Actually, I think Art that is a Mirror happens to be the strongest hammer. A mirror is a reflection of something as it stands now. Unfortunately, most people do not take the time to sit and look at current situations, or perhaps do not see them clearly. This is why art that is a mirror is often more shocking than anything else because it throws a negative or concerning aspect of our lifestyle or society into our face. Recognizing it as our own is then the part that motivates serious self or societal evaluation and scrutiny.
For me, Feed was a definite success in this way. The book's power lies in it being so blunt, unapologetic, and true to who we are allowing ourselves to become as a society ruled by digitalization and corporations. Because of this the book also makes you question what you should do to stop all this. And Tobin does provide an answer, through his revealer character Violet. Violet says she wants to create a consumer profile so skewed, that no one can sell to it. So she literally goes around looking at random, outrageous stuff and pretending that she likes them, confusing her feed in the process. This made me wonder, what would be the equivalent action for us?
My thoughts go to trying to appear as little as possible on consumer profiles, studies and data tables which make us easier to target. This would mean not allowing companies or corporations access to our information in any way, even over sites like Facebook. Also, pulling out from the digital world as much as we can, at a reasonable pace determined by us. Also, I think not allowing our kids to be exposed to the TV when they are so young, just like Violet was not exposed to the feed until she was 7, and therefore had developed her own personality.
That's all ways I can think of for now, but I'll defiantly keep thinking, and also looking out for ideas that other people may have.
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