Since Barack Obama became the President-elect, people have been intently listening to see what he is actually going to do. In doing this, they have goals in the back of their minds. A comedy group called the Yes Men have been handing out fake copies of The New York Times today.
Handing this out to people may take some light criticism from those who think this would make people think it’s the truth like Orson Welles’ infamous airing of The War of the Worlds. But overall, this is a paper that ultimately lines up goals for Obama. I’m not saying the Iraq War will end just like that or what shown will be accomplished, but even through bipartisan eyes this looks like a much better world.
I went to the Yes Men site, and found that they are not so much a comedy group as they are a watchdog group. They define what they do as “identity correction, impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.”
Their Wikipedia entry lists their accomplishments, which range from posing as the World Trade Organization and arguing the function of the U.S.A.’s Civil War to trashing on big oil.
This is an important group because they are built up on protecting public interest and rejecting conumerism. These are exactly what we need more of today.
One may argue that the group’s deceptive tactics are ethically questionable but if they are picking on ethically questionable people, who can take issue? Barack Obama needs to be thinking about the power of these types of groups the moment he steps into office.
