I remember when I lived in Indiana, particularly in the 1990s, that people were spray painting over these shiny stickers on the back of highway signs (I think they were inventory barcodes). Why? They thought it was some nefarious messaging system to the black helicopters that the New World Order was going to send to subjugate them. I agree with Shiplord. That kind of thinking led to anti-vax, Qanon, and ultimately 1/6. They used to be the people who painted warning statements on plywood to prop up in their yards; now they have WWG1WGA stickers on their SUVs.