So… Quirky vintage game ad, or insidious fascist dog ochestra?
I mean it IS an Aryan-ish cis-het idealized family unit 
2 Likes
Yep, I don’t have the article handy, but I’ve seen that one (or at least one that said the same thing). Of course, given how ubiquitous the gesture is in non-racist contexts, there’s going to be all sorts of shit going on where people may innocently use it out of habit without being racist, which is probably what the 4chan shitlords wanted, despite some racists now also using it specifically for racist purposes.
It is. It sows doubt and paranoia which is what they want. I think the idea was to spread the thought that the sign was a dogwhistle so liberal leaders ane politicians using it innocently in it’s real meaning could be discredited or at least doubted by their constituents and potential supporters. The selection of a completely innocent and ubiquitous gesture was not an accident.
1 Like
@PrinceRobot has it right.
Getting upset by the actions of others is your own choice, and in doing so you allow them power over you.
Do you say the n word?
1 Like
I was raised to believe that is a dirty word, and generally feel that folks who use it sound ignorant.
It’s super obvious when someone is using that hand gesture in its new common meaning, and I am deeply suspicious of anyone who feels otherwise.
1 Like
I disagree with this. It is not super obvious, not to me anyway. It’s only sometimes super obvious. When it’s my dad, it’s pretty obvious, when it’s a guy with a pepe pin, it’s super obvious, when it’s random person giving an interview or lady in the background of supreme court justice hiring decisions it’s not as obvious. In my opinion anyway. Perhaps you’re better at figuring stuff out than me, perhaps you’re more ok with getting it wrong than me. My guess is little column A little column B.
1 Like
IMO if you’re a regular person and someone asks you a question and you respond that it’s OK with the old gesture, yeah I’m gonna guess that just means OK.
If you’re throwing it randomly, maybe that’s a sign?
If it appears specifically in media in the last year or two, it’s probably a sign?
If it’s 3+ year old media it probably is almost guaranteed not a sign of white nationalism on it’s own. But if someone is posting that today what is their reasoning? They might be using it as a sort of image macro doggie whistle?
Images, symbols, gestures, memed cartoon animals… We can keep using them and enjoying them in our own contexts but nothing’s a vacuum. Outside world may assume things.
1 Like
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this gesture out in the wild since “the game” in my highschool days. Oh, and the day I broke my wrist and the x-ray technician asked me to make an OK gesture with my hand if I could (it hurt) and I had to ask him what he even meant. If I do see it in the wild I’ll make sure to… be confused… like I would anyone else making weird gestures.
White supremacists use it in a slightly different configuration. Flat armed, palm upward. They’ve evolved it pretty specifically.
It’s also never used by a normal old person in any context other than an explicit “OK” scenario, so almost any other context of use (or lack thereof) is suspect.
Its old use isn’t even a common gesture in the US anymore: most people use the thumb up gesture instead.
Most importantly, I’m more than willing to be wrong. If someone has red flags, I cut them out. That gesture is toxic, and anyone who makes it is at best ignorant of the current political climate (which itself is a red flag).
I treat it the same way I treat certain 8chan/nazi/alt-right/incel/mra shibboleths. If someone uses them, the best case scenario is that they hang out a lot with actual people of those types, which is a giant red flag.
1 Like
That’s true they are pretty specifically using the “Trump” version.
Also “the circle game” is almost always emphasizing the circle part, and is almost always upside down and/or below the waist; and almost always I’ve seen with straight, aligned fingers, not curved or fanned out, which is how an OK gesture usually gets done in my recollection.
Ah I never caught the part where it’s a palm up gesture if it’s being used in that context. It was still their intention to poison the metaphorical well though.
The first time I was told that “OK” gesture is a symbol for white power, it was told to me by a 4chan person. Who just thought it was funny like “Oh man, the mainstream media is taking this shit seriously, isn’t it funny?”
It doesn’t matter that symbol became a dogwhistle intentionally or ironically, the shitty online people wanted it to happen and white supremacists happily adopted it. They enjoy it on that nihilistic “my logic is always superior level” no matter how it’s used or not used now.
Maybe I’m weird in that I generally used the OK symbol more often than thumb up (or at least about as frequently). But then again, I’m also a bit older than most of the people on here, so perhaps age has something to do with that?
Yeah, that’s the problem I’m bitching about as I need to shake my habits of using it because of what it’s become in the current political climate. I shouldn’t have to do this, but I understand why I must. It also annoys me that, after this, what else will be next on the shitlords’ “let’s corrupt something innocent” list.
To be fair, some of this forced appropriation is probably going to revert to a neutral state. There may be a time when you can share a “Feels Good Man” alongside a wholesome Simpson’s meme without causing people to question your ethics but right now it’s kinda likely we’re gonna see a Total Meme War, with good memes crossing the event horizon into the sphere of bullshit.
I take a much more aggressive approach.
Meme warfare is real warfare. We’re at the earliest stages. We’re learning how effective and dangerous muskets are, but the lewis guns are just on the horizon.
4 Likes
So I read use of weapons and I am not seeing how Zakalways adventures are relevant here.