MidTerm Assignment 2

Unscripting the Political Process

We live in a political world that is very scripted. The President, Congressmen, Senators, media, corporations and government officials are very careful with what they say to the people. Political figures, as well as the corporate world, give “safe” answers to avoid any negative publicity and to appeal to the outside world. Advancements in technology, however, have made it possible to unscript the political process and shed light on some truth in the political arena.
Steve Dietz and Max Perry spoke of YouTube as a source to unscript the political process as well as spark debates and raise awareness about political issues. Groups such as the “Yes Men” and “Billionaires for Bush” raise awareness on specific political issues and do this by often times using satire. For example, the “Yes Men” create fake websites that are spoofs of other organizations; they then accept invitations that are meant for the organizations and show up at events, in which they talk about what they believe the organizations’ “true identities” are. Videos of the “Yes Men” in action are then put on YouTube for everyone to view and to cause discussion about the organizations they impersonate.
In Steve Dietz’s lecture, he spoke of Harun Farocki’s Eye Machine, 2001 which is a fast-paced montage on the theme of surveillance in the era of “smart” technology. The piece draws on the ideas of: robots blindly performing industrial tasks; flaws in production being tracked by computers in a steel foundry; airport layouts being analyzed onscreen to monitor flow and security and a missile with a mounted “suicide camera” giving a kamikaze view of a bridge’s destruction. The ideas that he emphasizes in his video art are not far fetched and they actually raise discussion and awareness of what machines are truly capable of these days.
Artists like the “Yes Men” and Harun Farocki alter political thinking through their works of art. They might not change everyone’s opinion, but their works of art raise awareness of the scripted political world we live in. Through artists works we can see a different opinion; which causes us to open our minds and not blindly believe everything the media and politicians say.