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Or you can use context instead of absolute judgment. When done under water in a scuba suit, it probably means ok. When done when posing with Steve Bannon it pro
by yread 6y ago
Or you can use context instead of absolute judgment. When done under water in a scuba suit, it probably means ok. When done when posing with Steve Bannon it probably means white power sign.
- lldbg 6y agoThat's some hilariously vacuous reasoning. What's your thought process there? People are complex, just because you don't like them doesnt give you the right to judge their every action in the worst possible light. That's intellectually unsound.
- matwood 6y agoYeah, context is key. We played a game as kids where if you looked at one of us with the ok sign, the one doing the sign got to punch you in the arm. It was joke. Even though this new origin is a bit of the tail wagging the dog (it started as a joke on 4chan), the ok sign has taken on the meaning of a white power sign in certain situations. Unfortunately, people have trawled old pics and attacked people for using normal hand gestures. Context and nuance appears to be completely lost on many.
- rendall 6y ago> the ok sign has taken on the meaning of a white power sign in certain situations. >> When done when posing with Steve Bannon it probably means white power sign. When a no-kidding, self-admitted, non-LARPing, Stormfront-reading, Klan- or Nazi-party member says "Yeah we've been using the OK symbol for years" then I'll believe it. But all I've ever seen about this is leftists of a certain type asserting that it's true, with some variation of "I know it's true because all my friends and thought leaders say it's true, and you can see yourself that such people as Steve Bannon use it, and people have even been fired for doing it. Definitely true. Your move, white-supremacy-denier!" So, no. It's a conspiracy theory, in which denial of the conspiracy is yet more evidence of the conspiracy.
- WickyNilliams 6y agoHow about the Christchurch shooter flashing it in court? He may have been doing it ironically still, but at that point does it even matter? He was explicitly associating himself and his actions with the symbol. Context matters of course, but what started as a joke has taken on its own life
- marton78 6y agoWow, that game seems to be surprisingly common! It was played on my school in Munich, Germany. The rules were: if you look through the loop, you are punched in the upper arm. The puncher has to draw a bull's eye first, then punch, then the recipient must say "thank you" and the puncher must reply "you're welcome" (of course in German, i.e. bitte, danke). Any deviation from the rules is punished by a punch, to be administered in accordance with aforementioned ceremony. Where did you grow up?
- matwood 6y agoIn the southeastern US. I'm a bit older so things like minor scuffles and fist fights with friends wasn't uncommon. We certainly didn't have as many rules as you outlined, and just used it as another reason to pick on and bruise each others arms.
- dharmon 6y agoI grew up in South Carolina and we definitely did this (without the "please" and "thank you" part). If I recall, there was an additional requirement where the ok hand had to be held below your waist, though.
- mijoharas 6y agoUK here, the sign also had to be below the waist. I have relatives my age in new zealand, and it was also common there. Memes have an amazing power to spread, huh?
- secondcoming 6y agoThe rules were - the person had to look directly at the ok sign - the ok sign had to be below the waist Played it in Ireland too!
- roenxi 6y agoHaving researched the issue carefully [0] I would suggest there is an alternative symbolic interpretation. One that goes something like "our opponents believe anything they read on the internet". Even if it is used extensively as a political symbol, it doesn't represent white power. It represents a political sub-group disrespecting their opposition for being gullible. Insofar as it even could represent white power - white power to do what? Have political opinions? It isn't seriously associated with anything heinous. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_(gesture)#White_power_symbol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_(gesture)#White_power_symbo...
- jamespo 6y agoSeems like you should do some more research
- yread 6y agoSo, you're saying it either means "white power" or "we're trolling people to think we mean 'white power'"? As for white power not being associated with anything heinous, yeah "Hail victory" also sounds good. Who doesn't want victory?
- mechEpleb 6y agoThe whole thing was started as a deliberate meme by /pol/ to take an innocent, commonly used hand signal and make the left treat it as a white supremacist dogwhistle. So it can mean anything ranging from "ok" to "this will make the libs angry" to "I am an actual nazi among like minded friends". Which one it is must be discerned from context, meaning that the symbol itself is largely meaningless.
- thinkingemote 6y ago"Paranoid dynamic of American politics."
- tjalfi 6y agoWere you thinking of The Paranoid Style in American Politics[0]? [0] https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/ https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-am...
- thinkingemote 6y agoThanks!
- inpdx 6y agoYep. That picture is 100% not flashing the ok sign. It's just so clearly not.