The Yes Men

I thought the Yes Men used great tactics in presenting their protests against the World Trade Organization. They were hilarious, which definitely gave them a certain amount of ethos, but they were also very knowledgeable about the WTO. However, they didn’t always display this knowledge in their presentations, and relied way more on shock value and ridiculousness. For some groups this tactic was very ineffective. It was ineffective for the older men and women that witnessed the gold suit, for they just went along with it and clapped. I found this really discouraging for society because out of all the people that were listening to their presentation, not one seemed to notice it’s ridiculousness (even the electronic chip in the worker’s shoulder). It was as if these people have been brainwashed by the WTO to believe everything the organization said. Even though Mike and Andy may have discredited their ethos by lying, the point that they get across (which is that the WTO has waaaay to much power over us) makes all the lying worth it. I was really happy to see the presentation to the college students, not only because it was hilarious, because it proved that not everyone has been brainwashed by the WTO. It proved that the human population has not completely lost against the WTO, and that there are still people willing to take a stand against something that they don’t believe in, even if they are the only ones. I found the Yes Men to be very inspiring for they showed how you can care enough about an issue to spend your life trying to expose it, even with the possibility of getting in trouble. I feel like these are the kind of people our world needs more of and it will be a terrible time when no one else is willing to sacrifice themselves for the betterment of our society.