IMAGINE A SATELLITE OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN. Perhaps it was sent here by some source of infinite cosmic intelligence to help guide us and protect us as we slowly learn our way to the stars. It beams ideas down to us here on Earth. It means us well, and so the ideas it beams down are intended to catalyze positive shifts in our perceptions of ourselves and our society.

The Satellite is a metaphor; in other words, it doesn’t need to actually exist for it to be worth understanding. As a metaphor, it enables us to converse about the source of ideas; in other words, where do ideas come from? Don’t they FEEL like they were beamed down to your head from outer space?

Imagine that the Satellite is beaming ideas to other people as well. Every time you see an indication of someone who has cleverly struck a blow against the System, especially through Art, I sense the work of the Satellite. And as I sense you reading this article, I sense you comprehending the effect of the Satellite upon your life as well.

Anarchy’s Ad Agency Kilian Betlach – The Heights (the Boston College student newspaper) Posted: 11/14/00 Unleash Infinity. Graffiti Makes Sense. Impeach ‘Em All.

Not exactly the typical slogans one finds on a T-shirt. Then again, this isn’t a typical company.

In 1992, while a student at Stanford, Srini Kumar created a fake organization targeted to stop the reelection of then President Bush – just for kicks. He produced numerous pieces of propaganda resplendent with such slogans as “If you stay in the middle of the road, you’re likely to get run over,” and was amazed to find them re-printed and posted around campus and in the city. A few years later, the Internet hit; he started a Web site and the rest, as they say, is history.

For six years, Kumar has spear-headed a project known as Unamerican (www.unamerican.com) selling T-shirts, stickers and ideology over the Internet. “We’re older than Amazon.com!” he announces with exuberance, following it with what can only be described as a diabolical chuckle.

The Unamerican catalog features over 300 black and white vinyl stickers, nearly 20 T-shirts, as well as an assortment of coffee mugs and pins. Each item boasts a trademark Unamerican slogan – everything from the straight-forward “Fear Bush” to the somewhat more quixotic “Stop Living Like Veal.” With the exception of the T-shirts, nothing on the site costs more than a buck or two. The on-line order form is easy to navigate and nearly every form of payment is accepted.

Besides at the homepage, Unamerican’s wares can be found in retail locations like head shops and independent record stores such as Newbury Comics. A deal is currently in the works to distribute at Hot Topic, a nation-wide retail store found in most malls. While reluctant to delve into the realm of specific dollar amounts, Unamerican is doing enough business to fully cover its costs, allow for reinvestment in the organization, and support Kumar and a couple of associates.

But business isn’t what this is about.

“This is an adventure,” says Kumar. “I live this! I want to be able to survive off raw creativity and I’ve found a way to turn writing into money … and business is one of the things I’ve got to learn — and I’ve never been a super-good business person — but that’s part of the adventure.”

The adventure has taken Kumar from his original home-base in the San Francisco Bay Area most recently to North Carolina. He calls this move into relative isolation a “sabbatical,” during which he plans to perfect the craft, sharpen the company’s focus towards future goals and above all else, catch up on back orders.

Rebellious phrasing is not all there is to Unamerican, however. “Anyone who says: ‘Oh, he’s just selling stickers …’ that’s such a trivial analysis,” says Kumar. “I have trouble respecting that kind of critic. So Warhol was just painting soup cans?” The continuing focus of this organization lies in two directions: first, encouraging the continued politicization of his target audience and second, helping independent business, the formation of a “Punk” economy, to emerge. The Web site features articles and essays discussing this ideology, as well as on-line forums designed to promote communication and community building.

With regards to the first goal, Kumar sees the choice to purchase something from his company as a form of advocacy, which in turn is the first step towards becoming a political-minded individual.

“One of the biggest lines I’ve propagated ‘is your real vote is the dollar.’ And every time someone buys a sticker for a buck, I see that as a vote for me and what I do … The way I see it, there’s this unexercised gland in the brain that’s labeled: ‘political consciousness’ – and it’s not secreting right now. What I think these stickers can do is catalyze that beginning.”

To this end, Unamerican has begun work with activist groups, seeking to bridge the gap between those who are willing to get involved and the actual groups themselves. The site will soon feature a section devoted to these political-minded organizations, taking the form almost of a rating guide and on-line forum where individuals can come to post information, want ads, or simply views on the current political landscape.

About his other goal, Srini says: “I’m not just launching a business, I’m launching a movement of businesses. If we’re ever gonna successfully challenge Nike, we have to learn how to make shoes. What I’d like to see is a whole generation of micro-businesses emerging and building on the wealth of everything’s that’s gone before.”

Not only is Unamerican leading by example in this endeavor, functioning as a successful independent business that owes nothing to the existing corporate framework, but Kumar has a literary project underway, entitled StickerNation. The book – soon to be published by a firm in New York – is designed to be a how-to book for young, potential messagemakers with a vision, but without the knowledge, of how to spread their own ideas. It is hoped the book will serve as tool kit, recipe book, manifesto or a rallying cry for that portion of America’s youth.

