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January 27, 2004 - 11:33 AM
the yes men
i heard about this movie/project on knpr last week. it was run at sundance. the guys pose as wto officials and actually get into conferences and stuff and totally mock everything. and the best part is that no one picks up on it most of the time. these guys were also responsible for the gatt/wto spoof site.
www.theyesmen.org
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January 27, 2004 - 12:22 PM
Re: the yes men
Brilliant Erin!
Thanks for contributing a quality thread. I think inherent in culture jamming is to do something subtle and elegant in support of our progressive agenda. Mere cleverness for it's own sake doesn't fit the bill. We can control the definition and folks who want to do something goofy to support conservative, racist or exclusionary agendas can invent their own term for their work.
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January 27, 2004 - 01:34 PM
Re: the yes men
Personally, I've always thought of "culture jamming" as a superset of communication techniques, and I don't know that restricting its definition to only let it apply to communications you agree with does much good for anyone. I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of "our agenda" anyway -- my politics are my own, no matter how much they overlap with those of other people here.
If an individual were to "remix" an anti-war poster, for example, in such a way that it expressed support for international aggression, do you think that would fit the description of culture jamming?
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January 27, 2004 - 01:53 PM
Re: the yes men
I would say that culture jamming depends on the culture, not the jam. If anti-war activism were the norm, and pro-war activism were not, then your example would indeed be a "jam." But since our U.S. mainstream culture is clearly and overtly pro-war, I would argue that your "remix" example wouldn't be a true culture jam.
So, part of my definition of culture jamming, which may not be yours, is that must be an action by a dissenting disempowered group or person that calls into question the actions of the empowered.
And I agree with you on the notion of a group agenda -- there isn't one, and we shouldn't pretend that there is. We seem to be, generally speaking, an odd mix of liberals, libertarians, and anarchists, but that's just a superficial reading. I'm sure that there may be a few disenchanted Republicans out there!
And the Yes Men site is brilliant!
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January 27, 2004 - 02:04 PM
Re: the yes men
A good example: There's a bumber sticker out there that shows a big fish with teeth and JESUS written on the side, about to eat a little fish with feet and DARWIN written on the side, with "survival of the fittest" in big block letters underneath. Is this culture jamming?
The darwin fish thing was huge and became a cultural icon of sorts, for a time. The above is a very clever response, but touting one's christianity in a culture almost entirely molded by christianity doesn't really seem like 'jamming' to me.
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January 27, 2004 - 04:19 PM
Re: the yes men
It's difficult, however, to say just what is or isn't "the norm." To you and I the differences between the Christian influenced perspectives that we feel dominate our culture are only matters of degrees, but the conservative Christian who puts this on his or her car is likely to feel that his or her (guh) beliefs are endangered by people like us, and even by more liberal Christians. Such a person probably feels like part of a minority, with people like us being part of the majority. To someone like this the differences between you, I, and a Unitarian are only matters of degrees.
I suppose the crux of the issue here is whether or not we choose a definition for "culture jamming" that is entirely relative.
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January 27, 2004 - 06:42 PM
jam
I think it has to be relative, starch.
Even your wonderful icon is a jam to this
'information society' we belong to here at tribe.
I think that's a definitive part of something like culture jamming-
comedy, dissent, creativity.
It's not enough just to mock or ridicule.
Wit, tactfulness, intent...
just stirring minds.
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January 27, 2004 - 06:58 PM
Re: jam
the intent is to change this world
;)
there, i said it
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January 28, 2004 - 10:16 AM
Re: jam
Exactly! Promoting christianity does nothing but promote the status quo. Christians feel they are the minority, and always will, because in it's infancy their religiong was severely persecuted, and many of the philosophies of christianity were born of that persecution. A christian could be emporer of the world and would still cry persecution regularly.
Sorry rant. In my opinion culture jamming should challenge peoples assumptions, not pat them on the back for their ingrained beliefs.
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January 28, 2004 - 11:47 AM
Re: the yes men
WOW! These guys are really clever! I like their tactics. They certainly went the distance with their techniques.
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