Flyers – Final Project

The Flyer Manifesto

When humans are long gone from this planet, what do you think will be left behind? Will it be our plastic bottles, plastic bags, or used toilet seats that populate the earth? The fact is, it will be none of these things. Billions of paper flyers will be our planet’s demise, riddling the earth with useless information that is quickly forgotten and disposed of. We will never learn unless we take action against this infringement on humanity’s liberties.

The paper flyer is an abomination to man’s struggle to spread information among his people. The useful content that it claims to give people is less like peace of mind and more like piece of shit. Since when have we backtracked from our digital capabilities to the lows of papyrus? Do they not hear the screams of trees being felled for their blissful ignorance? In truth, they do not care about the consequences of their wasteful pursuits.

People who hand out this rubbish are under the false assumption that their flyers are able to reach people with special information that they couldn’t get to them otherwise. They couldn’t be more wrong. No one wants to even glance at a flyer in this digital age. Do you really think that this random guy you just made eye contact on the street is going to want to see your new band’s first gig at a rundown bar? Forget it. There’s absolutely no one in their right mind that would think of flyers as a fitting alternative for digital messages such as email, Facebook posts, or online message boards.

As your fellow man, I implore you to stop this madness. With each flyer you hand out, you are tearing the very fabric of society. Seek other opportunities to spread your message without scarring our lovely planet with your scraps of paper. If you see some sorry soul handing out flyers, confront them. Give them an ultimatum. Use force if necessary – because there is no consequence greater than those we will face if we don’t strangle this virus of a tactic at once.

The Flyer Report

For our project, we decided that we were going to address the problem of flyers on campus. It’s hard to walk through the quad without someone handing you an unwanted flyer about something you don’t really care about. Knowing this was an issue, we came to the conclusion that we needed to stop this activity. Our main goal was to try and change people’s attitudes about flyers, convincing them to refuse to take them, ultimately decreasing the value of the activity and forcing people to stop making them.

We came up with three different strategies to combat this disruption. One of these was to actively deny flyers that were being handed out on the quad. This could be done by either theft, distraction, or verbally challenging people who were handing out flyers. Our other strategy was to create an online video that informed the people on campus of the dangers of flyer activity, including harm to the environment and annoyance to the general public. Our final strategy used the power of hypocrisy and irony. We would hand out our own flowers to inform people of the dangers of flyers. This strategy was the one that we ultimately decided would prove the most effective, so we decided to go through with the execution and documentation of this method. Our flyers read: “Flyers – they’re the worst, am I right? Now you have a totally useless piece of paper that you didn’t need.”

Allie and Brian served as the photographers/documenters of the activity and Peter and I were the ones that were selected to hand out the flyers to people on the quad. We chose the corner right outside the Illini Union on the quad as our primary location. With two people serving as documenters and two as flyer people, we were able to get various perspectives on the activity. It was challenging to get some people to take the flyers, and sometimes it proved difficult to capture all the action on camera. We were successful in bringing a smile to many people’s faces, which wasn’t really an outcome we expected. I really believe we were able to bring awareness to the issue for most people through this method.

Out of all the strategies available to us, I think this method was most fitting because it was a comical twist to our viewpoint, and it was able to put a positive spin on what seemed like an issue that could’ve been opposed with more aggression. If we were to do things differently, I think we would’ve printed out more flyers and tried to capture more instances around campuses. We were thinking pretty small-scale when planning for this because we didn’t realize the impact it would have.

This project has taught me that protests are hard to push from one stage to the next. It has also taught me that things tend to always look different on paper. It is a totally different world when you are our executing your plans. Personally, I enjoyed being out in the world and interacting with my fellow peers. I especially loved putting a smile on people’s faces as they realized the flyer they were just handed was not what they were expecting.

Flyers Newscast

How To Say No To Flyers – DIY video

The Vicious Cycle of Flyers – Photo Essay

IDEATION

The suspect constructs the idea that the best way to raise awareness for his organization’s event is to make a flyer to hand out to people on campus. This is the genesis of the process that will ultimately contribute to the downfall of humanity.

