Effort borders on fascist chic
by Ken Wheaton
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the guy who brought you lyrics that equate the CIA with the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3767 and seem to yearn for those always mystical golden days (“whatever happened to humanity”) is no student of history and would thus make a video that sounds creepily reminiscent of a — well, hell, I hate to say it — a Hitler rally. It’s one thing for a stadium full of drunk people to shout out the name of a rock band. I’ll even give a pass to people who’ve worked hard in a campaign getting riled up during a victory speech. But it’s another thing to use a politician’s name, being chanted over and over again, as the backdrop for a slick and empty-headed production. If you thought the first Will.i.am video for Obama was creepy, get a load of the new one.
I’m in no way suggesting that Barack http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3775 has any similarities at all with Hitler or Stalin. His politics don’t match. He’s too smart a campaigner for that. Besides, the Barack Obama campaign has no official contact with the people making these videos. None. Zilch. Nada. (Right?) Though the campaign did tap Shepard “Obey” Fairey for posters. And Fairey’s work makes an appearance in the video.Ahem: “The Obey campaign attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with Obey propaganda provoke thought and possible frustration. … ”
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