With all these ambitious plans, some criticism has been leveled at Unamerican as a company – blasting it as taking advantage of “alterna-teens” and “teeny boppers” who are just trying to look cool, and at Kumar himself, contending that he suffers from delusions of grandeur … After all, we’re just talking about stickers here, right?

“Anyone who looks at the literal aspect of what my stickers are saying is missing the point,” Kumar says. “People are completely in the thrall of the media. The media exists to tell people what to say, to the point where people go around dressing exactly like Eminem. My stickers are a way people show their interest in things. What I know from my central location is that they aren’t alone, that these are actually popular things [whether the media acknowledges it or not].”

Perhaps Unamerican is doing even more than that. In a period of our cultural development where what one looks like is seen as a key to their personality, especially with regard to musical preference, socioeconomic standing and political views, it is important to have a company that supplies the public expression of those who cannot be represented through Abercrombie and Fitch. Certainly, Unamerican meets that demand while, at the same time, offering a critique of both prevailing fashion norms and perhaps the values of those who adopt them.

“This isn’t a culture, it’s a headache,” Kumar says.

If so, Unamerican is the aspirin.

© Copyright 2006 The Heights

this is SRINI and I am saying HI to YOU.

use the “create note” button up top left there.

put interesting stuff on this page.

and then if you want,

create your own page.

google doesn’t see these pages – they are semi-private

Never co-sign! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/rahm-working-with-fed-to_n_561505.html don’t co-sign your loans with the FED

just tightly surround the URL with exclamationpoints:

you should download this and create big pages wot ?! it’s amazing.

drag the title of a note to move it around!

use the little curly arrows on the bottom left of each note to link notes into sequences. it’s a great way to present information in a nonlinear way !!!

this means if you share the URL of the metanotes page you create, other people can find your content.

bookmark the pages you create! ALWAYS!

random people might surf into your page though. we haven’t built full privacy yet.

but Google won’t crawl your pages, nor will any other ethical search engine.

so your stuff is sort of private, get it ?

but totally sharable – just give your team the URL.\

Hey Google… I’m ok with you watching me, I’m NOT ok with you fucking doing anything with that information… you fucking stay hands off… it’s pretty sick… and wrong… we’re doomed

I AM GOING TO THE POST OFFICE I HOPE MY STICkERS HAVE ARRIVED> ONE TIME I MET YOU AT WARP TOUR< B4 THAT I HAD A FUCK SHIT UP STICKER ON MY RIGHT BUMPER AND A DONT GET CAUGHT STICKER ON THE LEFT SIDE OF MY BUMPER BUT THEN MY DAD SAW IT AND MADE ME TAKE THE FSU STICKER OFF BUT IT WAS STILL FUN (THIS WAS LIKE TEN YEARS AGO)

You really do vote with your dollar. Vote for local business. Vote against the things that you know are bad for the community and bad for your health. Do the right thing even though it may cost more (in both effort and literal cost). If you don’t have to take medicine, then don’t.

We are so removed from reality. Sometimes I fear about our future.

Tolerance is the most important thing that we should afford to one another. Understanding is next. My mom said something that resonated with me my whole life, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. I don’t agree with organized religion but it is a damn good quote. Hopfully one day people will wake up and realize that we are all one race… HUMAN.

I may have to live in this corporate, capitolist world but I don’t have to submit to it.

-Kelly Darbonne 2/15/2010

Click on me to edit. This message is destined to the far reaches of this page.

could this be the last time you read this note?

this note has a lonely perspective. and you would maybe be the last one to abandon it before the world caves in. it will be lonely out here, neglected, forgotten…

sile other ideas of custom text stickers or regular stickers. I hope this help. have fun.Dude I’m scared This shit ihas become something totally open and well, I’m under water stickers are kind of hilarious now I’m pushing the mainstream Our country, our way of life, is dieing we really can’t sustain our rate of consumption it’s cartoonish 10 years later, I realize I saw the truth then… but holy Christ, I live ithttp://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/05/05/4243214-links-for-the-54-trms#comments That woman is a saint mainstream, yet so fucking correct

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. – Buddha

SO I WATCHED A FLASH MOB PROTEST OF A HOTEL WHERE THE WORKERS WERE PROTESTING WAGES AND HEALTHCARE. THE PROTEST MOB WAS SING A FILK OF BAD ROMANCE. ALL I COULD THINK WAS, ” IF I WERE CHECKING IN, I’D BE LESS SYMPATHETIC RATHER THAN MORE”. I THINK THAT MAKES ME A BAD PERSON.

but I don’t want to be a googlefucker

then you aught to make friends and have a party while the world is cavin’

I have to lose this skin, I’m imprisioned in ~ The Clash Taymon Dog

AntiAmerican.org