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Category: Mr. Roboto

No Hate
Protest-Bot

Protest-Bot

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So this post has been a long time coming. Two years ago I created the “Protest-Bot” as a way to channel my surprise at the surge of intolerance and willful ignorance. He carries a simple placard with several different colored cogs spinning together. Remove one of those cogs, and the system stop working. These multicolored cogs working in unison represent how I was brought up. We are all different, and we are all in this together.

Late last year, I felt the need to step up the message a bit. As with the my other bot designs, I decided that Protest-Bot needed his own special label. The design was inspired by the modern philosopher Karl Popper and his “paradox of tolerance.”

If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.


The Open Society and Its Enemies Vol. 1

Or if you need it in digestible meme form:

Not sure who created this graphic, but I love it!

With this in mind, I moved the cogs in a row. They are still working together, but now they work in unison to actively push down hate. Along the bottom I added in are multicolored fists rising up in defiance of intolerance. Though this image may seem aggressive or combative, I feel that it is crucial that we stress the importance of not being passive, as hate speech is on the rise.

With the label designed, I then wrap it around a can containing a cute little paper robot, and leave them out as free art. After all, who doesn’t love free art, and who doesn’t love cute little robots?

If that none of this resonates with you, maybe this short film produced 72 years ago will put it into perspective. Don’t have time to watch the whole thing? Jump to the 2:20 mark and tell me that isn’t the exact type of vitriol being spewed today. They are trying to divide us. We cannot let that happen.

“… We must never let ourselves be divided by race or color or religion, because in this country we all belong to minority groups…”

Free Art Drops
The Free of Art

The Free of Art

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Once upon a time, I was a pretty avid “art dropper.” I spent many an hour putting together thoughtfully designed pieces. Whether it was tins packaged up like gift boxes filled with Happi Devil stickers, or cutting out Mr. Roboto papercraft that fit perfectly into a specially designed Campbell’s soup can. Each piece had a call back to this site as well as the Happi Devil twitter and instagram handles. It was fun!

The inspiration came from a random sign we had found while walking home one night. It was just a photograph taped to a piece of paper offering the sale of a tree.

Found Art
Sale: Reliable and Cheap

Totally random, and I loved it specifically for that reason. It was a little while after finding that piece until I was able to finally settle on “drop” that was both uniquely Happi and special.

Every time I left a “drop,” I waited anxiously for a hit back through some sort of social media tag, but sadly, it only happened twice. It’s like a 2% return after leaving drops for years. I started to feel like it wasn’t worth the effort, and after running a successful Kickstarter two years ago, I felt like giving away stickers cheapened the support of those who pitched in on the campaign.

Long story short, I still have a few Roboto “drops” left in me [especially some Protest-Bots], and I’m still hopeful that the person who finds them gets a kick out of it [and maybe enough to tag a bish]. I just need to schedule some time between my current line up of cross-stitch projects.

 

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… what do you think, dear reader, would you dig it if you found some random cool drop…? Or are you just not paying attention to the world around you… ? Lets rap about it in the comments below!