January 24, 2010
uncertaintimes:jenclone:zengiraffe:madregale: Blown Away « Photoworks San Francisco “So we have a roll of film shot on December 7th, 1941 and developed January 8th, 2010.  Shot not by a professional photographer, but by a sailor on board the USS Quapaw, with a simple Brownie Box Camera.” Via Steve Silberman Amazing photos! I don’t want to pee on anyone’s cheerios, but this photo is part of an internet hoax that has been surfacing on and off for a few years now. I went for it, too. The thing is, if you look closely at the photo above, you’ll see a lot of mud, a big hangar and a truck, which you wouldn’t ordinarily find on a ship. Look at this photo, and you’ll be assured. The whole set can be found at the Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives Collection. I saw this item on Metafilter the other day, so it still runs strong. What I learn from this: It seems that when we see this and read the caption, we really want to believe that these are photos taken heroically on the deck of a burning ship with a Brownie Box camera. Because of this, many of us fail to notice the obvious mud and truck and hangar. All we see is some guy on the ground with his buddy’s hand resting on his head, consoling him in this horrible moment on the deck of this flaming wreck of a ship, while some spunky little bastard is clicking away in his quiet and anonymous way - later, his Brownie Box and its withering film, lying dormant and gathering dust in a basement in Sheboygan, waiting to be delivered to the blogosphere. We want to believe that, so that’s what we see. Although this is purely a case of misrepresentation, there are other methods of manipulation, both subtle and more direct. This is certainly nothing new, but the Internet has provided us with with an enormous audience, perpetually lined up for a continually recurring series of hoaxes, obfuscations and manipulations, far beyond anything that we have had to endure in the past. Some will always cry fake, some will always believe, many will always be suspicious. In the present, it seems that a cleverly crafted hoax will continue well beyond its exposure by Snopes and will intermittently prompt a great flow of emails and blog posts with more or less the same degree of granted verity and kneejerk skepticism. What interests me far more than debunking, however, is what gives a good hoax the power to captivate and even to endure its debunking? What is it that makes a good hoax a good hoax? Can a hoax be so well conceived that it is no longer a lie, but the truth? Our love of news, gossip and storytelling might be a good place to start. more to come, links to follow (it didn’t feel forced, m. O., just happened - thanks, to be sure)

uncertaintimes:jenclone:zengiraffe:madregale:

Blown Away « Photoworks San Francisco

“So we have a roll of film shot on December 7th, 1941 and developed January 8th, 2010.  Shot not by a professional photographer, but by a sailor on board the USS Quapaw, with a simple Brownie Box Camera.”

Via Steve Silberman

Amazing photos!

I don’t want to pee on anyone’s cheerios, but this photo is part of an internet hoax that has been surfacing on and off for a few years now.

I went for it, too. The thing is, if you look closely at the photo above, you’ll see a lot of mud, a big hangar and a truck, which you wouldn’t ordinarily find on a ship. Look at this photo, and you’ll be assured. The whole set can be found at the Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives Collection.

I saw this item on Metafilter the other day, so it still runs strong.

What I learn from this: It seems that when we see this and read the caption, we really want to believe that these are photos taken heroically on the deck of a burning ship with a Brownie Box camera. Because of this, many of us fail to notice the obvious mud and truck and hangar. All we see is some guy on the ground with his buddy’s hand resting on his head, consoling him in this horrible moment on the deck of this flaming wreck of a ship, while some spunky little bastard is clicking away in his quiet and anonymous way - later, his Brownie Box and its withering film, lying dormant and gathering dust in a basement in Sheboygan, waiting to be delivered to the blogosphere. We want to believe that, so that’s what we see.

Although this is purely a case of misrepresentation, there are other methods of manipulation, both subtle and more direct. This is certainly nothing new, but the Internet has provided us with with an enormous audience, perpetually lined up for a continually recurring series of hoaxes, obfuscations and manipulations, far beyond anything that we have had to endure in the past.

Some will always cry fake, some will always believe, many will always be suspicious. In the present, it seems that a cleverly crafted hoax will continue well beyond its exposure by Snopes and will intermittently prompt a great flow of emails and blog posts with more or less the same degree of granted verity and kneejerk skepticism.

What interests me far more than debunking, however, is what gives a good hoax the power to captivate and even to endure its debunking? What is it that makes a good hoax a good hoax? Can a hoax be so well conceived that it is no longer a lie, but the truth?

Our love of news, gossip and storytelling might be a good place to start.

more to come, links to follow

(it didn’t feel forced, m. O., just happened - thanks, to be sure)

1:42am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZPoyUyKuPNs
(Notes: 28)
  
  1. cjelli reblogged this from my-ear-trumpet and added:
    This is in fact a hoax. Photoworks, to its credit has retracted the story — that’s why the link to them above goes to a...
  2. zengiraffe reblogged this from my-ear-trumpet and added:
    While it turns out the story of how the film was recently found and developed was made up, I still think these are...
  3. my-ear-trumpet reblogged this from zengiraffe
  4. jenclone reblogged this from uncertaintimes and added:
    This is fascinating commentary - lots to think about here. And I wasn’t going to eat those Cheerios, anyway. - Jen
  5. qovop reblogged this from uncertaintimes and added:
    jenclone:zengiraffe:madregale:
  6. uncertaintimes reblogged this from jenclone and added:
    I don’t want to pee on anyone’s cheerios, but this photo is part of an internet hoax that has been surfacing on and off...
  7. jenclone reblogged this from zengiraffe
  8. zengiraffe reblogged this from madregale
  9. madregale posted this