2002-09-30 19:47:00+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments
Via the Daily Illuminator, a Reason Magazine article about the Information Awareness Office logos, and how they seem to be tailor made for conspiracy buffs. The IAO does indeed have a wacky logo, but taking that eyeball in the keyhole animated GIF out of context from the USPTO's April Pulse newsletter is a little too conspiratorial.
[ related topics: Politics moron Conspiracy ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment made: 2002-09-30 20:42:32+00 by: ziffle
The Masonic eye is a long honored symbol used since the inception of the country (and before) - I wonder if they understand where it came from though - and Why is the USPTO telling us to celebrate Earth Day? Their mission is the protection of intellectual property not wasting what little time they have on notions that are antitheical to their mission. Next they'll be celebrating Human rights instead of individual rights.
#Comment made: 2002-09-30 21:26:50+00 by: Larry Burton
The fact that it is a Masonic symbol just enhances the appeal to the conspiracy theorist. It doesn't matter to the tin-foil hat crowd what its true origins are. They have made up their own origin a long time ago and any alternative is just an attempt at a coverup.
#Comment made: 2002-09-30 21:36:51+00 by: Dan Lyke
Yeah, in fact I need to go add "Masonic" and "Mason" to the "conspiracy" topic (which only has one entry in it right now 'cause I created it for this entry).
Sometimes conspiracists make more hay with the truth.
#Comment made: 2002-10-01 16:53:53+00 by: other_todd
When I made fun of the Office of Information Retrieval ... um, Awareness ... it was just as much because of the site's copy as the logo. I mean, this was written by people who clearly had no idea how they were coming off, who had no idea that what they were doing, especially when viewed through the lens of popular culture, just might be ripe for mockery and fear. I didn't know it was possible to BE that clueless.