3 ms·

The wiki article does not say whether phrasing of the example as "Bush Hid the Facts" instead of using some other text, is related to the presidency of George W

by rapnie 5y ago

The wiki article does not say whether phrasing of the example as "Bush Hid the Facts" instead of using some other text, is related to the presidency of George W. Bush. It seems to be, or is it entirely unrelated?

st_goliath 5y ago
IIRC it was related to 9/11 conspiracy theories. At the time, a lot of conspiracy garbage was forwarded through chain e-mail. This is one of two examples that I personally remember getting forwarded from a particular aunt (the "Bush Hid the Facts" text disappearing being "proof" for the whole inside job theory it presumably alludes to). The sort of stuff that aunt would nowadays share on that Face Website. The other that I remember her sending me was along the lines of "OMG if you enter that planes flight number into MS Word 97 and set the font to Windings <variant whatever> you get a picture of a plane, two buildings, a skull and a Star of David!!1!eleven". On a side note: If you entered the right combination of text into Excel 97, you could fly a plane over a fractal landscape ;-) The kind of "logic" at work here is still used nowadays (e.g. the Sandy Hook school shooting conspiracy theory, with followers pointing towards the name appearing in a movie at the time). It still eludes me what the logic behind this is supposed to be. So if you plan a massive government conspiracy, you make sure to plant very precise, hidden clues all over the place in movies, TV shows, random office software and similar things years in advance, because... um.... why exactly?
- spcebar 5y ago
  Indeed. These were very big in middle school computer labs circa 2005. I wonder if anyone with more historical perspective knows of any older examples of these blatantly false theories from other eras or if this type of conspiracy theory is unique to the digital age?
  - toomanybeersies 5y ago
    > older examples of these blatantly false theories from other eras The Salem Witch Trials comes to mind
  - mypalmike 5y ago
    Modern flat earthism goes back to the mid-1800s.
bitwize 5y ago
At the time it came out, George W. Bush was President, and there were not only 9/11 conspiracy theories, but also the false narratives about WMDs in Iraq. Similarly, a story came out during the Windows 3.1 era about how typing NYC with your font set to Wingdings yielded a skull and crossbones, a Star of David, and a thumbs up sign, stoking fears of antisemitism in a time of religious tension and a revitalization of the right wing after the Waco siege. While it is true that the letters in NYC mapped to those symbols, it was not deliberate. In the successor font Webdings, the letters NYC were deliberately mapped -- to an eye, a heart, and a city skyline (referencing "I love New York").

by rapnie 5y ago

st_goliath 5y ago

IIRC it was related to 9/11 conspiracy theories. At the time, a lot of conspiracy garbage was forwarded through chain e-mail. This is one of two examples that I personally remember getting forwarded from a particular aunt (the "Bush Hid the Facts" text disappearing being "proof" for the whole inside job theory it presumably alludes to). The sort of stuff that aunt would nowadays share on that Face Website. The other that I remember her sending me was along the lines of "OMG if you enter that planes flight number into MS Word 97 and set the font to Windings <variant whatever> you get a picture of a plane, two buildings, a skull and a Star of David!!1!eleven". On a side note: If you entered the right combination of text into Excel 97, you could fly a plane over a fractal landscape ;-) The kind of "logic" at work here is still used nowadays (e.g. the Sandy Hook school shooting conspiracy theory, with followers pointing towards the name appearing in a movie at the time). It still eludes me what the logic behind this is supposed to be. So if you plan a massive government conspiracy, you make sure to plant very precise, hidden clues all over the place in movies, TV shows, random office software and similar things years in advance, because... um.... why exactly?

spcebar 5y ago
Indeed. These were very big in middle school computer labs circa 2005. I wonder if anyone with more historical perspective knows of any older examples of these blatantly false theories from other eras or if this type of conspiracy theory is unique to the digital age?
- toomanybeersies 5y ago
  > older examples of these blatantly false theories from other eras The Salem Witch Trials comes to mind
- mypalmike 5y ago
  Modern flat earthism goes back to the mid-1800s.

bitwize 5y ago

At the time it came out, George W. Bush was President, and there were not only 9/11 conspiracy theories, but also the false narratives about WMDs in Iraq. Similarly, a story came out during the Windows 3.1 era about how typing NYC with your font set to Wingdings yielded a skull and crossbones, a Star of David, and a thumbs up sign, stoking fears of antisemitism in a time of religious tension and a revitalization of the right wing after the Waco siege. While it is true that the letters in NYC mapped to those symbols, it was not deliberate. In the successor font Webdings, the letters NYC were deliberately mapped -- to an eye, a heart, and a city skyline (referencing "I love New York").