Wilson Bryan Key (1921–2008)

So, I'm putting together two suitcases (100 lbs) of books for trip to McKay's when I go back to the USA next year. One boxful is prepared, and I'm focusing on reading the ones that have been sitting on my shelf for 1, 2, 5, or in the case of this gem, 12 1/2 years (acquired April 2010).

I haven't written a ton of reviews on LT anyway, and even fewer for books that I'm only a couple of pages in. For context: I'm a Gen X brat, latchkey kid, MTV generation, yadda yadda yadda. I lived through the Satanic Panic where even a trademark from Proctor and Gamble supposedly meant 666 if you connected the stars on the thing just so.

I'm also a professional biblical scholar, professor, and writer. So I bristled at the incorrect citation of the Bible on page ix of the Introduction. The page says Ecclesiastes 2:16. It's off by one chapter and one verse (should be Ecclesiastes 1:15). I mean, close enough, right? Well, no, not if you're going to make the claim that there is a s#!t-ton of very specific, very intentionally layered, unquestionably deliberate, subliminal messages running all through advertising and popular culture.

I'm also a little upset to see Marshall McLuhan cited as helping with Whatshisname's prior work.

Anyway, off into Psycholand. Please send a search party and a tray of cold cuts if you don't see me back in a few days.… (meer)

Read this back in '92 or thereabouts. Utter, as they say, bollocks.

Oh sure, some advertising creatives may have tried to sneak something in somewhere, and during the 50s there were sufficient attempts at inserting frames into motion pictures that laws were enacted against this sort of thing.

But a) the techniques do not actually work, and b) the evidence that Wilson Key finds are as imaginary as the lyrics found by playing rock LPs backwards (using the ol' belt twist) during the great satanic cult scare of the early 80s.

See, here's the thing. There is no magic decoder in the subconsious mind that the conscious mind does not have access to. If the conscious mind cannot discern hidden lyrics because they are sung backwards, or hidden images that are stylized beyond recognition or hidden in a lot of visual noise, then the subconscious mind can't do it either.

Interestingly, the conscious mind's incredible ability to perceive words and images when surrounded by high-visual noise is being actively studied in attempts to differentiate between human and computer-driven users (e.g. in the "captcha" arms race).… (meer)