Friday, May 2, 2014

DHS and Corporate Honchos Punked by Yes Men


From my pal and indefatigable comrade-in-arms Kevin Zeese comes this account of a brilliant stunt by The Yes Men. (When you see "RuPaul's wig designer" as a photo caption, you know you're in for a good time):

Contractors, lobbyists, and officials attending the Homeland Security Congress in Washington DC yesterday did a “traditional” Native American circle dance to celebrate a fictitious new US government plan, the “American Renewable Clean-Energy Network” (AmeriCAN), to convert the US to 100% renewable energy by 2030.   
The conference attendees—including a retired Navy Admiral, a retired USAF General, a former Seal Team Seven leader, an aspiring Republican Congressman, lobbyists, and many homeland security contractors—applauded frequently during the stirring announcement by the US Department of Energy’s “Benedict Waterman” (actually Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men), as well as the eloquent speech by “Bana Slowhorse” of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (actually Gitz Crazyboy, a youth worker from the Athabascan Chippewyan First Nations, whose land includes the Alberta Tar Sands). 
You have to see the video to believe it. All these corporate types holding each other as they dance, singing and hooting. They were totally snowed by the bogus event. And, of course, never ones to lose an opportunity, the lobbyists hurried at the end to press their business cards into the hands of the spoofers.

The whole thing proves once again that ridicule is a powerful form of protest (one I engage in regularly at this blog and at TSA News).

Read the account and watch the video at the great website Popular Resistance.