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Tech

San Francisco in 1975: Burn Your TVs at the Cow Palace

In 1975, performance art collective Ant Farm burned a stack of TVs in their piece “Media Burn” because they believed the technology of television produced “hierarchy” and “alienation”. One confident member even predicted that their performance would...

In 1975, performance art collective Ant Farm burned a stack of TVs in their piece "Media Burn" because they believed the technology of television produced "hierarchy" and "alienation". One confident member even predicted that their performance would set off a chain reaction of TV burning across the country, and ultimately lead to the demolition of such oppressive forces as McDonalds, factories, and freeways.

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We all know how that story ends. It's hard to imagine what kind of damage Ant Farm could possibly manage today, as you can't burn the internet, silly, or at least not all of it. And while some people might want to try, the mediascape is now so ubiquitious that even the Internet is supposed to be "boring."

Also, I should remind you that burning all that media would release a very unhealthy brew of chemicals and emissions into the atmosphere.

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