Link of the Day: The Mass Ornament

Last week I posted a link to a campaign called People for Good, a light and fairly pleasant ad campaign encouraging people to do good deeds in their daily lives. I got a reply from a fellow named Mike, a “cinema studies specialist” and blogger at a site called the Mass Ornament, who argued that there was “something very wrong” with the campaign.

To be fair, as I said at the time, I disagree with just about every aspect of Mike’s argument. With all due respect, it reads like the work of an angry film student who just discovered Benjamin and Baudrillard. And I should know, because I used to be one.

Nonetheless, he made some good points about the difference between a “feel good” campaign like this on the one hand, and genuine activism on the other. I disagree with his suggestion that one is automatically the opposite of the other, but I agree that they shouldn’t be mistaken for each other.

At any rate, he managed to get me to check out his site. They’ve only been at it for a few months, and it doesn’t look like they write often, but you might get a kick out of their content. From the look of things, they’re exploring some decent ideas. Do check them out.

Posted in Link of the Day