I, Roboprofessor

Last week, when former President Bill Clinton came to Iowa City, I went to the event, stood on a chair, and told him to apologize to Sister Souljah. At first he was caught off guard and uttered a sophomoric putdown -- "Look, look in the mirror" -- before chastising me for throwing out leaflets, because it kills trees. The incident I wanted him to apologize for was 15 years old, but our exchange made national news.

Oh, one other detail: The whole time, I was dressed like a robot. (To see the video, click here.)

Why a robot? And why bring up an event from 1992? Well, one point at a time.

I put on the silver vest, sparkly shoes, shiny helmet, and oversized sunglasses because I knew it was exactly the kind of look, and hook, reporters would go for. After all, the news media has a dependable preference for spectacle over substance.

These days, pulling a media prank is like throwing a rock in the pop culture pond. You just plop it in and watch its effects ripple outwards. My stunt received play on various blogs, on cable news networks, and in newspapers, which churned out surreal headlines like "Roboprofessor Heckles Former President."

Despite its absurd trappings, I do think there was something to the substance of my message. The "Sister Souljah moment," as it has come to be known, taught me that Bill Clinton was more of an opportunist than an advocate of social justice. And it's relevant to the current presidential race because it provided an early glimpse into the cynicism of the Clinton political machine.

Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign was flagging in June 1992, when he took the words of Sister Souljah out of context in a speech before the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. Souljah, a Black activist and recording artist, was talking about the Los Angeles riots sparked by the Rodney King verdict and was trying to paraphrase the mindset of a gang member when she told The Washington Post: "I mean, if Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" Yet, in an effort to appeal to upper-middle class swing voters, Clinton portrayed her as a reckless radical who advocated interracial violence. "If you took the words 'white' and 'black' and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech," he said. It was a brilliantly effective political move. It also exploited an ugly kind of racial politics.

Is Sister Souljah the most important issue we should be discussing in the current presidential campaign? No, but that brings me back to the media. Some commentators said I looked like a moron in my costume. And I can't really disagree. But which is more idiotic: a grown man dressed as a robot or the fact that so much space and time was devoted to a grown man dressed as a robot, at the expense of worthier issues?

Today, it is easy to see how reality can be meticulously contrived, or carelessly created, by the institutions that shape our consciousness. And it is important to hold media and government accountable for their depictions, or deceptions. If that means dressing like a robot and acting the fool, so be it.

The writer is a University of Iowa communication professor and author of "Freedom of Expression®: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property."