The Yes Men Hack The World

The Yes Men exist to expose the need, and display the effects of change, with regards to public morality. Much in the same way a hacker would abstract information from its host, The Yes Men abstract information from large corporations with moral inconsistencies. McKenzie Wark explains, in his Hacker Manifesto, that “Patents and copyrights all end up in the hands, not of their creators, but of the vectoralist class that owns the means of realising the value of these abstractions.” The value of these copyrights, for the vectoralist Yes Men, is their ability to raise awareness of just how fucked up big corporations can be. While not in the film we watched Tuesday, this idea was best exemplified when the Yes Men took on DOW regarding the Bhopal India Disaster.

The Yes Men define their work not as identity theft, but rather identity correction: “Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Our targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.” By creating a website similar to DOW’s, The Yes Men were extended an invitation to speak about the Bhopal Chemical spill on its 20th anniversary. This catastrophe killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousand. DOW took little to no responsibility for this offense that had been perpetrated by a company they absorbed (Union Carbide). By appearing on BBC News, posing as a DOW representative, The Yes Men successfully revived focus and care on an issue that had been very much forgotten. The identity correction involved telling the world what DOW should have been saying, promising relief and reparations to the citizens of Bhopal. When DOW came forth, reassuring their stockholders that no relief would be sent to Bhopal, they exposed themselves for the heartless moneygrubbers that they are.

This can very clearly be seen as a form of hacking, according to Wark’s manifesto. “The formation of the hacker class as a class comes at just this moment when freedom from necessity and from class domination appears on the horizon as a possibility.” DOW, as a financial super power, had been dominating the lower class (citizens of Bhopal and the general public) by their lack of response to the atrocities that took place in 1984. When The Yes Men received their invitation to speak on BBC, this “freedom on the horizon” had now become a possibility.

“All representation is false.” (Wark). This is the concept that fuels The Yes Men. If big corporations are going to lie to the consumer (be false), then why can’t The Yes Men lie too? At least their lies serve a higher cause. While corporations lie to cover their tracks and produce profit, The Yes Men lie to raise awareness of the corruption that takes place right in front of our faces, but is rarely seen. By “correcting” the identities of the companies, through false representation, The Yes Men use lies for the advancement of humanity rather than the advancement of the self.

Besides, even if nothing changes…it’s too much fun to finally watch someone stick it to those who were once untouchables.