Re-code.com and Wal Mart by Chicken Little & the Boy Who Cried Wolf 11:54pm Wed Apr 16 '03	article#24769

Wal Mart sends Re-code.com a threatening letter It's no longer appropriate, constructive or desirable for politically engaged artists to criticize each other; loyalty is the order of the day. Or so said "Nathan Hactivist" and Geert Lovink at a recent presentation in Chicago on "tactical media." And so, this missive -- which dares to criticize http://www.re-code.com -- can't fail to be dismissed as traitorous, unproductive, jealous, resentful, unfathomable or even COINTELPRO-like. But we have undertaken to write and circulate it anyway, because we are confident of the accuracy and usefulness of its insights, which are sure to eventually find receptive, sympathetic and thoughtful readers. Because they have recently received precisely that which they'd been hoping to receive (i.e., a threatening letter from a lawyer representing Wal Mart), http://www.re-code.com has sent out various e-mails, one of which asks people to "defend" and "help" them. And how can we help out? "By searching your local papers [for references to or coverage of Wal Mart's letter] and watching your local [TV] news with a videotape ready to record." Strange request! Note well: they don't want us to actually visit their website and use their bar-code generating service, i.e., the thing to which Wal Mart has predictably objected; instead, http://www.re-code.com want us to help generate and collect (even) more news coverage for them. And *why* should we help them? Because http://www.re-code.com is "political satire" and "political satire" is commonly practiced and must be defended whenever it is attacked. But this bar-code generating sevice is neither political nor satirical! Politics concerns public or civic affairs ("the government," elected representatives, the military, the bureaucracy, the law, the police and the criminal-justice system), but none of these institutions are put into question or even implicated by http://www.re-code.com, which limits itself to economics and the private sector (commodities, brands, advertising, prices). As for satire, it must be pointed to be effective, but the "satire" of http://www.re-code.com is dull(ed) because bar-codes are far from a new or alarming invention (they've been around since the 1980s), and because people have been "saving money" (stealing) by switching pricing labels on products for many years. Ironically, the only way that http://www.re-code.com would be genuinely political if its creators dropped their stupid pretense that their service is satirical (nobody believes or is fooled by their "legal disclaimers") and forthrightly admitted that http://www.re-code.com is both an incitement and a means by which one can steal from (commit fraud against) big corporate chain-stores. But "Nathan Hactivist" isn't going to do that. When push comes to shove, he's an artist, not a committed political activist: he isn't willing to go to jail for his convictions. He and http://www.re-code.com can do whatever the fuck they want (obviously). This is their 15 minutes of fame, and they'd be foolish not to exploit it. But it makes no sense to "defend" http://www.re-code.com against an attack that it wants, is trying to provoke, indeed, is dependant upon for its continued relevance. Calls to "defend political satire" should only be made when the attack is real and UNWELCOME. add your own comments