THE YES MEN AND ACTIVISM IN THE INFORMATION ... - Index of

at least embarrass, large corporations abusing their position of power. Such projects range in
intent and detail. The following project proposals from the Corporate, Media, and Magic
Christian Funds exemplify the range of projects possible:
If corporations are full persons under the law (as the Supreme Court declared in 1886)
then anybody who owns stock is a slaveholder, in violation of the Thirteenth
Amendment. This should be an exploitable notion: (a) Attempt to close down the NYSE
as a slave auction. (b) Formally ask one’s employer to divest its retirement fund of illegal
holdings of slaves. (c) Choose a highly visible mutual fund and attempt to have it
prosecuted as a slaveholder. (d) Choose a highly visible stockbroking [sic] firm and
attempt to have it prosecuted as a slave merchant. 13
Make and place sound playback devices in newspaper dispensers. When the door is
opened, the machine can deliver commentary you may only find between the lines in
the print. 14
Funding [is] needed to launch a campaign to encourage the sons and daughters of the
employees of the American Tobacco Industry to take up the habit of smoking so as to
save their parents’ jobs. Funds would be used to print materials, mail materials, and
compile a list of addresses. To see a prototype of this material, visit freetheseed.com. 15
Though these projects, like most posted on the site, do not make it past the idea stage, a few
have been brought to fruition, at which point RTMark begins a public relations campaign to
promote the project, much like the practices of a public relations firm.
Both the SimCopter hack and the BLO stunt, RTMark’s first two major success stories,
became associated with RTMark after the fact. Servin donated $5000 to himself, which he
reported to the media as an anonymous pairing of donor and activist made possible because of
13 RTMark Featured Funds, http://www.rtmark.com/featured.html, accessed March 2, 2005.
14 RTMark Media Fund, managed by Andrei Condrescu, http://www.rtmark.com/fundmedia.html, accessed March
2, 2005.
15 RTMark Magic Christian Fund, http://www.rtmark.com/fundmagx.html, accessed March 2, 2005.
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