Chapter Four: Culture Jamming and the Transformation of Cultural Heresies February 22, 2009

Can a considerately small movement of a limited number of people have a significant effect on Capitalist Society? 

It is a widely shared belief that Capitalism will go unchallenged, however, the Internet proves to be the means by which destruction of the operations of the economy, the basis of Capitalism itself, can be overthrown.  According to Dr. Strangelove’s The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement the Internet’s authority can be undermined by deconstructing the intellectual property within web.  This deconstructing of the Internest’s architectural code is called Culture Jamming.

Culture Jamming is a form of deconstruction of corporate social order.  It is a considerable small group of individuals ranging from your ‘average joe’ to acclaimed academics, and has become a great online social phenomenon.  Culture Jamming allows for a personal take on a publics reinterpretation of their ideals of Capitalism.  The Internet allows for easy distribution and access of these videos, images, and altered audio.  With new communication technologies, especially the Internet, the act of Culture Jamming permits for newly developed belief systems within, and of Capitalist Society.

The economy, or Capitalist society as we know it, has control over public individual expression, and the free flow of information.  The Internet remains a reoccurring threat to Capitalist Society because it is the means of expression and a public voice simplifying the distribution of information unaltered and uncontrolled by the economy.  Dr. Strangelove makes a very valid point when he says that the Internet can be a threat to Capitalist Society because it is “beyond corporate control” (The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement.)  Without a hold on the information highway of the Net, corporations, hence the economy, does not have the majority of power over delivering a message.  There is a “Redistribution of Speech Power” lending power of speech to individuals, which causes a hiccup in the Capitalist social order.

Corporations are living in fear of having their image blown to smithereens by online content.  However, Dr. Strangelove also refers to the fact that if the Normalization theory is correct, then corporations and their hold on power how little to worry about.  Many predictions, such as those of Arthur Kroker, or Michael A. Weinstein in Data Trash: The Theory of Virtual Class (1994) claimed that the Internet audience of Capitalist society will be nothing more but passive, and would in fact not use or react to online content which would threaten the beliefs which they are already accustomed to.  That the online experience would only benefit corporations, and in fact replace most of the other physical experiences, such as going to the theatre and to shopping centers.  But the Internet is the largest collection of anti-corporate messages in the history of Capitalism.  One cannot deny that this would in fact, to some degree, have an effect on corporate rule.  And as we know, the Internet has not replaced such experiences, and within this area has been a great disappointment to corporations. 

I must agree with Dr. Strangelove that the take over of the Internet would not prevail over physical experiences.

These anti-corporate messages are known not only as Culture Jamming, but also as adbusting, and subvertising.  This cultural jamming uses private and intellectual property in its goal to undermine all corporate holds on social society.  It is in itself a revolutionary movement, and very illegal.  As a culture jammer himself put it:

“…Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21^st century…We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest.  We want folks to get mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons.” (The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement., p.105) 

In order to press the matter of the issue metaphors of war often resonate through the work of many culture jammers.  Dr. Strangelove views this movement accordingly as “guerilla warfare, a revolutionary against corporate intellectual take over.” (The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement., p.105-106)  Culture Jammers use the Internet to deliver their message because “—it enables public reinterpretation of privately owned messages and meanings.” (The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement., p.107)  As mentioned earlier, though a small in numbers, culture jammers are a great aspect of Internet culture.  They use negative aspects in order to strike up the response in its audience which it looks for. 

Culture Jamming is a movement, and in its own right an online revolution; a revolution to the same caliber as an online Enlightenment.  Lynn Hunt, author of The Invention of Pornography claims that current social issues are embedded in the works of culture jammers.  Through their work, Jammers hope to shed light on how the Internet can put a new meaning to the corporate control of society.  Take the revolutionary outcome of the printing press on religious views.  The mass distribution of the Bible led to an increase in literacy, and for personal interpretations of its teachings.   Like the printing press, Jammers hope to use the Internet as a means to change the beliefs of Capitalism.

Albert Einstein suggested that “printing allows for information to distribute faster and remain in circulation longer.” (The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement)  Like printing, the Internet is a means for advanced communication and information freedom.  Unlike the distribution of print, information on the Internet does not fade away into the archives.  This is why corporations are personally threatened by the Internet, this is because there is no way to control the past, future, and present of any information released to the public.  It is irreversible, and no room for recovery for those who have anything to hide. 

Capitalism relies on the shared views of individuals who fall under its created ideological cohesiveness.  The Internet looks to destroy the ties created by Capitalism and create variation.  This variation will make it difficult to control Capitalist Society, or the Empire.  “Culture Jamming is not simply a re-articulation of pre-existing codes, it is an attempt to create a new code, propagate a new faith, and lay the foundations for a new social order.” (The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement)