At right is an example of actual bus and subway posters around London, UK that have been posted around the city since 2002. The artwork looks like something out of 1940s Soviet propaganda, while the subject matter seems more Cold War. At first I thought it was an snide Orwellian spoof or some anti-government lobbying group, but no, it was put up by the London authorities themselves. I guess government bureaucrats just have no sense of irony, history or humour.
5 thoughts on “Big Brother is Watching, 21st Century style”
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Whoa. I would love to know the story behind this poster. Maybe there’s a young graphic designer, well versed in irony, laughing his ass off right now because he managed to subvert the intended message right beneath the noses of the know-nothing bureaucrats?
I find it hard to believe that someone didn’t know what they were doing – just not the chaps who commissioned the poster.
England prevails.
Hey, Richard, I was pretty much thinking the same thing, except that I imagined an ironophile mole laughing his ass off somewhere in the bowels of MiniTruth&Transpo…
I continue to be intrigued by this thing. Faced with something that should not exist, the mind gropes for an explanation.
I think there are 4 possibilities:
1. The Usual Gang of Idiots theory: Nobody involved in the production of the posters recognizes their resemblance to totalitarian propaganda. But could anyone really be this stupid?
2. The Free-thinking Mole theory: Someone low level person working on the poster deliberately chose iconography to undermine its message (perhaps not realizing that the higher-ups would actually sign off on it!)
3. The Jiu Jitsu theory: The authorities fully realize that the posters look like something out of Orwell. This was intentionally done so that in an ironic, postmodern way, accusations that the surveillance program itself is Orwellian would be defused (similar to self-deprecating humour). But this would require a subtlety of thought and a sense of humour not normally found in government.
4. The Trial Balloon theory: the government had the posters intentionally evoke totalitarianism in order to gauge public reaction. The logic being: if we can put up overtly totalitarian posters all over London with no outcry, that tells us that the public has finally reached the point where we can do any bloody thing we want to them, and they’ll just accept it.
I tend to subscribe to your Theory 2. I often find the cleverest people in large, paper-pushing offices are often the lower-level worker bees (the ones who are over-educated and under-employed). Middle managers can be amazingly bereft of any irony and humour (maybe since they live in daily fear of abuse from above and below), and if it’s coupled with a lack of cultural awareness it can be deadly.
By the way, I don’t mean to diss only government employees; I’ve found appalling stupidity in the private sector as well.
I’m with Theory 4, because we see the governments of both the US and UK working The Trial Balloon concept very well. Our own government is trying their best too, but they don’t seem to be able to find a foothold in the wall of public paranoia. Yet.