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They're responding to a white-supremacist campaign slogan, not to the meaning of the words.

Manuel_D 4y ago
And through their responses, they are advancing said white-supremacists' goals of making them look like anti-white racists. They know this, yet do it anyway. Like I said, it's incredibly stupid and counter-productive. They know it's bait, but they're eating it up anyway.
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  If you ask me in a survey whether it's true that "work makes you free", I'll say no, whatever my views about work and freedom.
  - landoftheice 4y ago
    [dead]
  - Manuel_D 4y ago
    I'm not sure how that's comparable. Work doesn't make you free: there are people that work that are not free. There are people that don't work, but are free. Objecting to the statement "work makes you free" isn't indicating any hatred towards a particular group. By comparison, objecting to "it's okay to be white" would imply that it's not okay to be white. Hence why objecting to such an anodyne statement is recognized by many to be racism. Imagine someone objecting to "it's okay to be Asian", or "It's okay to be African". If people recognize that it's said to try and bait people into making a statement perceived to be anti-white racism, but object to it anyway then doubly wrong on them: they know that it's bait but they're scarfing it down anyway.
    - ashwagary 4y ago
      >By comparison, objecting to "it's okay to be white" would imply that it's not okay to be white. They are not wrong to answer that question however they choose since you cannot infer how the statement is percieved by the person answering it. That's partially the point of the troll. Black Americans not immediately suspicious of similar statements and the people posting them are probably outliers since dehumanization of others was never a tactic or objective of black empowerment groups. The same cannot be generally stated about white groups and the societies that overwhelmingly supported them. Btw, Rasmussen should ask more victims of atrocities ambiguous, "It's okay to be a German prison camp guard. (Agree/Disagree/NotSure)" style poll questions to assist those acting in bad faith. /s
      - trogdor 4y ago
        >Btw, Rasmussen should ask more victims of atrocities ambiguous, "It's okay to be a German prison camp guard. That might make sense if the original poll prompt was “It’s okay to be a white supremacist.” It wasn’t, though.
        ashwagary 4y ago
        Both questions are in the same vein. It doesn't have to be stated for many from the population to intuit that the "supremacist" is likely implied. Black Americans havent escaped the heavily supported global system of white supremacy that they've been fighting against for centuries, and most aren't under a false illusion that they have. As long as whites don't dismantle the system and complete the reparative justice process, "white" and "white supremacy" will remain synonymous. The same way "German" and "Nazi" would be more synonymous, if Germans didn't dismantle the ideology and carry out reparative actions for the victims of their local holocaust.
    - ModernMech 4y ago
      I think you’re struggling with the difference between connotation and denotation. It doesn’t matter if the denotation of a white supremacist rallying cry is anodyne. It’s still a white supremacist rallying cry. Actually, they tend to be anodyne exactly for this reason; it’s not often they are as explicit as “Jews won’t replace us.”
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
      > Objecting to the statement "work makes you free" isn't indicating any hatred towards a particular group. I have to assume good faith, and that you have somehow not heard of this before today. This was -of course- the slogan used by several Nazi concentration camps during WWII. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei
    - denton-scratch 4y ago
      You missed my point. Arbeit Macht Frei was a nazi slogan, you aren't supposed to parse it. Similarly "It's OK to be white" is a white supremacist slogan. In both cases, if you're familiar with the slogan, then you respond to the signal, not the meaning of the words. It's a sort of inverse dog-whistle.
      - Manuel_D 4y ago
        It's not a dog-whistle, there's no meaning behind the statement besides eliciting a certain reaction. They predicted that progressives would object to such an anodyne statement, and make themselves look like racists - after all, is it not okay to be white? But apparently they were right, people really did object to the statement "it's okay to be white. I doubt that random people being polled by Rasmussen are intimately familiar with 4chan trolling topics. Don't take the bait - even if you know the trolling campaign behind the phrase. Especially if you know, taking the bait when you know it's bait is even more stupid.
        ModernMech 4y ago
        When a white supremacist says “it’s okay to be white” what they mean is “it’s only okay to be white”. It’s not an anodyne statement if you know this, so why would you agree with it in any context? This isn’t a “we can all be who we are and that’s okay” self empowerment kind of sentiment. Do you know or interact with any white supremacists? They are not very accepting people.
        Manuel_D 4y ago
        > When a white supremacist says “it’s okay to be white” what they mean is “it’s only okay to be white” This is a massive leap in reasoning. Since when does "it's okay to be X" really mean "it's not okay to be anything other than X"? If you know what this statement means, you know that it's bait to try and get you to say it's not okay to be white thereby making you seem racist.
        ModernMech 4y ago
faeriechangling 4y ago
I would be shocked if both weren’t happening at the same time, I can’t imagine all the poll respondents knew the context and I imagine many were taking what was said at face value. Impossible to really know peoples reasons for disagreeing with that phrase which makes it maybe not the best polling question to ask.
giardini 4y ago
I doubt that. I think they answered a plain English question. I suspect that few, if any, of Rasmussen's pollees know anything about what you call a "white-supremacist campaign".
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  Many of the white respondents probably answered a plain English question. I suspect many of the black respondents responded to the slogan not the words. It's very provocative to suggest that a large proportion of Black Americans disapprove of people having white skin. The question itself appears to have been deliberately provocative. Rasmussen Reports has been criticized before for asking dodgy questions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmussen_Reports#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmussen_Reports#Criticism

