“Obey / Stay Asleep” Sign Spotted on I-90

Inspired by the 1988 John Carpenter cult classic film They Live, someone has placed a yard sign with the commands “Obey” and “Stay Asleep” in the grass off the left-hand side of I-90, just west of the W. 14th exit and the I-71 split.

They Live, a campy sci-fi horror flick, is about a drifter who discovers a pair of sunglasses through which he can see the subliminal messaging of alien overlords, who control earth’s masses via the media.

Directives like “Obey,” “Consume,” “Marry and Reproduce” are hidden everywhere in plain sight in They Live, in the news and advertising that we absorb every day.

After Tuesday night, in a world in which news and advertising have become increasingly blurred, alien invasion and thought control doesn’t seem too far beyond the pale.

Anyway, here’s the They Live source material. Let us know if you see variations on these signs cropping up elsewhere.  

This article appears in Nov 9-15, 2016.