Canny Capitalists Get Rich Making Guy Fawkes Masks For Protesters
Hilarious. Michael Kelley writes at Business Insider:
Guy Fawkes masks, immortalized in the movie "V for Vendetta", have become a global symbol of protest and anonymity through the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Arab Spring."The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny -- and I'm happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way," British graphic novel artist David Lloyd, the man who created the original image of the mask for a comic strip written by Alan Moore, told BBC.
At the top of Reddit today is somewhat ironic image of this icon of rebellion being mass-produced in a factory in Sao Goncalo near Rio de Janeiro.
...An interesting note is that Time Warner, one of the largest media companies in the world and parent of Warner Brothers, owns the rights to the image and is paid a licensing fee with the sale of each mask.
In 2011 purported members of Anonymous told CNN that activists were ordering masks mass-produced and shipped in from Asia so that Time Warner didn't receive the loyalties.
via @radleybalko
Fight the Man by making him richer!
the Strawboss at July 2, 2013 10:31 AM
I'm sorry, but OWS wasn't about protesting "tyranny".
It was a mass whine that the law of cause and effect applied - to people who couldn't understand that the world doesn't owe them squat, especially for picking a worthless college major.
Radwaste at July 2, 2013 10:44 AM
I don't know what it is about those masks, but every time I see one, I want to punch it. Hard.
Jeff Guinn at July 2, 2013 10:45 AM
I don't know what it is about those masks, but every time I see one, I want to punch it.
Because you know what it's hiding?
dee nile at July 2, 2013 11:04 AM
The truly enterprising capitalist would upgrade them to include resistance to tear gas/pepper spray.
Just a suggestion. I might want to stock up. When ObamaCare actually hits, and people come to understand that "free health care" isn't really free, I might be able to make a nice profit...
I R A Darth Aggie at July 2, 2013 1:37 PM
Meanwhile, at Cracked, more about Guy Fawkes and why the mask is kind of silly.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at July 2, 2013 5:07 PM
ORPD: great link
dee nile: because I think it looks like the mind it is hiding. So, you are right.
Jeff Guinn at July 2, 2013 6:57 PM
"In 2011 purported members of Anonymous told CNN that activists were ordering masks mass-produced and shipped in from Asia so that Time Warner didn't receive the loyalties."
You mean they're exploiting brown people? Shame!
Cousin Dave at July 3, 2013 6:33 AM
I like those masks, because the core value they embody is actually spot on (namely, speaking out and acting against corrupted structures of power), even if the implementation leaves something to be desired. This core 'moral instinct' is ultimately a correct and well-intentioned one .. what young people need is better guidance on what is and is not moral.
"Time Warner didn't receive the loyalties"
Making money selling masks is perfectly in accordance with an appropriate liberty-oriented value system .. but a corporation being able to use force to claim 'royalties' for something as silly as a mask, is actually a precise example of the rotten corruption in the system that needs to be weeded out .. that 'intellectual property' lacks a moral grounding.
Lobster at July 3, 2013 6:03 PM
"OWS wasn't about protesting "tyranny". It was a mass whine that the law of cause and effect applied - to people who couldn't understand that the world doesn't owe them squat"
You really don't think that at least some of the problems faced by young people, like higher unemployment, aren't at least partly caused by corrupt aspects of our system, such as trillions in bailouts for fraud-committing bankers that helped caused the biggest global financial crisis in a century? If you think all the corruption and kleptocracy has no effect on the actual people in the economy, then I daresay you might be the one who is failing to understand 'cause and effect'.
Lobster at July 3, 2013 6:39 PM
"You really don't think that at least some of the problems faced by young people, like higher unemployment, aren't at least partly caused by corrupt aspects of our system, such as trillions in bailouts for fraud-committing bankers that helped caused the biggest global financial crisis in a century? "
They are, but what was the proposed solution? They want fix facism with communism. It's one part of the entitlement class waging a civil war against another part of the entitlement class. The average working guy or gal looks at the whole thing and says "whatever".
Cousin Dave at July 5, 2013 7:10 AM
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