And through their responses, they are advancing said white-supremacists' goals of making them look like anti-white racists. They know this, yet do it anyway. Like I said, it's incredibly stupid and counter-productive. They know it's bait, but they're eating it up anyway.

denton-scratch 4y ago
If you ask me in a survey whether it's true that "work makes you free", I'll say no, whatever my views about work and freedom.
- landoftheice 4y ago
  [dead]
- Manuel_D 4y ago
  I'm not sure how that's comparable. Work doesn't make you free: there are people that work that are not free. There are people that don't work, but are free. Objecting to the statement "work makes you free" isn't indicating any hatred towards a particular group. By comparison, objecting to "it's okay to be white" would imply that it's not okay to be white. Hence why objecting to such an anodyne statement is recognized by many to be racism. Imagine someone objecting to "it's okay to be Asian", or "It's okay to be African". If people recognize that it's said to try and bait people into making a statement perceived to be anti-white racism, but object to it anyway then doubly wrong on them: they know that it's bait but they're scarfing it down anyway.
  - ashwagary 4y ago
    >By comparison, objecting to "it's okay to be white" would imply that it's not okay to be white. They are not wrong to answer that question however they choose since you cannot infer how the statement is percieved by the person answering it. That's partially the point of the troll. Black Americans not immediately suspicious of similar statements and the people posting them are probably outliers since dehumanization of others was never a tactic or objective of black empowerment groups. The same cannot be generally stated about white groups and the societies that overwhelmingly supported them. Btw, Rasmussen should ask more victims of atrocities ambiguous, "It's okay to be a German prison camp guard. (Agree/Disagree/NotSure)" style poll questions to assist those acting in bad faith. /s
    - trogdor 4y ago
      >Btw, Rasmussen should ask more victims of atrocities ambiguous, "It's okay to be a German prison camp guard. That might make sense if the original poll prompt was “It’s okay to be a white supremacist.” It wasn’t, though.
      - ashwagary 4y ago
        Both questions are in the same vein. It doesn't have to be stated for many from the population to intuit that the "supremacist" is likely implied. Black Americans havent escaped the heavily supported global system of white supremacy that they've been fighting against for centuries, and most aren't under a false illusion that they have. As long as whites don't dismantle the system and complete the reparative justice process, "white" and "white supremacy" will remain synonymous. The same way "German" and "Nazi" would be more synonymous, if Germans didn't dismantle the ideology and carry out reparative actions for the victims of their local holocaust.
  - ModernMech 4y ago
    I think you’re struggling with the difference between connotation and denotation. It doesn’t matter if the denotation of a white supremacist rallying cry is anodyne. It’s still a white supremacist rallying cry. Actually, they tend to be anodyne exactly for this reason; it’s not often they are as explicit as “Jews won’t replace us.”
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
    > Objecting to the statement "work makes you free" isn't indicating any hatred towards a particular group. I have to assume good faith, and that you have somehow not heard of this before today. This was -of course- the slogan used by several Nazi concentration camps during WWII. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei
  - denton-scratch 4y ago
    You missed my point. Arbeit Macht Frei was a nazi slogan, you aren't supposed to parse it. Similarly "It's OK to be white" is a white supremacist slogan. In both cases, if you're familiar with the slogan, then you respond to the signal, not the meaning of the words. It's a sort of inverse dog-whistle.
    - Manuel_D 4y ago
      It's not a dog-whistle, there's no meaning behind the statement besides eliciting a certain reaction. They predicted that progressives would object to such an anodyne statement, and make themselves look like racists - after all, is it not okay to be white? But apparently they were right, people really did object to the statement "it's okay to be white. I doubt that random people being polled by Rasmussen are intimately familiar with 4chan trolling topics. Don't take the bait - even if you know the trolling campaign behind the phrase. Especially if you know, taking the bait when you know it's bait is even more stupid.
      - ModernMech 4y ago
        When a white supremacist says “it’s okay to be white” what they mean is “it’s only okay to be white”. It’s not an anodyne statement if you know this, so why would you agree with it in any context? This isn’t a “we can all be who we are and that’s okay” self empowerment kind of sentiment. Do you know or interact with any white supremacists? They are not very accepting people.
        Manuel_D 4y ago
        > When a white supremacist says “it’s okay to be white” what they mean is “it’s only okay to be white” This is a massive leap in reasoning. Since when does "it's okay to be X" really mean "it's not okay to be anything other than X"? If you know what this statement means, you know that it's bait to try and get you to say it's not okay to be white thereby making you seem racist.
        ModernMech 4y ago

faeriechangling 4y ago

I would be shocked if both weren’t happening at the same time, I can’t imagine all the poll respondents knew the context and I imagine many were taking what was said at face value. Impossible to really know peoples reasons for disagreeing with that phrase which makes it maybe not the best polling question to ask.

giardini 4y ago

I doubt that. I think they answered a plain English question. I suspect that few, if any, of Rasmussen's pollees know anything about what you call a "white-supremacist campaign".

denton-scratch 4y ago
Many of the white respondents probably answered a plain English question. I suspect many of the black respondents responded to the slogan not the words. It's very provocative to suggest that a large proportion of Black Americans disapprove of people having white skin. The question itself appears to have been deliberately provocative. Rasmussen Reports has been criticized before for asking dodgy questions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmussen_Reports#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmussen_Reports#Criticism