Definition: "Strategic deployment for a positive result" (lecture on February 3rd) that is, doing something outlandish and attention grabbing to raise up a point of inquiry about a problem that someone wants addressed. Many protests and demonstrations fall under this idea.
Example: In colonial America, an activist group known as the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Native Americans and broke into a trade ship and dumped all of the tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act, which put a high tariff on the import of tea.
Oh, the humani-tea.
From the text: The authors believe that trying to accomplish political goals by having "equal citizens engaged in rational dialogue with the goal of consensus" is no longer possible, especially since corporations are indirectly running the government and society has become drawn to distraction and heavily image-based interaction. So it is rhetorically effective to purposely create chaos and draw the eye of the media, in order to be placed on the public screen (and therefore into the public sphere) and get the message across, like with the Seattle WTO protests and uncivil disobedience. (190)
Works Cited:
DeLuca, Kevin and Jennifer Peeples. "From Public Sphere to Public Screen: Democracy, Activism, and the 'Violence' of Seattle." Readings on the Rhetoric of Social Protest Brown, Stephen and Charles Morris II, eds. State College, Pa: Strata Publishing Inc., 2013.
Image:
Jackson, W.C. The Boston Tea-Party. 1888 New York Public Library, New York, NY. Boston Tea Party Ship, Web. 5 February 2016.
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