5 ms·

Living in SF and interacting with my coworkers and neighbors on a regular basis, I had no idea until just now that using the okay hand gesture is now offensive.

Living in SF and interacting with my coworkers and neighbors on a regular basis, I had no idea until just now that using the okay hand gesture is now offensive. How does everyone else stay informed of these societal changes? I don't really browse 4chan and twitter, but I do keenly follow wsj, hn, tc, etc. EDIT: I'm only commenting on how everyone stays up to date on these shifts in language, so that they can use the right language when communicating.

at_a_remove 6y ago
The OK symbol was just one of the many items designed to twig the left-wing paranoia over "dog whistles." See also "milk and racism." Essentially, people who see racism (or the Red Menace, or whatever) around every corner end up suffering from a kind of pareidolia of symbolism. The worst thing you can do is to take this kind of thing seriously.
- th0ma5 6y ago
  There is a point where many don't get the memo you did however, and it becomes a thing anyway, no matter how ironic it was supposed to be. Ironic racism is still racism.
  - at_a_remove 6y ago
    I dunno, how ominously can one drink a glass of milk? How does it inconvenience people selectively based on race? The answer is it cannot, not without people doing absolute backflips of contorted reasoning, and that's what it highlights. Drinking milk isn't racism, the worst it can do is emphasize the absolute paranoia of people who cannot stop looking for the devil under every bed.
    - th0ma5 6y ago
      I know that, and you know that, but other people don't know that. Look at cow tipping, snipe hunting, tide pods... "Everyone" knows it is all BS, and yet...
      - at_a_remove 6y ago
        So drinking that glass of milk selectively inconveniences people on the basis of race how?
        th0ma5 6y ago
        Hey man I don't make this shit up, but people buy into it... Even when they too think it is BS even if just to fit in.
        at_a_remove 6y ago
        You are not answering my question. How can drinking a glass of milk selectively inconvenience someone on the basis of race? How? Please describe the mechanism. Hint: It can't. Which means that it isn't racist. Which means that it isn't ironically racist, either. This in turn means that it's just tweaking the noses of the paranoid, not that it is racist.
        th0ma5 6y ago
        Your rhetoric is part of the problem. You want me to absolve right wing extremists for some reason. It is absurd, and it's absurdity is part of its mechanism of spread. Your inquiring rhetoric is trying to minimize it as absurdity when the ineffectiveness isn't even the point.
        at_a_remove 6y ago
        No, the irrationality is part of the problem. I can ask you again and again to describe how this thing might be "racist" and you cannot do so. It is only racist by fiat, as if someone could declare a particular letter of the alphabet racist. That's the absurd bit. I can ask and ask and ask, and you won't answer the question because you cannot. That's the absurdity.
        th0ma5 6y ago
adamjb 6y ago
There's been mainstream coverage of it, including in the WSJ, e.g. https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-point-annapolis-officials-investigating-possible-white-power-hand-sign-11576373230 https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-point-annapolis-officials-...

at_a_remove 6y ago

The OK symbol was just one of the many items designed to twig the left-wing paranoia over "dog whistles." See also "milk and racism." Essentially, people who see racism (or the Red Menace, or whatever) around every corner end up suffering from a kind of pareidolia of symbolism. The worst thing you can do is to take this kind of thing seriously.

th0ma5 6y ago
There is a point where many don't get the memo you did however, and it becomes a thing anyway, no matter how ironic it was supposed to be. Ironic racism is still racism.
- at_a_remove 6y ago
  I dunno, how ominously can one drink a glass of milk? How does it inconvenience people selectively based on race? The answer is it cannot, not without people doing absolute backflips of contorted reasoning, and that's what it highlights. Drinking milk isn't racism, the worst it can do is emphasize the absolute paranoia of people who cannot stop looking for the devil under every bed.
  - th0ma5 6y ago
    I know that, and you know that, but other people don't know that. Look at cow tipping, snipe hunting, tide pods... "Everyone" knows it is all BS, and yet...
    - at_a_remove 6y ago
      So drinking that glass of milk selectively inconveniences people on the basis of race how?
      - th0ma5 6y ago
        Hey man I don't make this shit up, but people buy into it... Even when they too think it is BS even if just to fit in.
        at_a_remove 6y ago
        You are not answering my question. How can drinking a glass of milk selectively inconvenience someone on the basis of race? How? Please describe the mechanism. Hint: It can't. Which means that it isn't racist. Which means that it isn't ironically racist, either. This in turn means that it's just tweaking the noses of the paranoid, not that it is racist.
        th0ma5 6y ago
        Your rhetoric is part of the problem. You want me to absolve right wing extremists for some reason. It is absurd, and it's absurdity is part of its mechanism of spread. Your inquiring rhetoric is trying to minimize it as absurdity when the ineffectiveness isn't even the point.
        at_a_remove 6y ago
        No, the irrationality is part of the problem. I can ask you again and again to describe how this thing might be "racist" and you cannot do so. It is only racist by fiat, as if someone could declare a particular letter of the alphabet racist. That's the absurd bit. I can ask and ask and ask, and you won't answer the question because you cannot. That's the absurdity.
        th0ma5 6y ago

adamjb 6y ago

There's been mainstream coverage of it, including in the WSJ, e.g. https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-point-annapolis-officials-investigating-possible-white-power-hand-sign-11576373230 https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-point-annapolis-officials-...