Saturday, January 26th
Today was Day #2 of Project Commonweal. This time we took Orin instead of Christian, and once again, we went to Thruway.
First of all, Colin had to eat. What else is new?
While Colin ate, we wrote political messages on little pieces of paper to cram into easter eggs with candy. We sent Orin over to Rite Aid to buy the candy, which was a huge mistake - he returned with nasty Caramel Creams. We hid the eggs all over Thruway, in potted plants and in Borders and such.
EDIT:
A few days later, our friend Emily Wolfe told us that her brother found one of our eggs in a plant near Borders. Apparently he enjoyed his nasty caramel cream and political message.
Next, we went to Party City and purchased some Curious George masks, which served to conceal our identities from the public in our next mission; we planned to sport signs carrying political messages at the Five Points intersection (Lab#34). With our hoods up, we looked like members of some creepy monkey cult.
We thought for some time about what message we wanted to display on our signs. Eventually, Colin jokingly said, "Why don't we just leave them blank?". We laughed at first, but then realized that it was a pretty cool idea. If we were to write, "vote for so and so", people would either agree or disagree, and that would be it. There isn't anthing we could write to make people think more than if we were to write nothing (try and say that five times fast).
Once at the intersection, we wielded our large, blank pieces of poster board, thrusting them at confused drivers. When asked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?", we would respond, "We're making a statement about propoganda". Some would nod their heads and smile, others would continue on in bewilderment. One guy said, "That's great! Don't watch Fox 
News!". Sometimes we would ask the drivers who they were voting for, and the closest thing we got to a straight answer from anyone was, "That guy right there! The one on your sign". Most passing drivers took notice of our signs, and we found that out of those who didn't, most were minorities. Perhaps this is a clue as to who in our society most propoganda is directed towards, and who accepts it as fact, or fiction. Either way, most people were trying to find words on our signs, thus proving that people are drawn towards propoganda - they crave the stuff. One old guy even stopped dead in the middle of the intersection to try and read our posters. As far as driver reactions went, some honked their horns or gave us thumbs up in support, while others (mostly teenagers) just shook their heads and raised their hands as if to say, "wtf?". In general, the reactions seemed to be positive, and we saw lots of smiles. Most importantly, the blank signs caused people to think, and that is exactly what our culture trains us not to do. 
News!". Sometimes we would ask the drivers who they were voting for, and the closest thing we got to a straight answer from anyone was, "That guy right there! The one on your sign". Most passing drivers took notice of our signs, and we found that out of those who didn't, most were minorities. Perhaps this is a clue as to who in our society most propoganda is directed towards, and who accepts it as fact, or fiction. Either way, most people were trying to find words on our signs, thus proving that people are drawn towards propoganda - they crave the stuff. One old guy even stopped dead in the middle of the intersection to try and read our posters. As far as driver reactions went, some honked their horns or gave us thumbs up in support, while others (mostly teenagers) just shook their heads and raised their hands as if to say, "wtf?". In general, the reactions seemed to be positive, and we saw lots of smiles. Most importantly, the blank signs caused people to think, and that is exactly what our culture trains us not to do. 
So go! Question society and question your government! Fight the power, and THINK!!!
- Colin & Zoe
