Tool for Armchair Activists remote protesting system
posted October 28th 2005 12:01AM
So you don't think that posting your thoughts to a public
SMS sign is enough of an attention-getter? How about trying the "Tool for Armchair Activists," a combination
cellphone, voice synthesizer, and bullhorn that converts incoming text messages into (loudly) spoken public discourse.
The system's designer, UK-based Troika, claims that it "allows the armchair activist to shout out its [sic] rants and
protests in the comfort of his living room." We used to think that a big part of protesting was actually taking the
time and energy to show up somewhere for your beliefs, but now we know that you're just as dedicated to the cause by
shouting robotic-sounding epithets at The First Family from a glorified P.A. system attached to the White House
security gate. What do you think, muckrakers, is this a protesting innovation or a lazy man's crutch?
[Via textually]
Imagine this at a football game.
If you can add an option where it also can club itself with a nightstick then you save everyone lots of time.
Ummm, I think you mean epithets - not epitaphs... Freudian slip?
If you can add an option where it also can club itself with a nightstick then you save everyone lots of time.
If it only had a Dalek voice..
I guess I'll have to make my own internet enabled Dalek.
XTRMN8!
XTRMN8!
I dont think it would take long for passerbys to get annoyed with this thing and tear it down...wasted energy to put one up methinks.
"shout out its [sic] rants"? What's with the "sic"? Its is the correct possessive form of it.
I'm not really dazzled by this...out of character political-esque post on a lazy protesting system, wouldn't mind if that was kept out of posts, and of course, the return of Natch, just to annoy obsessive compulsive perfectionists. Who's with me?
Gah! I'm an idiot and forgot the last part of my comment (#6) I meant to say "ts is the correct possessive form of it and people shouldn't need to be told".
Dude... I need to get me one of those...
"the other team has your flag... the other team has your flag..."
Let's get 10 of these systems in an arena and let people access webcams viewing them so they can watch people rant at each other! I think there's a business model based on this somewhere, built on advertising (digging through old dot-com business plans)...
Sorry to take it off-topic, but Toholio is an idiot. The reason that [sic] is used is because the original writer switches from a human subject ("armchair activist") to a nonhuman ("its") and then back again to human ("his"). It's quite obvious, isn't it, Toholio?
There is no way this is legal - at least in the US ... There would be no "protester owned" property this could be placed.
In the pic - this seems to be a telephone poll or power poll - these are private property - owned by 1) The utility that put them there 2) The business or home owner or 3) The government easement
Part of the effectiveness of protesting is a human body - showing effort and dedication to your cause.
As a business owner, I'd make sure I had proper permits for my weapon of choice and blow it off.
whoever came up with this idea deserves a good beating.
#12 "the armchair activist" has no gender so "it" is entirely correct.
A boy and his toy.
A girl and her toy.
A child and its toy.
Toholio... you're wrong. Proper grammar would require "A child and his or her toy" or even "A child and his toy". If the gender is not known of a person, English teachers will many times tell you to use the masculine form. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Combined with this little gem and you've got your self on hell of a protest
http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/dbox-quest-motionsimulation-loveseat-133594.php
Looks to me like a good joke. As a provocative piece of art/commentary it's pretty well conceived.
Now I want to build one that actually does club itself :)