4 chan started a prank saying that the ok sign was actually spelling out “WP” meaning “white power”.
The ADL and a bunch of news agencies bought it hook, line, and sinker. Pretty quickly scuba divers, anyone who has been a teenage boy in the past few decades, and really just anyone with a pulse and a brain cell pointed out how ridiculous it would be to believe that.
Some of the groups that got tricked (the ADL most notably) doubled down instead of admitting that they got got. They found like one fringe neo-nazi group that started doing it (probably after seeing it on 4 chan) and insisted “SeE? RaCiSt Dog whistle!”.
There’s nothing wrong with the “OK” sign. It’s perfectly innocent.
saigot@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
A bunch of nazi’s used it as a dog whistle and it got added to a database of hate symbols.
www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49837898
Norgur@fedia.io 6 months ago
Why exactly are we giving Nazis the power to poison language, emojis, what have you for the rest of us again?
I think we should do the opposite. As soon as some symbol becomes a dog whistle, we should all rush to use it for it's original meaning as much as possible, thus preventing the dog from hearing the whistle where it's supposed to be used as such.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 6 months ago
By that point, it’s already been tainted and it’s too hard to tell reality from satire from ignorance.
Nazis just love appropriating and poisoning symbols, and it all started with the swastika: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
ninpnin@sopuli.xyz 6 months ago
In any normal circles, nazis are so irrelevant that you dont need to worry about ok signs or whatnot
saigot@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
Well the purpose of the hate list like this isn’t “what symbols not to use” so much has, if a guy uses this and there’s context to suggest it’s a dogwhistle, this is what it means.
As a concrete example, If someone turns to a camera makes the ok gesture then punches a black guy that can be used as evidence to add a hate crime charge onto the assault charge.
apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Exactly this. Gasden Flag, same vibes, same weird arguments from people trying to take it back. Go ahead and try, I wish you well, but you’re gonna look like a racist flying it.
BakerBagel@midwest.social 6 months ago
Because when someone uses a symbol while they do something shitty, they are associating that symbol with their shitty behaviors. Human brains are wired to identify paterns and associations for threat identification. That’s why cops all dress differently than EMT’s.
If your ex-girlfriend left you in a nasty break up, you might avoid her favorite restaurant, cry when you hear her favorite songs, or even get upset just seeing a similar car to the one she drove. You cant drown out a dog whistel, all you can do is point it out.
GBU_28@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Right but if Nazis just started using the LGBTQ+ flag, that wouldn’t be recognized.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Probably the same reason that the swastika is a hate symbol instead of a Hindu symbol.
pantyhosewimp@lemmynsfw.com 6 months ago
I recently found out how they appropriated the hooked cross symbol. Now I’m streaming angry. I just finished sewing one onto the back of my Jean jacket, too.
stoicmaverick@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Ah. The Pepe Frog Phenomenon.