The YesMen

The Yes Men are a group of political satirical activists who are considered highly controversial by many.  It is hard to classify the ethics behind this group.  I think that the group as a whole has nothing but the best of intentions, but it is questionable whether or not their tactics are fully affective and morally acceptable. 

 

The Yes Men work by posing as well known corporations or political groups.  They create websites that closely mirror that of the original group but they change the content to create a parody on the actual intention of the group.  They take groups that they have personal or moral vendetta's against and have it appear as though the group has changed its viewpoint or made an apology for its actions.  The reason that this kind of behavior is ethically debatable to me is because the first step in the Yes Men's agenda is to spread false information since they group that they are imposturing does not actual feel that way.  The group in many cases, creates a false sense of hope for the people viewing their presentation.  Even with the initial medium of deceit that is implicated by the Yes Men, the major goal that they are trying to pursue is forcing the corrupt organization that they are impersonating in to changing their ways, by shining a spotlight on their faults.  What they Yes Men are doing is illegal, but they are very rarely prosecuted because it is hard to classify what crime they are actually committing. 

 With all of that being said, I think that by viewing their actions as performance art makes their work more morally acceptable.   As artists,although not direct the Yes Men are making a point in a very creative way.  The Yes Men have continuously made change through their artwork since their very first piece, by the sheer fact that they were able to get away with it.