Just to be clear: I was never arguing against that point, just about the quibble of what it means to “alter” an image. In my opinion, the author was trying to say that no new information had been introduced to the image, but expressed it poorly.
Yes, yes, I’ve worn one of the damn things and realize that would be odd. But this thread seems to be full of speculation, so I’m just offering another woo-woo possibility.