PRODUCTION

With his insane delusions of success through flyers, the suspect begins to manufacture these deadly objects in mass quantities. The suspect has little idea as to how damaging these flyers will be to society and ignorantly takes pride in his flyer design.

DISTRIBUTION

Under the false assumption that his method is going to create a positive reaction, the suspect attempts to pass out his flyers to people in all areas of campus. With no regard for privacy, he corners an unlucky student in a residence hallway and tries to force a flyer upon him.

REJECTION

The cornered student acts defensively and with swift wisdom. He grabs the flyers from the suspect’s hands and defaces them to the best of his ability. The victim successfully thwarts the suspect’s destructive plan.

DISPOSAL

Despite the victim’s valiant efforts, the flyers still have to be laid to rest in the garbage and lay waste to yet another portion of this beautiful planet. If only the suspect had thought harder about whether it was worth it to desecrate the fabric of society in order to try to use flyers as a means of communication.

screen-shot-2016-12-05-at-9-02-59-pm

 

Partial Rough Draft – Project 2

The Flyer Manifesto

When humans are long gone from this planet, what do you think will be left behind? Will it be our plastic bottles, plastic bags, or used toilet seats that populate the earth? The fact is, it will be none of these things. Billions of paper flyers will be our planet’s demise, riddling the earth with useless information that is quickly forgotten and disposed of. We will never learn unless we take action against this infringement on humanity’s liberties.

The paper flyer is an abomination to man’s struggle to spread information among his people. The useful content that it claims to give people is less like peace of mind and more like piece of shit. Since when have we backtracked from our digital capabilities to the lows of papyrus? Do they not hear the screams of trees being felled for their blissful ignorance? In truth, they do not care about the consequences of their wasteful pursuits.

People who hand out this rubbish are under the false assumption that their flyers are able to reach people with special information that they couldn’t get to them otherwise. They couldn’t be more wrong! No one wants to even glance at a flyer in this digital age. Do you really think that this random guy you just made eye contact on this street is going to want to donate food to your food drive? There’s absolutely no one in their right mind that would think of flyers as a fitting alternative for digital messages such as email, Facebook posts, or online message boards.

As your fellow man, I implore you to stop this madness. With each flyer you hand out, you are tearing the very fabric of society. Seek other opportunities to spread your message without scarring our lovely planet with your scraps of paper. If you see some sorry soul handing out flyers, confront them. Give them an ultimatum. Use force if necessary – because there is no consequence greater than those we will face if we don’t strangle this virus of a tactic at once.

The Flyer Report

For our project, we decided that we were going to address the problem of flyers on campus. It’s hard to walk through the quad without someone handing you an unwanted flyer about something you don’t really care about. Knowing this was an issue, we came to the conclusion that we needed to stop this activity. Our main goal was to try and change people’s attitudes about flyers, convincing them to refuse to take them, ultimately decreasing the value of the activity and forcing people to stop making them.

We came up with three different strategies to combat this disruption. One of these was to actively deny flyers that were being handed out on the quad. This could be done by either theft, distraction, or verbally challenging people who were handing out flyers. Our other strategy was to create an online video that informed the people on campus of the dangers of flyer activity, including harm to the environment and annoyance to the general public. Our final strategy used the power of hypocrisy and irony. We would hand out our own flowers to inform people of the dangers of flyers. This strategy was the one that we ultimately decided would prove the most effective, so we decided to go through with the execution and documentation of this method. Our flyers read: “Flyers – they’re the worst, am I right? Now you have a totally useless piece of paper that you didn’t need.”

Allie and Brian served as the photographers/documenters of the activity and Peter and I were the ones that were selected to hand out the flyers to people on the quad. We chose the corner right outside the Illini Union on the quad as our primary location. With two people serving as documenters and two as flyer people, we were able to get various perspectives on the activity. It was challenging to get some people to take the flyers, and sometimes it proved difficult to capture all the action on camera. We were successful in bringing a smile to many people’s faces, which wasn’t really an outcome we expected. I really believe we were able to bring awareness to the issue for most people through this method.

