Pixelated Semantics

A schizotypical inventory

D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M anyone?

Reports have appeared in the media that a 300 year old cryptological puzzle has been solved. There are inferences being drawn that the code relates to the Knights Templar, who were believed to be the custodians of the Holy Grail, but there appears to be no actual pointer to the Grail's location as popular belief has held. "Veteran code-breakers" from Bletchley Park say the code is likely to stand for "Jesus (As Deity) Defy". The Times is downplaying the signficance, instead choosing a minority view that it "may be nothing more than a loving dedication to a mourned wife" and also renders the solution as "Jesus H Defies". Additionally, The Times' reportage also studiously avoids mention of "Masonic symbolism" and the Templars, clearly in favour of printing only the most populist and easily digestible of historical references, when compared with other sources. The Telegraph goes out of its way to dismiss the occult interpretations, stating (rather libelously) "those of a romantic (or deluded) disposition believed it to be a coded message of the kind used by the Knights Templar and their successors". Their coverage of the announcement goes a long way towards elucidating the sheer indifference of modern journalism to historical topics:

"They wheeled out some veteran code-breakers to announce the results of months of effort by competing teams of professional and amateur cryptanalysts.

About halfway through the process, eyes began to glaze. Then, as talk of decryption matrices progressed, an expression of helpless incomprehension bloomed on the faces of the assembled media."

Helpless incomprehension? Yet, despite apparently truncated deliberation, they manage to write several hundreds of words, for millions of readers, "incomprehending" words that are meant to communicate a story in a balanced fashion. The Irish Examiner's writer seemed to have no such problem, presenting their report with less than half the verbiage of the Telegraph while communicating the essential facts of the same story.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 2:18 pm ::