Editor’s Note: Some of the language and links might be offensive.
Austin is known for its motto, “Keep Austin Weird.” This week, an estimated 27,000 people [1] will come to South by Southwest (“SXSW”) to try and prove it. The annual interactive media and technology festival will host big name liberals like former Vice President Al Gore, the Bush-hating band Green Day and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, as well panel discussions and films about gays, pornography, sex with minors and drag queens.
In short, it’s a celebration of things liberals love.
SXSW features more than 1,300 bands as well as numerous events, from discussion panels to film screenings to meet ups, parties and workshops. The festival draws media and technology innovators, big name Hollywood celebrities [2], along with the general public. Some of the prominent speakers who will give talks range from app and game developers such as Julie Uhrman, founder of a new gaming console called Ouya, to basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.
Each year, typical liberal entertainment from Sundance and other film festivals is celebrated. This year features “Continental [3]” – a documentary about New York’s gay bathhouse; “I am Divine” – a documentary about a drag queen; and “Mr. Angel” – another documentary who’s title character is described as being a “porn pioneer and transgender activist” will be featured. Other gems this year include Sundance favorites “Pit Stop,” “Don Jon’s Addiction,” and “A Teacher” which all revolve around adultery, sex with minors, gay relationships and porn [4].
Past award winners include HBO’s often naked “Girls” star Lena Dunham’s breakout indie film “Tiny Furniture” and “Gimme the Loot [5],” a film about two teen gang members’ noble quest to graffiti a historic New York landmark, with plenty of drug dealing and foul language along the way.
But crass entertainment isn’t all South by Southwest has to feature. There is plenty of political propaganda presented as “information” to listen to as well. With festival favorite and global warming worry-wart Gore as a speaker, it’s to be expected.
“Lessons from the Unabomber [6]” gives center stage to the murderer and terrorist’s ideas about technology. Saturday includes a talk [7] from author and former Obama campaigner Clay Johnson on his book “The Information Diet” which seeks to dismantle the “mass-ignorance that comes not from the lack of information but from the consumption of it.” Predictably, reviews for the book on Amazon [8] show that Clay’s book panders to liberal sensibilities by bashing Fox News and praising CNN for being “unbiased.”
Other festival highlights include:
- Musical performances by Green Day – notorious for their Bush hating [9] – as well as Bruce Springsteen, who endorsed Obama [10] and performed at the DNC this past Fall.
- “Is Women’s Media Too Girly?” – Panel includes Anna Holmes, founder of the ultra feminist site, Jezebel [11].
- Porn charity “Fuck for Forrest [12]” – “Based on the idea that sex can save the world, the NGO raises money for their environmental cause by selling home-made erotic films on the internet.”
- “Female Orgasm [13]” – A meditative training workshop based on women’s orgasms.
And who could forget both Gore, who will be talking about none other than the future of “climate change [14],”and Maddow, who has a long history [15] of slamming conservatives on MSNBC. There’s certainly plenty of partisan politics and wacky workshops to draw the weirdos out to Austin this year.