We have already seen how typewriters were used to create art, most items of office equipment tends to be (mis-)used to some extent in ways never intended by the creators. The humble fax machine, still a common if seldom used piece of equipment in company offices, is no exception. Fax machines were used to circulate humorous jokes and spoofs, urban myths even conspiracy theories long before social media was even thought about.
This is called faxlore and was mainly for the circulation of jokes and cartoons. Spoof office memos and meeting agendas were also sent. It wasn't all light humour though, some quite dangerous myths and conspiracies could also be circulated. One example circulated by fax (and other methods) was that cars driven at night without their lights on was a sign that the driver was a member of a criminal gang!
Another example sent to school administrators in the US was warning that people wearing lesser known religious symbols (though even in some case the star of David) were "Satanic" or members of secret societies. This was complete nonsense of course but the fact it was sent by fax no doubt gave the message an air of authenticity and the wearing of the symbols was banned in some cases.
Luckily these days faxlore is a rare occurrence, we just have the deluge of nonsense sent by the internet instead!
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| Panasonic fax machine (from public domain source) |
