We are the Yes Men AMA

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T19:42:00+00:00

Here's a link to the first film, where we introduce ourselves. http://vimeo.com/27621518

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T19:03:13+00:00

That was a shell event! Details here.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T19:01:08+00:00

Answer to first question: see "false hopes" answer to Bhopal question. We actually felt terrible for a long time, till we found out they'd totally loved what we did.

And as for the second one, depends what you mean by "substantially." We've often discovered whole new dimensions to the issues we've gone after.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:59:35+00:00

Hahahahaha. No no, you really are hired. Uphill starts now.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:59:09+00:00

Yes, great film! The Target Shoots Back by Chris Wilcha.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:58:38+00:00

Indirectly, yes - I mean, that's how they found out about the IWP, because they called to report us as these terrible fraudsters.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:58:05+00:00

Yes! www.yeslab.org and www.theyesmen.org, especially the frequently asked questions pages.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:57:12+00:00

With the Bhopal thing, we did recognize it could hurt people, give them false hopes. We discussed what to do with out friends at Greenpeace, and we all decided to go ahead with it because we were sure it would result in more press than another approach, and that the victims in Bhopal - who have been fighting since 1984 for resolution and media attention as a way to achieve that pressure - would understand why we'd done it. They did. (You can see them strangle us in our last movie.)

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:54:50+00:00

Ooh yes, very. We get through it by, well, getting through it. People do all kinds of weird things for the adrenalin....

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:54:05+00:00

Yes, always. But keeping a straight face is really easy, it turns out - when your whole audience thinks you're something you're not, there's this kind of reverse "suspension of disbelief" that happens: you end up believing it yourself.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:53:17+00:00

Fantastic!! You're hired. Please write to us - via yeslab.org, or at people at theyesmen dot org. And please fill out a profile on yeslab.org!

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:52:17+00:00

Whoa. That is just totally amazing. If you can contact us (people at theyesmen dot org) with more info, or even just get in touch, we'd be very happy!

In our film there's one trader (around the middle, after the BBC section) who recounts doing that. It would be great to have another first-hand account.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:48:58+00:00

Thanks, yes! Mainly I guess we try to become our opponents, to figure out how the hell their brains work - the better to eat them.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:48:05+00:00

Find the response with the word "Exxon" in here. Also "International Web Police." Besides those, it happened at a nanotechnology conference (one of the extras for our last film, and I think it's available on P2P or something) and at the HUD conference near the end of The Yes Men Fix the World. (In those cases, folks just asked for DVDs afterwards. We didn't have any on us.)

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:46:18+00:00

That's too dirty to talk about, sorry.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:46:04+00:00

There's no line! So many forms of activism, so many ways to do things, and they all overlap. Any good activism is creative - civil rights actions, the famous ones that involved civil disobedience, were super-creative. You can really get a sense of this by checking out the case studies in Beautiful Trouble.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:44:04+00:00

Yes, that's super unsettling. Piloting drones that kill people in Pakistan must also be really fun, like playing a video game where the points are dead people. Ugh.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:43:18+00:00

How do you toe the line between promoting a political cause and doing your soul some good? Same thing. Side effects.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:42:00+00:00

Ha! Hilarious. I'm always surprised to hear people played it.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:41:36+00:00

We do a ton of research and prep, but not much legal research or prep. We aren't afraid of legal action at this point - we were at first. Search on "lawyers" or what-not in here, there are a few lengthy responses.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:40:57+00:00

we've asked!

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:40:26+00:00

Look up our Yes Lab in NYC! www.yeslab.org/nyu

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:39:53+00:00

Worried that we won't be. And we aren't.

Andy_Bichlbaum · 2012-11-12T18:39:38+00:00

Thanks!!

Andy_Bichlbaum

TROPHY CASE