Tuesday
Oct202009
Political Pranksters Take On Capitol Hill
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 3:41PM
By Laura Smith, University Of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
If you walked past the Capitol today and heard songs "Survivor" from Destiny's Child and "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor and thought you were walking by a concert, think again.
A group of approximately 20 from the politically charged prank troupe The Yes Men donned ballon-like costumes and met on the Northeast lawn of the Capitol today to speak out against climate change, all while playing these songs repeatedly.
Andy Birchlbaum, a member of the Yes Men, says that the entire world is saying something needs to be done to combat climate change, but that it's not being done because the U.S. is holding up the game.
"If we don't send Obama to Copenhagen in December with a good bill, and the only bill we have is Kerry-Boxer right now, it's going to be disastrous," said Bichlbaum.
"The U.S. is going to be a laughing stock again, and worse than that, the world is going to be left without a plan to deal with climate change," Birchlabaum added.
The costumes, which the group deemed Survivaballs, are a wardrobe piece the activists jokingly claimed will protect people from disasters, such as tsunamis, falling out of windows and burning buildings.
"We are comedians. We do absurd things," continued Birchlbaum. "We're not trying to be legislators, we're not trying to be politicians, we're not even trying to be reporters. We're trying to help reporters get the message out," he said.
"We tried to come up with the absolute stupidest costume and the stupidest spectacle we could to show how stupid it is to do nothing and not to have climate legislation," he added.
He said the costumes were initially presented at a conference on U.S. Gulf Coast as Halliburton's solution to climate change. While the presentation was satire, the audience, not in on the joke, applauded them.
Yesterday, the group fooled the press by sending out a fake press release claiming to be from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The release claimed that the Chamber intended to adopt a more environmentally-friendly stance toward climate change. The release was picked up by Reuters.
The activists marched to the Capitol, chanting, "Oh it's hot in here, there must be some carbon in the atmosphere." The Yes Men also approached Capitol police officers, asking them for their opinions about climate change. The officers declined to respond.
Mike Bonanno, another member of the Yes Men and Survivaball costume wearer, moved the chains on the stairs of the Capitol to walk up. Police quickly swarmed in to escort him off the stairs, saying it was illegal. As he began to argue with them, he fell down the steps and onto the pavement at the bottom. Bonanno was unharmed, but his costume was deflated.
If you walked past the Capitol today and heard songs "Survivor" from Destiny's Child and "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor and thought you were walking by a concert, think again.
A group of approximately 20 from the politically charged prank troupe The Yes Men donned ballon-like costumes and met on the Northeast lawn of the Capitol today to speak out against climate change, all while playing these songs repeatedly.
Andy Birchlbaum, a member of the Yes Men, says that the entire world is saying something needs to be done to combat climate change, but that it's not being done because the U.S. is holding up the game.
"If we don't send Obama to Copenhagen in December with a good bill, and the only bill we have is Kerry-Boxer right now, it's going to be disastrous," said Bichlbaum.
"The U.S. is going to be a laughing stock again, and worse than that, the world is going to be left without a plan to deal with climate change," Birchlabaum added.
The costumes, which the group deemed Survivaballs, are a wardrobe piece the activists jokingly claimed will protect people from disasters, such as tsunamis, falling out of windows and burning buildings.
"We are comedians. We do absurd things," continued Birchlbaum. "We're not trying to be legislators, we're not trying to be politicians, we're not even trying to be reporters. We're trying to help reporters get the message out," he said.
"We tried to come up with the absolute stupidest costume and the stupidest spectacle we could to show how stupid it is to do nothing and not to have climate legislation," he added.
He said the costumes were initially presented at a conference on U.S. Gulf Coast as Halliburton's solution to climate change. While the presentation was satire, the audience, not in on the joke, applauded them.
Yesterday, the group fooled the press by sending out a fake press release claiming to be from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The release claimed that the Chamber intended to adopt a more environmentally-friendly stance toward climate change. The release was picked up by Reuters.
The activists marched to the Capitol, chanting, "Oh it's hot in here, there must be some carbon in the atmosphere." The Yes Men also approached Capitol police officers, asking them for their opinions about climate change. The officers declined to respond.
Mike Bonanno, another member of the Yes Men and Survivaball costume wearer, moved the chains on the stairs of the Capitol to walk up. Police quickly swarmed in to escort him off the stairs, saying it was illegal. As he began to argue with them, he fell down the steps and onto the pavement at the bottom. Bonanno was unharmed, but his costume was deflated.
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