The Post-It Note - Friend or Foe?
It's an accepted fact in today's society that everyone loves Post-It notes. What's not to love, really? They're safe, reliable, and most of all useful. There's hardly a home or office in this country that hasn't at one time been graced with the sacchrine, day-glo presence of the Post-It. Yes, Post-It Notes are truly a modern marvel.
Or are they? Are Post-It notes as benign as we have been led to believe, or has Lady Liberty been bamboozled into drawing a venomous serpent to her bosom?
From the 3M website:
"They're little and they stick but not too hard. That's why everyone loves Post-it Notes! ... Dr. Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, discovered the formula for the sticky stuff back in 1968. But it was Silver's colleague, Art Fry, who finally came up with a practical use for it. The idea for repositionable notes struck Fry while singing in the church choir. His bookmark kept falling out of his hymnal, causing him to lose his page. So, taking advantage of a 3M policy known as the "bootlegging" policy, Fry used a portion of his working hours to develop a solution to his problem. Now the world is singing the praises of his pet project: Post-it Notes."
The 3M propaganda machine: One of the finest in the world, it has been operating for 80 years, with no end in sight. Since the 1920s the 3M corporation has enjoyed immunity from the world's courts which would seek to hold the company accountable for its innumerable atrocities. This immunity was largely due to 3M's ability to obfuscate the issues and present itself as a lovable down-home organization that truly cared about the people of the world. You may have seen some of 3M's adverts, "Baby Loves Scotch Tape" or "Post-Its in the Hizzy"
As evidence, witness the "history" of the world famous Post-It Note brand sticky notes. Nowhere does it mention the two scientists' background previous to 1968. Dr. Silver (born Henrich von Struten) was one of Hitler's more infamous Nazi scientists, whose "sticky stuff" was discovered while trying to improve the Zyklon-B formula. Art Fry, while indeed a church-going man, was also the Grand Wizard for his local Klan; his problem was not innocent bookmarks slipping out of hymnals, but rather African-Americans slipping from his nooses.
Note the use of the term "bootlegging." Somehow this must have slipped past the small army of Ivy-League psychologists at 3M's PR department. Indeed, much like the sale of alcohol during prohibition, the process of experimentation flew in the face of many federal laws. Much of the testing conducted by Silver and Fry used transients as subjects. The sticky stuff was applied to volunteers' (paid 2 dollars each) skin, which would then burn and peel, sometimes eating away flesh to the bone. The result of this was the material first being unveiled during the Korean War, where it was used in carpet bombing attacks and as a cheap napalm substitute.
When rumors of war crime allegation began to surface in connection with this method, the company began to search for alternate uses for the product. It was then that Art Fry's "problem" changed how 3M looked at its dangerous compound. Testing was done to make the dangerous effects of the "stuff" take at least 5 to 10 years to manifest, therefore ensuring that no connection could be made to 3M. To date, 15,000 people world wide have succumbed to illness stemming from Post-It Note usage, primarily young men and women who, as small children, stuck Post-Its on their noses for humor.
It's an accepted fact in today's society that everyone loves Post-It notes. What's not to love, really? They're safe, reliable, and most of all useful. There's hardly a home or office in this country that hasn't at one time been graced with the sacchrine, day-glo presence of the Post-It. Yes, Post-It Notes are truly a modern marvel.
Or are they? Are Post-It notes as benign as we have been led to believe, or has Lady Liberty been bamboozled into drawing a venomous serpent to her bosom?
From the 3M website:
"They're little and they stick but not too hard. That's why everyone loves Post-it Notes! ... Dr. Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, discovered the formula for the sticky stuff back in 1968. But it was Silver's colleague, Art Fry, who finally came up with a practical use for it. The idea for repositionable notes struck Fry while singing in the church choir. His bookmark kept falling out of his hymnal, causing him to lose his page. So, taking advantage of a 3M policy known as the "bootlegging" policy, Fry used a portion of his working hours to develop a solution to his problem. Now the world is singing the praises of his pet project: Post-it Notes."
The 3M propaganda machine: One of the finest in the world, it has been operating for 80 years, with no end in sight. Since the 1920s the 3M corporation has enjoyed immunity from the world's courts which would seek to hold the company accountable for its innumerable atrocities. This immunity was largely due to 3M's ability to obfuscate the issues and present itself as a lovable down-home organization that truly cared about the people of the world. You may have seen some of 3M's adverts, "Baby Loves Scotch Tape" or "Post-Its in the Hizzy"
As evidence, witness the "history" of the world famous Post-It Note brand sticky notes. Nowhere does it mention the two scientists' background previous to 1968. Dr. Silver (born Henrich von Struten) was one of Hitler's more infamous Nazi scientists, whose "sticky stuff" was discovered while trying to improve the Zyklon-B formula. Art Fry, while indeed a church-going man, was also the Grand Wizard for his local Klan; his problem was not innocent bookmarks slipping out of hymnals, but rather African-Americans slipping from his nooses.
Note the use of the term "bootlegging." Somehow this must have slipped past the small army of Ivy-League psychologists at 3M's PR department. Indeed, much like the sale of alcohol during prohibition, the process of experimentation flew in the face of many federal laws. Much of the testing conducted by Silver and Fry used transients as subjects. The sticky stuff was applied to volunteers' (paid 2 dollars each) skin, which would then burn and peel, sometimes eating away flesh to the bone. The result of this was the material first being unveiled during the Korean War, where it was used in carpet bombing attacks and as a cheap napalm substitute.
When rumors of war crime allegation began to surface in connection with this method, the company began to search for alternate uses for the product. It was then that Art Fry's "problem" changed how 3M looked at its dangerous compound. Testing was done to make the dangerous effects of the "stuff" take at least 5 to 10 years to manifest, therefore ensuring that no connection could be made to 3M. To date, 15,000 people world wide have succumbed to illness stemming from Post-It Note usage, primarily young men and women who, as small children, stuck Post-Its on their noses for humor.
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
take it light,
ph