary about the Deception Dollars is they have taken a topic that most people are afraid to touch with a pole and mainstreamed it.
To collect anecdotes about the D-dollars that could be useful to journalists, and for us activists to compare notes, I’ve just started a new Yahoo group. It already has 36 members, and some new material has been posted there, at groups.yahoo.com/group/911DeceptionDollars/ .
By the way, if you need more $911 collector’s sets for gifts, just ask, or get some at a modest price exclusively on my website (waronfreedom.org/ddolars.html – www.foneymoney.com for short). The page is headed, “Easier to give away than real dollar bills.” The collectors’ link is at the bottom, above the motto “Greenback Underground Samizdat: Flyers under the Media Radar for the Countercoup.”)
by John Leonard, Publisher, Tree of Life Books
(moderator at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/911DeceptionDollars/)