Written by Jared Freedom Leonard
Have you heard about BundyFest!? You know, the 30-day rock festival featuring 240 bands for a non-stop party just 35 miles south of St. George? I mean, it started on Friday. Why aren’t you there right now?
Maybe you caught a glimpse of the BundyFest! event page on Facebook. The festival is being thrown in support of disgruntled local rancher Cliven Bundy, who made national news last April [check out The Independent’s exclusive video footage of the standoff]. From Washington D.C. to California the Bundy Ranch debacle took the center of just about every political and comical stage. Prodded by pundits and branded by beltway bullies, Bundy was targeted by the media with more heat than a red-hot poker. (Ssssssst….hold still BOY!)
One particular arm-jerker stood out.
Meet Sean R. Shealy, the writer, comedian, and activist behind BundyFest!. Hailing from California, the retired comedian is a columnist for Information Press Newspaper and is the published writer of two politically charged books, “Killing Limbaugh” (fiction) and “Corruption and Cover-ups of the Bush White House Unmasked” (non-fiction). Shealy’s Bundyfest! Facebook page has thousands of followers, and over a thousand people have confirmed that they are going.
So why would somebody dedicate so much energy and effort into creating and promoting a fake festival?
That’s right, BundyFest! was made-up, never meant to happen! But that doesn’t mean it was totally pointless. The BundeyFest! Facebook page hilariously announces, “Come celebrate TOTAL FREEDOM at BundyFest!, just across the road from the Cliven Bundy Ranch, in Bunkerville, Nevada! 240 LIVE bands, 24 hours a day, for a SOLID ROCKIN’ MONTH!!! October 3-November 2. 2014.” The event gained enough attention from Shealy’s guerrilla-marketing campaign, that the event has taken on life of its own in a short amount of time. In a way, he has managed to make BundyFest! very real, even though it’s totally fake.
At first I thought Shealy was just riding a wave of internet luck. Right place, right time and capitalizing on the Bundy Buzz with some good stuff. But satirizing one ridiculous event with one of your own is serious business, and that ain’t no joke — especially when you’re an experienced entertainer and writer who just-so-happens to have experience in band promotion and corporate marketing as well.
I soon began to realize that this was a labor of love for Shealy. I looked into how the project evolved, reading the posts and watching the videos featuring memes, parodies, and serious news clips mixed in with satirical videos lampooning Tea-baggers, Militia men and passionate conservatives, along with the heated comment threads with bona-fide Bundy supporters tussling with those who get the joke.
One Bundy supporter threatened to contact the FBI, alleging slander by one of the commenters. It was quickly turning into a page that I would regularly visit for a good laugh and a bit of thoughful political discussion.
When I learned that Shealy was penning his third book while simultaneously working as a columnist, actor, commedian, and social activist, it became clear to me that Shealy wasn’t just another YouTuber looking for a little bit of attention. He was looking for a lot of attention, and on issues that mattered to him. Furthermore, he was presenting serious political commentary in a relevant and entertaining way.
“I am an entertainer foremost, and an activist second,” Shealy told me when I interviewed him about the festival. “I started doing stand-up in adult nightclubs when I was fifteen. But for the past 12 years — since the passage of the Homeland Security Act, and the creation of the Total Information Awareness system — I have used every persuasive ability I possess to help explain to Americans the extent to which we have veered into truly dangerous territory.”
The threats posed to the American people have morphed over time, Shealy said. Citing climate change, war crimes, and bank bailouts, he said he doesn’t feel like the word “democracy” is any longer appropriate to describe our society.
“We are a plutocracy, and an oligarchy,” Shealy said. “And virtually none of your elected officials will bother to utter either word. This is frankly terrifying.”
Bundy’s followers represent a symptom of what Shealy said is the root of the problem.
“People understand that things are unstable,” he said. “Even the right, polluted as they are with disinformation, see that the banks get a free pass, and that the government now selectively enforces the law. They see the people as the victim of this corruption. They are correct.”
“The corporations care not for governing,” he continued. “They have taken over the world, and they have no desire to govern, except where it is profitable.”
In the absence of leadership from our elected officials, Shealy said, populist leaders like Bundy will inevitably arise.
“They will be unelected,” he said, “and they will push the boundaries of their power and influence as far as they can.”
“Some will be psychopaths.”
Shealy created Bundyfest! to make the point that the rule of law matters. He simply took Bundy’s professed value system to it’s logical conclusion,
Shealy said that it didn’t take as much effort as you might thing to make national waves.
“I just sat in my 27 foot long travel trailer, and created a Youtube video and two Facebook pages,” Shealy said. “But the biggest story that no one is telling is that I reached millions with only that much effort. If the government planned all along to subjugate us, they made a lousy start by giving us the internet,” he said.
“The revolution will not be televised,” he continued. “The revolution will happen live, in your living room, your bedroom, on your phone, in the bathroom while you piss. Democracy is not over. Global democracy has just begun.”
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