Political Games of Chance: Monstrations and Their Ludic Tactics
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This chapter studies Monstrations, the absurdist popular protests of the last decade that appeared in 2004 and increased in 2014 and are clearly directed toward the ridicule of the political status quo through ludic and humorous tactics which on the surface are not satirical per se. It focuses specifically on the strategy of shimmering, the principled choice to tergiversate between opposing authoritative discourses. The chapter demonstrates how Monstrations develop shimmering by removing the author and expand the betrayal of seriousness horizontally, through parodic protest. They refuse to treat any authority as legitimate or desirable, and aim at undermining the authorities control over public discourseas is readily apparent in the total failure to co-opt Monstrations via astroturfing, and their apparent current ban.
