The world was stunned by the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by billionaire Bernie Madoff. If you’re like us, you were fascinated by the case and the man. Well, now you have a chance to tell Madoff how you feel by sending in one of your drawings, photographs, posters, collages, or doodles to a new forum, MadoffMail, to be sent to Madoff on every six-month anniversary of his prison term.
 

Madoffmail.com is a fascinating social web experiment. The site doesn’t take a personal stance on whether Madoff deserves the jail sentence or not. The founders, Mike Long, Aarron Adler and Fritz Simo just really wanted to facilitate a forum on the net, taking a highly charged subject matter, and observe the creative process. Aiming to reach as many people possible in a short amount of time, from the day the site  went up, word spread like wild fire, drawing hundreds of submissions from all over the world. And the entire project cost only $9.00.

Did Bernie Madoff get what he deserved? How could he ever know how his victims really feel? Madoff’s impassive expression infuriated some and intrigued others. Around the time of Madoff’s trial and sentencing, it seemed like everyone had something to say about  Bernie Madoff, but few had the ability to say anything to him. The founders sensed that some kind of forum for public expression could work for all those nursing frustrated sentiments, from anger all the way through to admiration. The site, MadoffMail.com, was set up for everyone: "Whether you were one of Madoff's victims or not, now is your chance to tell him how you feel."

And the people spoke: through works of art, poetry, drawings, collages,  or just a simple note. Every 6 months the founders plan to send Bernie a care package with all the site submissions. Some of the words for Bernie are supportive, for instance, one says, "Don't let this get you down. Some of our greatest leaders sat in jail." Others cynical, "Dear Bernie, Honestly, that was pretty damn impressive. If only the global financial system hadn't collapsed. Tough break..." The artwork is impressive, ranging from Pop Art to frenzied crayon expressionism.

There are no plans on ever taking the site down and for the time being, the site has life of its own, generating it’s own original content, so its evolution is open ended.

Tweet

Share on Tumblr