It is the fool who thinks he cannot be fooled.
The media is not just the message. The media is a massage. We're constantly being stroked, manipulated, adjusted, realigned, and manoeuvered.
Any deviation is looked upon as a perversion, is feared, and is usually a target of hatred and prejudice.
What do we believe? Why do we believe it?
The media's job is to question a premise.
My challenge as a satirical artist is how to present ideas to people to enable them to question and reexamine their beliefs. My hope is, that my work provokes people to look at things in a new way.
I created hoaxes. I confronted and challenged the majority opinion. I attacked, humiliated, and criticized the voice of the corporate mainstream media.
We function in a pack mentality. This is our tribe. And this is how we are exploited - sold a bill of goods and a household of products.
Any journalist worth his or her salt wouldn't trust me.
I've always been a fine artist.
Most important to any fake story is a plausible, realistic edge with a satirical twist that is topical.
Most reporters who come to me get their stories directly from press releases. Very few do what one would consider to be their professional duty.
It would make life much easier if I could have total faith and not question everything all the time, but I can't do it and I won't do it.
If I'm successful in fooling a wire service, I don't really have to do anything else to promote the story.
I learned more complex ways to manipulate the manipulators, to bring attention to issues about which I felt passionate.
But I learned first-hand how the news media operates by watching how they interpreted, changed, and misrepresented my intentions.
But my favorite work is always my next piece.
When I create a false reality, I always try to create a plausible structure to help convince people.
My art became very public.
