Surveillance Camera Man: Antagonism as Activism?

So there is a guy on Youtube who goes by the name of Surveillance Camera Man, and over the past year he has uploaded five videos which are comprised of various scenes of him wandering around and filming people without their permission, presumably to see what kind of reaction he would get. He comes off as a bit of a creep, though, because when people ask him what he is doing, all he ever really says is: “Shooting a video.” A lot of people become belligerent rather quickly, which is understandable considering that they have a camera shoved into their face by a man who refuses to answer their questions. (I almost feel bad for the guy on the phone who keeps saying: “This is a private phone call!” The irony being, of course, that there is no longer any such thing as “private” phone calls…or texts…or emails.) 

But this is where I am torn on the methods employed by SCM: because on the one hand, you could argue that he is raising awareness about the fact that we are all constantly being monitored/recorded, and that he is also pointing out the hypocrisy of our nonchalance over these issues when we are not being confronted with them face-to-face. But I feel like he is undermining his own message by coming off as antagonistic and unnecessarily confrontational, rather than engaging in some form of further communication with those individuals who he is filming. Sure, getting them all riled up is probably more entertaining for those watching at home, thus resulting in more Youtube hits. But with a bit of tweaking, this could potentially be a fantastic form of in-your-face activism which encourages dialogue and further action, rather than resulting in the filmer being chased around and screamed at. Here is an idea about how any one of us – as concerned citizens and individuals – could very easily take this concept a step further…

Once a year, there are schools and universities all over the country which participate in something called The National Day of Silence. The idea is to not speak for the entire day and, in so doing, your silence is supposed to represent and draw attention to the silence which exists about issues relating to LGBT bullying and harassment. If someone tries to talk to you or asks you a question, you hand them a pre-printed card which gives a brief description about The Day of Silence and why you are participating. As Good German pointed out in a recent post, this coming Tuesday (February 11th) will be The Day We Fight Back Against Mass Surveillance, and it seems like you could combine these two methods – that of SCM and NDoS – in order to create an incredibly effective form of activism…

Imagine walking up to people with a recording device of some kind and just standing there silently, waiting for them to respond and then, once they ask you what you are doing – instead of waiting for them to freak out and become hostile – you could hand them a card which explains that they are being monitored/recorded all the time. The card could include a link to The Day We Fight Back website, as well as the site for The US Freedom Act (which is an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-Collection and Online Monitoring Act”, a piece of legislation which has been written by Jim Sensenbrenner, a conservative Republican who co-authored the Patriot Act and who now feels that things have gotten “out of hand”!!!)

The final sentence on the card could say something to the effect of: “If you are as concerned about these issues as I am, please consider joining me in recording your friends and family, your co-workers, and complete strangers on the street. Together, we can help put an end to mass surveillance.” Imagine the potential impact that something like this could have on those individuals who might otherwise be apathetic when it comes to taking action on issues such as these! That brief flare of alarm which people feel upon realizing that they are being recorded by a stranger – that hesitant moment of discomfort and unease – could be the kind of real-world jump-start which is necessary in order to grab their attention for just long enough to impart a message which could potentially ripple forth…

Surveillance Camera Man 2

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Surveillance Camera Man: Antagonism as Activism?