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Briefly define Obama’s climate-change bill, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and what the Chamber’s position is on the bill in question and why.
Obama’s climate-change bill focuses on decreasing greenhouse pollution, mainly carbon dioxide. He aspires to be a leader for the international community, and to prepare not only the U.S., but globally, the impact that global warming pollution will cause. In his combat against climate changes, he wants to limit how much carbon pollutions can be produced by large power plants in the U.S. by creating EPA limits, and to use clean energy, such as generating electricity through the usage of wind and solar energy. (Organizing for Action)
The Chamber of Commerce acts as a voice for industries of all magnitudes. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business organization representing the interest of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.” (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) The Chamber is against Obama’s climate change bill. Chamber president and CEO Thomas J. Donohue released the following statement on June 25, 2013 “The president’s plan runs a serious risk of punishing Americans with higher energy bills, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy, while delivering negligible benefit to the environment. (U.S. Chamber’s Donohue Comments on President’s Climate Change Proposals.) The Chamber feels that the benefits of this bill are unproven and that the U.S. economy cannot afford the financial effects that this bill, with its regulations, will bring on the American consumer, workers, and businesses. Briefly define the Yes Men, and discuss in what ways, if any, beliefs, attitudes, and values play into or relate to the Yes Men’s formation and tactic.
The Yes Men consider themselves to be activist that exposes what they find to be the wrong doings of large companies. The Yes Men are Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. They have developed a network of likeminded individuals that attempt to raise awareness about social issues that they consider to be a problem in society. They have impersonated corporate officials to give the media something they consider to be important to write about. They feel that they are helping society with their actions by exposing illegal or irresponsible activity that these large corporations are doing. They consider themselves crime fighters. Do you agree or disagree with the tactics of the Yes Men? What concepts from class and textbook readings thus far, particularly those in Chs. 3 and 4, support your position?
While I find the hijinks of the Yes Men wildly entertaining I don’t really believe exposure by deception is necessarily the right way to go about it. Although I may not agree with their tactics they have certainly found a creative way to influence public opinion of the corporations they’ve managed to infiltrate with their message. They are attempting to change the attitudes of these companies by using the power of persuasion to change the way people perceive the company in question.

What degree of culpability do you believe news reporting organizations have in the success of Yes Men and other types of hoaxes? What do such organizations need to do to offset such hoaxes?
I believe that the media organizations have played a significant role in the success of the Yes Men. If the media did a more thorough job of investigation prior to airing the programs the Yes Men would probably not get nearly as much exposure because the media company would most likely find out that the people the Yes Men claim to be don’t really exist.
If your organization were confronted by a hoax similar to that faced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, how would you recommend they respond and why?
I would recommend that my company hold a press conference to explain to the public that there was a hoax and to counter the allegations being made by the imposters to try to salvage the reputation of my company. I would then look into taking legal action against the party in question to hopefully prevent them from attacking my company again in the future. If legal action proves to be fruitless then I would advise my company to find out as much information as possible about the organization involved to possibly do the same to those involved with the hoax.

References
The Yes Men: http://theyesmen.org/faq U.S. Chamber of Commerce. http://www.uschamber.com/about “U.S. Chamber’s Donohue Comments on President’s Climate Change Proposals.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 25 June, 2013 http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2013/june/us-chamber%E2%80%99s- donohue-comments-president%E2%80%99s-climate-change-proposals
“Help president Obama and take action to combat climate change.” Organizing for Action. 2013 http://ofa.barackobama.com/climate/?source=footer-nav