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This is the best hack I've seen on Hacker News in months and it doesn't even involve a computer. Great job to everyone involved in pulling it off, even if the c
by unknownzero 11y ago
This is the best hack I've seen on Hacker News in months and it doesn't even involve a computer. Great job to everyone involved in pulling it off, even if the casual viewers didn't notice.
- Apocryphon 11y agoNow that I think about it, this is pretty much social engineering. One can imagine exploiting cultural ignorances and biases similarly as part of an electronic hack.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- curiousjorge 11y agonah this was the best hack and it preceded Hacker News for decades https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWdgAMYjYSs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWdgAMYjYSs
- vijayr 11y agoI am conflicted - on one hand it is a great hack, no doubt. But they also screwed over the producers, who trusted them and paid them for their work.
- rmxt 11y agoI'd venture to say this was a pretty calculated move -- no doubt they might not get work with this production company anymore, but they'll surely have quite a few more jobs lined up now with their name out there like this. Also, those jobs might be on projects that more closely align with their political and artistic goals and visions.
- gotchange 11y agoAssuming of course that they knew for certain that they would get away with it and no one would notice it before it hit the airwaves. It's a risky proposition and not guaranteed to work most of the time.
- arbitrage 11y agoIf the producers asked for graffiti, then they certainly got what they paid for. Graffiti has been used as a form of protest and criticism for as long as there has been both paint and walls.
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoROMANES EUNT DOMUS
- lambdasquirrel 11y agoYou mean like how Michelangelo screwed over the Vatican?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- bdcravens 11y agoThis was addressed in the article.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- frenchman_in_ny 11y agoThe producers also admire the hack. From the show's creator & executive producer: "We wish we’d caught these images before they made it to air. However, as Homeland always strives to be subversive in its own right and a stimulus for conversation, we can’t help but admire this act of artistic sabotage.” [0] [0] http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/15/homeland-is-racist-artists-subversive-graffiti-tv-show http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/15/homeland... (edited for clarity)
- rsync 11y ago... and there's the hack. It's us. If you ever needed proof of the adage that capitalism will co-opt even the most accurate and stinging criticism of it, here it is. The show was criticized as being racist and so the show appropriated that message (by hiring the "street artists" and instructing them to "go rogue") in order to sell more of the show.
- proveanegative 11y agoThis seems like a feature that would be generally selected for in types of social organization.
- memonkey 11y agoIndeed, reminds me of The Society of the Spectacle.
- 13thLetter 11y ago> The producers also admire the hack. The producers know that if they publicly complained they would be torn apart on social media and in the press.
- gotchange 11y agoIf life gives you lemons, ...
- beatpanda 11y agoThe producers are making a show about the middle east but can't read arabic. They got exactly what they deserve.
- anigbrowl 11y agoThe producers are doing just fine. artistic subversion of commercial considerations is a norm in the arts industry; if anything, this gives an otherwise shallow piece of ideological entertainment some unintended cultural depth.
- rjsw 11y agoAn older example of the same kind of thing could be Melrose Place [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melrose_Place#GALA_Committee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melrose_Place#GALA_Committee
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoI can't speak for the producers, but this would not offend me were I one of them. I'd be quite happy with it. If I were a producer of the show I might go so far as to actually discuss this issue with the (graffiti) artists on camera, so long as they agreed to be reasonable and collegial about it. One of the great opportunities for the producers is to shine a light on the show not being particularly racist, but that characters might be - a little. Having said that, it sounds difficult. I think the best example of this is The Americans, which stops just short of making the FBI look stupid while kind of raising its eyebrows at the then-prominent "evil empire" narratives. The ...constraints of Soviet political culture are also shown well. But the craft level of "The Americans" is extremely high.
- PopeOfNope 11y agoToo bad they didn't take the time to craft a message worth reading.
- 13thLetter 11y agoI have to wonder if this "hack" would be so enthusiastically complimented for its cleverness were it not expressing such a popular opinion.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoWasn't there an old black-and-white movie set in Africa, where a Zulu warrior comes onscreen to tell the Chief something about the plot in subtitles? And what he says in Zulu is "I'm not being paid enough for being in this movie!"
- ajeet_dhaliwal 11y agoAgreed, great story. Now we just need a copycat to get hired onto Blue Bloods and do the same thing. Add a 'is dumb' to that one too perhaps. A good place might be on a fridge magnet of a house the main guy usually barges into without regard.