Beyond School

I’m in Korea, and so out of the loop about much of American culture. Maybe you’ve already heard about the Yes Men, but they’re new to me - and they’ve blown me away.

If you’re a regular reader, you may know that I’m a huge fan of satire, especially that of Jonathan Swift and Voltaire. Both of these masters, if they were alive today, would surely marvel at what the Yes Men are doing with satire, identity, websites, YouTube, filmmaking, and the mainstream media. They’ve fooled Exxon, the BBC, the WTO, Dow Chemical, and more. Unbelievable.

Here’s how YouTube describes them in its blurb about the following clip from a Bill Moyers interview:

Bill Moyers interview with Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, two impersonators who use satire to make serious points about media consolidation, journalism, business ethics and separating fact from fiction in a world of spin.

And here’s the video itself:

Here’s part 2:

The full interview is at Moyers’ site. And don’t miss the Yes Men’s own website, with links to some of their wizardry.

Yes, it opens up all sorts of ethics questions. But so do the targets of their assaults - which are never themselves questioned by the mainstream news.

Fascinating. I’m seeing some adaptations for a satire unit this year in my classroom.

Cooler still - in reality, these guys are both, you guessed it: teachers.

If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

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