Conspiracy Theories about the Brooklyn Bridge White Flags Abound
You may have heard: Some unknown person or persons replaced the American flags flying on the Brooklyn Bridge with white ones. More accurately, American flags either painted over with white paint or bleached. This has understandably raised concern from New Yorkers about the safety of the bridges, apparently vulnerable enough that people could, under police’s noses, switch the flags under cover of night. The white flags have since been taken down. Confusion about the incident reigns. But why? Here are some theories/ the most frequent jokes about the incident you will see on Twitter.
1. It is an act of surrender by either Manhattan to Brooklyn or Brooklyn to Manhattan.
Brooklyn has finally surrendered RT @ABCWorldNews: Mysterious White Flags Fly on Brooklyn Bridge pic.twitter.com/z1YTPvJB2c
— Desus MF Nice💯 (@desusnice) July 22, 2014
http://twitter.com/carney/status/491608918855266305
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is not into that theory, though
If flying a #whiteflag on the #BrooklynBridge is someone’s idea of a joke, I’m not laughing. We won't surrender our public safety to anyone.
— Eric Adams (@BKBoroHall) July 22, 2014
2. It’s an art piece about gentrification and/or hipsters.
http://twitter.com/ILikeCorgis/status/491608342045786112
If a white flag is on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, does that mean all the hispters are surrendering?
— Kathleen Schmidt (@KathMSchmidt) July 22, 2014
3. It’s call to end the Gaza conflict.
http://twitter.com/ram_k27/status/491625959397662720
4. Dido did it.
also what did @didoofficial do to the Brooklyn Bridge
— DJP (@djperry1973) July 22, 2014
Really hope the "White Flag" on the Brooklyn Bridge was put there by someone from Dido's street team who just woke up from an 11 year coma.
— Mark Graham (@unclegrambo) July 22, 2014
5. Jasper Johns did it.
http://twitter.com/snpsnpsnp/status/491661161801056256
http://twitter.com/bendwilliams/status/491605082400911360
Follow Margaret Eby on Twitter @margareteby