Youtube Psychogeography Week Three: 4309

Any elements, no matter where they are taken from, can be used to make new combinations. When two objects are brought together, no matter how far apart their contexts may be, a relationship is always formed. This is the underlining philosophy of montage, be it an Eisenstein sequence or a collection of cut-out comic stripes on a fridge. It is from this idea that "détournement" was formed the Paris-based Letterist International in the mid 1950s. Détournements are subversive political pranks that offers a variation of a previous media work. This is not to be confused with satire, which constructs an entirely new work that alludes strongly to the original works.

Détournement takes the original works and alters them just enough to give them political bite. This can be added political subtitles to a cheesy kung-fu film, such as artist René Viénet's "La Dialectique Peut-Elle Casser Des Briques?" This idea was revised in the 1970s with the punk movement, and in the 1980s with the culture jamming movement.

Here are eight random Youtube videos.

#1

IMG 4309 (via beststealer)

During the various war trials of World War II, a large number of people involved with the Nazi concentration camps put of the defense that they were merely following orders and could not be held responsible for their actions. This lead to the Stanley Milgram Experiment in 1961. The experiment consisted of a volunteer given the role of a "teacher" while the actor was given the role of a "learner." The learner was strapped to what appeared to be a electro-shock generator, and the teacher was given the task of trying to teach the learner sets of words for him to repeat. If the learner repeated them incorrectly, the teacher would administer what he believed to be a minor electrical shock, with the voltage lightly increasing with each wrong answer.

As the voltage increased, the learner would act more and more stressed until he became unresponsive. If the teacher showed concern, the experimenter would tell the teacher to continue forward. Should the teacher ask who would be responsible for the learner's well being, the experimenter would insist "I am responsible." The results was that all forty test subjects obeyed the experimenter and administered up to 300 volts to the learner, while 25 of them, 65% of the test group, went to the maximum 450 volts.

#2

IMG 4309 (via thechubchub21)

Young people aged 10 – 24 years in the U.S. have the highest mortality rate among 27 high-income countries around the world according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, which explores the health habits of adolescents from around the globe. American youth are #1 in smoking marijuana; young people in Canada, Spain and France are next.

American youth are among the top binge drinkers in the world along with young people from Austria and Ireland. Nearly a third of children aged 15 in the top-ranked countries reported binge drinking, which is defined as drinking five drinks or more in one day. The legal drinking age in the U.S. is 21 while it is as low as 16 in other countries; in the highest-ranked nations, at least one out of five adolescents reported binge drinking at least once a week. Norway was found to have the fewest young binge drinkers and the Ukraine the highest.

Young people in the U.S. are not smoking at the same rates as those in countries. Across the globe, rates of smoking in this age group were highest in both boys and girls in Austria, Chile, Malta, and Namibia. In Latin American, North America and many sub-Saharan African countries, rates of tobacco use were similar for boys and girls, while they were higher for boys in most Asian regions, the Caribbean and the eastern Mediterranean.

#3

IMG 4309 (via missFlexyDancer)

Pets create enormous business. According to the latest 2007 edition of the U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Source book, households in the U.S. owned more than 72 million companion dogs and almost 82 million pet cats. The sheer number of pets makes this industry and its participants easily prone to abuse.

Before the animal even gets into the home of a pet owner, it or their parent or relative has very likely been subject to abuse. Most cats and dogs in pet stores come from puppy mills, which keep animals caged up for continued reproduction. The exotic pet trade is another culprit, smuggling birds, snakes and even monkeys in tiny suitcases where they remain for dreadfully long periods. They are deprived of water, food, light and adequate ventilation. Many end up dying or developing neurotic behaviors due to the stress.

#4

IMG 4309 (via kimmosley)

In 2008, one out of every 601.4 children were victims of physical abuse, with parents of victims accounting for almost 80.1% of abusers. 2.34 children out of 100,000 die from injuries relating to their abuse, with 80.8% of deaths occurring in children under four years old. For every incident of child abuse or neglect that gets reported, it’s estimated that two others go unreported.

Neglect is by far the most common form of child abuse, accounting for more than 78% of all cases. Physical abuse accounts for 17.8% of documented child abuse cases each year. A fourth of all girls and a sixth of boys are sexually abused by an adult before the age of 17. 8 out of 10 sexual abusers are someone in the family or someone the child knows. Every month, at least 100 babies are born to drug-using mothers. Of kids who have a parent who uses drugs, one in 13 is physically abused regularly. Abused children are more likely to abuse alcohol and become addicted to drugs, and one third will later abuse their own children. Of all prison inmates, 84% were abused as children.

#5

IMG 4309 (via OptimusRai)

I've always preferred the cartoons where Sylvester the cat was making Elmer Fudd's life a living hell over any times he tried to eat Tweety or that fucking kangaroo.

#6

IMG 4309 (via georgecanno)

Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day. More than a quarter of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time. On average, only 58% of students in America's 50 largest cities make it to graduation. More than one in four Hispanic youth drop out, and nearly half leave by the eighth grade. Hispanics are twice as likely as African Americans to drop out. White and Asian American students are least likely to drop out.

In the last 20 years, the earnings level of dropouts doubled, while it nearly tripled for college graduates. Recent dropouts will earn $200,000 less than high school graduates, and over $800,000 less than college graduates, in their lives. Dropouts make up nearly half the heads of households on welfare. In the U.S., high school dropouts commit about 75 percent of crimes. The dropout problem is likely to increase substantially through 2020 unless significant improvements are made. America’s high school graduation rate ranks 19th in the world. (Forty years ago, we were number one.)

#7

IMG 4309 (via z135793)

The National Coalition for the Homeless defines homeless youth as individuals under the age of eighteen who lack parental, foster, or institutional care. 1 out of every 3 homeless people are under the age of 18. 1.6 to 1.7 million people under 18 will experience homelessness each year. The majority of homeless and runaway youth are between the ages of 15 and 17, however three out of 100 runaways are under the age of 10, and 11 out of 100 are between the ages of 11 and 13.

Approximately half of all runaways were physically abused before fleeing home. Up to a third of runaways have been forced to perform a sexual act against his/her will. Half of all runaways left home because of a disagreement with a parent or guardian. A third of all runaways will attempt suicide. Homeless youth are up to ten times more likely to have or contract HIV than non-homeless adolescents. A tenth of homeless and runaway females are reportedly pregnant. This year, one in 260 runaways and homeless youths will die from assault, illness and suicide.

#8

IMG 4309 (via lena0328)

Every year, 45,000 posts, poles and fire hydrants get pissed on by dogs. 9 out of 10 of these posts do not get the proper care needed, often left uncleaned for contaminants to build. Forty percent of fire hydrants commit su... you know, statistics are pretty fucking boring.