Out of all the strategies available to us, I think this method was most fitting because it was a comical twist to our viewpoint, and it was able to put a positive spin on what seemed like an issue that could’ve been opposed with more aggression. If we were to do things differently, I think we would’ve printed out more flyers and tried to capture more instances around campuses. We were thinking pretty small-scale when planning for this because we didn’t realize the impact it would have.

This project has taught me that protests are hard to push from one stage to the next. It has also taught me that things tend to always look different on paper. It is a totally different world when you are our executing your plans. Personally, I enjoyed being out in the world and interacting with my fellow peers. I especially loved putting a smile on people’s faces as they realized the flyer they were just handed was not what they were expecting.

DIY Video

Use different strategies that we originally planned

  • Deny flyers
    • Distraction
    • Theft
    • Just say ‘NO’
  • Make an online video
    • Showcase a ‘meta’ reference using footage of me making the video
  • Hand out your own flyers
    • Show footage of us doing that
  • Talk about dangers of flyers using dramatic storytelling (apocalyptic, manifesto viewpoints)
  • (1-2 minutes)

 News Segment

  • News intro (Illini News, something corny like that)
  • Reporter/News Anchor reciting general outline of story
    • “Four students gathered in protest on the quad on Friday using an unlikely strategy”
    • “We have now one of the protestors…”
  • Interview me, talking about the dangers of flyers, what we were doing on the quad, what we hope to accomplish
  • Outro
  • (1-2 minutes)

Picture Essay

(4-5 images)

Use DIY elements

Reactions of people, handing them out, picture of flyer, piles of them in a trash can

The Throwing of the Medals: Operation Dewey Canyon III Historical Protest Project

The following video shows real footage from the event and commentary:

The VVAW: A Force to be Reckoned with

By 1971, the perception of the Vietnam War was starting to become an extremely divisive topic in the eyes of the American people. News of the horrors of war, the continued stalemate, and increasing civilian casualties were causing people to question a war they originally thought was for all the right reasons. Many vocal groups began to form in opposition to the war and massive demonstrations were common across the country.In April 1971, thousands of Vietnam Veterans from a newly formed organization called Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) met in Washington, D.C. calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. The event was called Operation Dewey Canyon III by the veterans, named after a series of small scale incursions into Laos and Cambodia by the same name. The veterans called it a “limited incursion into the country of Congress.” The week of demonstrations started at Arlington Cemetery and spread to other iconic venues in the nation’s capital throughout the week. Despite repeated attempts by parts of the federal government to thwart the veterans’ protest efforts, the veterans remained strong and united in defying government authority in order to enforce their message.

upside-down-flag

In April 1971, thousands of Vietnam Veterans from a newly formed organization called Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) met in Washington, D.C. calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. The event was called Operation Dewey Canyon III by the veterans, named after a series of small scale incursions into Laos and Cambodia by the same name. The veterans called it a “limited incursion into the country of Congress.” The week of demonstrations started at Arlington Cemetery and spread to other iconic venues in the nation’s capital throughout the week. Despite repeated attempts by parts of the federal government to thwart the veterans’ protest efforts, the veterans remained strong and united in defying government authority in order to enforce their message.

Many different protest strategies were used including but not limited to: singing, guerrilla theater, occupation of monuments and offices, aggressive lobbying with officials, and camping on federal grounds. The most symbolic of these strategies occurred on the last day when Veterans went to the U.S. Capitol to hand over their awards and medals to Congress. That morning, almost 1,000 veterans arrived at the Capitol building to find a freshly-built fence preventing anyone from getting too close to the building. The fence didn’t stop the veterans.

After putting a sign on the statue in front of the Capitol building that read “TRASH,” one by one each veteran stood before the crowd of protestors and other onlookers and said their name, rank, regiment and the award they received from Vietnam. Then they would turn around and throw awards, medals, ribbons, commendations and many other materials from the war over the fence at the foot of the statue.

