The Yes Men

Watching The Yes Men yesterday was a great way to spend my afternoon. I can’t believe they get away with doing what they do. Impersonating international powerhouses like the Bush administration and the World Trade Organization seems completely illegal, but I’m really glad they found a loophole in the system. It’s both funny and disturbing to see these guys on the news with their messages like the WTO dismantling, being taken seriously. I have to wonder what the people that actually run and represent that organization think when they’re watching this news unfold. After seeing the film, I have to question whether or not representatives of the WTO even questioned the decision, or did they just assume they missed the memo?

            One of my favorite aspects of the film is the fact that the “yes men” get invited to legitimate conferences and events by people who are either too lazy to do proper research or really just don’t give a damn or even notice that these people are not who they think they are. I feel like I could just go out and pretend to be part of a global organization and no one would question me, except for, well, the fact that I’m way to young to actually have an position other than intern in the UN or WTO or what have you. It’s so funny watching these guys get ready to go to these conferences as they go shopping at the thrift store for suits and shoes and buzzing their hair as they’re finishing up speeches. It’s all so ridiculous and I think that’s what they’re trying to make themselves. They work so hard to present these absurd plans of action for businesses around the globe, yet people look at them as though they make perfect sense. Why shouldn’t we use a giant phallus to watch our workers (modern-day slaves) and keep them on track? Why shouldn’t we ruin other people’s lives in order to increase our company’s profits? It truly scares me that the people in the audience didn’t even ask them a single question or bother to point out the lack of morality in the speaker. I mean, come on, how aweful do they have to make their ideas to get any sort of reaction out of these business leaders. It makes me sick to think about it, because I feel like if these people have no heart or maybe they’re just apathetic (either way), the world is in need of some major reform. We’ve known this for a while, but this video was the first time I had personally witnessed how such horrible policies can be approved. People are apathetic to point that it’s going to ruin us all.

            As for the making of the film, I have a lot of respect for this little band of renegades. They put a great deal of effort into their work, and really seem like they want to make a difference in the world. It’s a shame that they haven’t been able to give a wake up call to the ones who make the decisions, but as a person on the other end of the spectrum, I find the yes men’s work very inspiring. Watching them reminds me of one of the more important reasons I wanted to become a filmmaker, and that is to inspire people and promote change, which you can’t do without taking risks and stretching the limits.