ADL: How the "OK" Symbol Became a Popular Trolling Gesture

[Generic Other]

Has the simple thumb-and-forefinger “OK” hand gesture become a common white supremacist hand sign? Not quite, but it has become a popular gesture used by people across several segments of the right and far right—including some actual white supremacists—who generally use it to trigger reactions, or what they would describe as “trolling the libs.”

https://www.adl.org/blog/how-the-ok-symbol-became-a-popular-trolling-gesture

[MontanaMama]

1. Thanks for the back story.

I had no idea that symbol stood for anything other than ‘ok’.

This is how I troll Zina Bash: 🖕🏼😏

[Generic Other]

2. They own it now

It may have started as a joke, but the alt-right is NOT joking. They are hardcore white racists and their denials ring hollow as their hand gestures.

[MontanaMama]

4. Oh yes.

I'll also add Ms. Bash can ride this wave of idiocy for the moment but one of these days, she and her ilk will not be in power and she will be looking for a job. As an employer myself, her actions and attitude this week would preclude her from working at my company. Actions have consequences.

[klook]

3. Skepticism is always a good default attitude

when learning of new "alarming" memes. There's enough out-and-out racism, xenophobia, misogyny, etc. from the right in plain sight these days. The assholes don't really need secret symbols or dog whistles any more.

[nykym]

5. From Wikipedia

Negative connotations
While the gesture is not positive in some countries, in certain parts of middle and southern Europe (although not in Spain or Portugal) the gesture is considered offensive.[6] The connotation of zero or worthless is known in France and Belgium, while in some Mediterranean countries such as Turkey, Tunisia, and Greece, in the Middle East, as well as in parts of Brazil and Germany, and several South American countries, it may be interpreted as a vulgar expression: either an insult (you are an asshole), the slang for anus itself, or an offensive reference to homosexuality.[3]

In the Arab world, this sign represents the evil eye, and is used as a curse, sometimes in conjunction with verbal cursing.[7]

[Floyd R. Turbo]

6. When I was a kid it was called "caught your eye". A way to draw someone's attention to the gesture.

I recall some guy claiming that he created it as a game in the eighties, but I remember it from the late fifties and early sixties. Old photos of friends and classmates have some of them using the sign.