Is that an OK sign? A white power symbol? Or just a right-wing troll?

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

From its adoption first by white nationalists, and then by 4chan trolls intent on ‘triggering the libs,’ the well-known hand signal’s use points to deeper concerns.....

However, that narrative obscures the reality of the darker undercurrents behind the spread of the “OK” sign as a far-right signal. In addition to being adopted by Trump-friendly young people who mostly see it as a way to “trigger” liberals, it’s also been adopted by militiaman “Patriots” (though it should be noted that “III%” militiamen use a reverse form of the OK sign as a way to signal membership in their mythical “3 percent” of the populace ready for a revolution).
Overt neo-Nazis such as Andrew Anglin mostly make fun of the whole concept of hand signals (he even ran a vulgar cartoon on the Daily Stormer weighing in on the “controversy”). Yet its use keeps popping up in group photos of far-right hate-group members enjoying like-minded company. Its ubiquity seems to make its use by racists and trolls alike irresistible.

To read more:

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/09/18/ok-sign-white-power-symbol-or-just-right-wing-troll

[guillaumeb]

1. And context is critical.

Zena Bash displayed the hand sign and the media were quick to accept the view that she was simply resting her hands. Please!! A resting position is a relaxed position and hands bent in that way are not relaxed.

[Tucker08087]

4. She could have gotten away with it the first day.

The second day was uncomfortably deliberate.

[guillaumeb]

5. Agreed.

And it "just happened" that she was directly behind Kavanaugh.

[Ilsa]

2. I have a link for

a Hate Symbol database. These emotionally poorly adjusted people have conscripted lots of innocent icons. They abbreviate lots of crap and use numerology as well.


https://www.adl.org/education-and-resources/resource-knowledge-base/hate-symbols

[guillaumeb]

3. And by using popular signs, they can deny any racist intent,

while their fellow racists know who they are and what they mean.

Thank you for the link.

I just started on the link. Amazing number of symbols for the initiates.

[0rganism]

6. first they came for Pepe

and i said nothing, for i was not a cartoonist
then they came for New Balance, and i said nothing for i was wearing Vasques
then they came for the OK hand sign, and i said nothing for i was not okay

they just appropriate whatever the fuck they like, and it becomes irrevocably tainted, never to be used in polite society again
i'm getting mighty sick of this

[Igel]

7. SPLC gets the timeline backwards.

First 4chan, then adoption by white nationalists.

As for use by white nationalists, I'm sure they use it. The sign's been used for many decades, so perhaps some of them have been using it and continue to use it without the new meaning. Problem is, if there's a picture where somebody we think is a white nationalist is using it, whatever the intended meaning, we divine the true meaning because he's using it as a white nationalist--and we know he's a white nationalist because he's using that sign.

I've seen black kids written up for throwing gang signs. The kind they saw on hip-hop videos. Oddly, when white kids make the same signs, no write up ... Because there's little suspicion that the white kid's in a black gang.

"How do you know he's in a gang?" "He's using the gang sign." "But others don't use it that way." "Yes, but he's in a gang, so that must be how he intends it." And, of course, if you ask the kid, the answer's, "No, not in a gang." So you can't tell, between the falsehood and the suspicion.