[Occupymendocino] Yes We Can to Yes We Scan

[Mark Safron]

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/yes-we-can-to-yes-we-scan/?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20130719

Yes We Can to Yes We Scan

Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWorkers install Shepard Fairey’s portrait of Barack Obama at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington on Jan. 17, 2009. 
Shepard Fairey’s famous “HOPE” portrait of Barack Obama was an endorsement not just of the candidate but of the idea that it’s possible to effect change through rather than outside normal political channels. Some versions of the poster were captioned “VOTE.” The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said the poster was “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You,’” which seems apt in part because both images encouraged participation in government, whether through military service or the ballot box.

Peter Steffen/DPA, via Associated PressA protest against the National Security Agency in Hanover, Germany, on June 29, 2013.
The “HOPE” poster quickly became a meme and has been parodied many times. But the “Yes We Scan” version, circulating since Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, seems particularly meaningful and “efficacious” (to use Mr. Schjeldahl’s word). Under “Yes We Scan” it reads “Deal With It” and also includes the phrases “Obey Us,” “Control” and “We Are Watching You.” The original blue-and-red picture of Mr. Obama sits at the center, but Mr. Obama’s wearing headphones (or in some cases Google glass). If the “HOPE” poster conveyed that the right person could change government, “Yes We Scan” implies that government — a tyrannical, Orwellian government — can also change the person.

Kay Nietfeld/European Pressphoto AgencyA demonstration in Berlin on July 4, 2013. 
Also popping up on the Internet and at protests is a “HOPE” poster with Mr. Snowden taking Mr. Obama’s place. Looking at the “HOPE,” “Yes We Scan” and the Snowden versions together makes for a narrative triptych, with the last conveying the most bleakly anti-government message of all: Hope comes not from a candidate, but from a renegade who felt that change was impossible without breaking the law.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20130719/466b3fe9/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PastedGraphic-3.tiff
Type: image/tiff
Size: 2972 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20130719/466b3fe9/attachment.tiff 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 7182013hope-blog480.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 30802 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20130719/466b3fe9/attachment.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 7182013scan-blog480.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 70871 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20130719/466b3fe9/attachment-0001.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 7182013snowden-blog480.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 46144 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20130719/466b3fe9/attachment-0002.jpg