4/23/71 - An antiwar protester heaves his medals over a fence in front of the Capitol 4/23 as part of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War demonstration. The veterans are winding up a week of demonstrations against the fighting in Indochina by discarding their combat medals on the steps of the Capitol. UPI photo

Opposition at Home

People said that the veterans against the Vietnam War were traitors, that they were disrespectful to their fallen comrades and their regiment, and that they were communist sympathizers.

The idea that they were traitors is not valid because they had served their country and were merely exercising their right as citizens to criticize the government.

There is a certain amount of disrespect that is evident in the protest, but that isn’t necessarily bad. The government had lost the respect of the veterans because they refused to listen to them and continued to put resources towards an unjust war. In other words, the government didn’t deserve respect. Though their actions of throwing away awards for comrades could be seen as disrespectful, it was really a sign of sacrifice and symbolism of how they were martyrs for the wrong cause.

The true problem here wasn’t communism. The veterans weren’t promoting communism at all. In fact, the very action of criticizing the government is a very democratic principle that really is only able to happen because of democracy. The veterans loved their country, but not their government.

throwinghearts

A True Act of Courage and Patriotism

This symbolic act by the veterans is one of the strongest acts of protest in American history. It is an act of defiance, sacrifice, and true patriotism.

By throwing away their awards, the Vietnam Veterans were actively defying the government. They were calling them out for deceiving the American people, for continuing to enforce a war that could not be won, and for trying to cover up the atrocities that were committed by the military. Some men even said on the steps how they didn’t want to fight anymore, but if they had to, it would be to take the steps of the capitol. This strong statement was basically calling for revolution if necessary.

Imagine giving up the only token you had to show for fighting in a war with no meaning and no just cause. The only thing you had to show for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your comrades was an award, ribbon, or medal. Knowing the power of its message, you willingly throw these away, labeling them as garbage. This is the sacrifice that this particular protest strategy symbolized – they were stripping themselves of any symbols that were trying to justify their actions in Vietnam, but also of their own honor.

Vietnam War Demonstrations Veterans from the war converged on the Capital building in Washington and threw away their bravery medals ribons and comendations in protest at the continuing war in Vietnam msi

The statue outside of the US Capitol building where all the awards and medals were thrown by the veterans.

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” – This is a quote that is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, one of the nation’s founding fathers and authors of our most treasured documents. A patriot is someone who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it from enemies. These Veterans loved their country, but not their government. They saw the government as the enemy of the United States because of its efforts to fight a war with no chance of true victory at the expense of young lives. Throwing away these medals issued by their government showed that they rejected their government and demanded change, adding also a threat of escalation if need be. Dissent itself is a sacrifice, and true patriots will sacrifice everything for the love of their country.

By fighting in a war that meant nothing, these veterans had sacrificed more than those in the past who had fought for just causes – causes against true evil and injustice. This time they had answered the call to fight for what ended up being the invading side and the side that was killing innocent people. They sacrificed their morals, their innocence, and, most importantly, their hearts.

throwinghearts2

Links and References

Videos

VVAW Dewey Canyon III – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P1zXcQ3ZGw

A Vietnam War veteran speaking at an anti-war protest in Washington – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkJ2aIRQl-I

Vets throwing medals at Washington – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7jhs-bGyFQ

Forrest Gump: Best Scene – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcOTZeZ3_40

Dewey Canyon III – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emg-a_qTFQ0

Music

“Fortunate Son,” Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969

“Main Titles from the HBO Miniseries Band of Brothers,” Michael Kamen, 2001

“Band of Brothers Requiem (Voice),” Michael Kamen, 2001

Images

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/345510602634888996/

http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=1882

http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=112

http://www.viewsandthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/kerry-throwing-medals-1.jpg

http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/slideshows/_production/ss-100429-vietnam/ss-100429-vietnam-24.nbcnews-ux-1024-900.jpg

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/group-of-veterans-of-the-war-in-vietnam-protest-the-ongoing-conflict-picture-id515047862

Other References

Operation Dewey Canyon III – http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=1656

Vietnam Veterans Against the War (Wikipedia) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Against_the_War