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Oct 25, 2017
20,209
www.npr.org

The 'OK' Hand Gesture Is Now Listed As A Symbol Of Hate

The Anti-Defamation League says the gesture that traditionally signals "all is well" has been hijacked by the white power movement and is routinely used in racist memes and other online content.

On Thursday, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, added 36 symbols to its "Hate on Display" database including the index finger-to-thumb sign that in some corners of the Internet has become associated with white supremacy and the far right.

Oren Segal, director of the ADL's Center on Extremism, told NPR that for years on fringe online message boards such as 4chan and 8chan, the "OK" sign has been deployed in memes and other images promoting hate. Given the number of white supremacists who have adopted it, he said it can now carry a nefarious message.

"Context is always key," Segal said. "More people than not will use the OK symbol as just 'OK.' But in those cases where there's more underlining meaning, I think it's important for people to understand that it could be used, and is being used, for hate as well."

Other symbols among the 36 added on Thursday include "Dylann Roof's Bowlcut," a reference to the haircut worn by the white supremacist gunman who killed nine African-Americans at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

Another addition is "The Moon Man," a meme derived from 1980s-era McDonald's commercials that has since been hijacked by members of the alt-right, who attach racist songs, language and imagery around it.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's CEO, said in a statement that old symbols, gestures and other images are rapidly acquiring new, hateful associations that may be too obscure for the general public to understand.

"We believe law enforcement and the public needs to be fully informed about the meaning of these images, which can serve as a first warning sign to the presence of haters in a community or school," he said.
 

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,975
Good it should be and let the snowflake-conservatives cry about it.

Most people don't know that the 'ok' symbol is used as white nationalists gang sign, and then that it's also used by white-nationalist-sympathizers (... white nationalist allies...?) to 'own the libs' or to troll. By adding it to these registries/lists, it broadens how many people are going to be familiar with this. I still think at the same time people who do know that it's associated with white nationalism should be patient with good-intended people who genuinely don't know the association today, and are ignorant about it. You can explain it to them and pass them this article, and don't need to jump down their throats because not everybody keeps up with everything that's fresh on the internet. The Anti-Defamation League is just getting to this now, where as most of us in hyper-connected internet communities probably knew about this 3, 4 years ago, maybe some knew longer.

Poor Moon Man.
 

Komo

Info Analyst
Verified
Jan 3, 2019
7,110
I'm just a little sad to sub out ๐Ÿ‘Œ for more ๐Ÿ‘ , but whatever
I mean I guess the plan 4chan laid out to get the ok hand an hate symbol worked, they are trying to go and make "THE" one as well. I don't understand how they expect to do that, but then again this is maybe the 4th time they've done it.
Really sucks so much they basically ruined him entirely. I mean I could have seen McD's use that character again if it wasn't associated to hate speech.
 

Magni

Member
If I type OK :๐Ÿ‘Œ
If I type white power: โ›ฎ

How 'bout we stop letting fascists and other assholes steal perfectly correct symbols?

Nordic runes, the swastika, the number 88, Pepe, this emoji now, where does it stop? Enough with the appropriation.

If a white nationalist uses the ๐Ÿ‘Œ emoji, they're a white nationalist.
If a decent human being uses the ๐Ÿ‘Œ emoji, they're a decent human being.

The emoji has nothing to do with either's hate or lack thereof.

Edit: I should have expanded the quotes in the OP :

Context is always key," Segal said. "More people than not will use the OK symbol as just 'OK.' But in those cases where there's more underlining meaning, I think it's important for people to understand that it could be used, and is being used, for hate as well."

This I agree with.
 

TheGhost

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,137
Long Island
What will we let them take from us next.
They better not co-opt โœŒ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿค™ or ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป ...i use that shit too much and I'm not stopping because a bunch of racist shit heads decide to make it their secret handshake.
 

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,042
People need to learn some shit is contextual. Random person doing Ok, find

Laura Loomer or Milo, you know what they are doing.

It ain't that hard
 
Oct 27, 2017
3,826
Just because I know people won't read the article or OP, here's a relevant quote again from the article.

"Context is always key," Segal said. "More people than not will use the OK symbol as just 'OK.' But in those cases where there's more underlining meaning, I think it's important for people to understand that it could be used, and is being used, for hate as well."
 

Snake Eater

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,385
Sorry, I'm not letting white supremacists take over the fucking "ok" sign that's been used for god knows how long. I don't really use it but I'm not letting anyone tell me otherwise
 
Dec 31, 2017
7,086
Context is key; it has been used by white nationalists. But if we start grilling people without any nefarious intentions on using the OK symbol it's going to be rather silly. I can see the twitter nuts ready to pounce on this sort of stuff.
 

Scarlet Spider

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,741
Brooklyn, NY
This is getting ridiculous, context is obviously key here. Thankfully I don't need to abide by this shit and will continue to use these signs as normal.
 

bobbychalkers

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,603
Tangentially related but I refuse to let them take based. Based God loves everybody and is generally a positive force in our plane of existence.
 

Deleted member 2840

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,400
If they appropriate breathing I think like half of ERA will pass out just to prove a point or something
 

Alucrid

Chicken Photographer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,413
This is getting ridiculous, context is obviously key here. Thankfully I don't need to abide by this shit and will continue to use these signs as normal.

is it? it was just added to a database. people doing the okay symbol on the street aren't being sent to the gulag. this just like that cancel culture shit. people whine about the "problem" more than the problem actually exists
 

andymoogle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,305
Just because I know people won't read the article or OP, here's a relevant quote again from the article.
This. It's not about letting them take the symbol (they've already been using it for like 2 years anyway), it's about letting people know that white supremacists are using it. Context matters obviously.
 

Deleted member 721

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,416
in brazil that symbol means the ass hole, nixon gave the ok symbol to the brazilian people once and people got pissed
 

JCG

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,533
People are often bad or at least tend to come across as lazy at reading context, so I hope folks will try to be careful about this.
 

Nephtes

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,546
I think we need to take the ok symbol back.

This is bullshit some people think it's fine to let white supremacists win by defacto allowing them to co-opt a perfectly good hand gesture. Why would you let them have a win?
 

MazeHaze

Member
Nov 1, 2017
8,577
People up in arms about this are fucking ridiculous. You can still use the OK sign, jesus christ. Theyre just letting people know that if you see somebody in a MAGA hat and winking and holding up the ok sign, it's a white power gesture.
 

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,211
I think we need to take the ok symbol back.

This is bullshit some people think it's fine to let white supremacists win by defacto allowing them to co-opt a perfectly good hand gesture. Why would you let them have a win?

This, they dont get to have ANYTHING

Can we get The Squad to adopt it and re-brand it? We really need a hashtag movement or something
 

-Le Monde-

Avenger
Dec 8, 2017
12,613
People up in arms about this are fucking ridiculous. You can still use the OK sign, jesus christ. Theyre just letting people know that if you see somebody in a MAGA hat and winking and holding up the ok sign, it's a white power gesture.
MAGA hat or not, throwing the ok sign in a picture gets a red flag from me.
 

Snowy

Banned
Nov 11, 2017
1,399
More than anything, this list demonstrates how fucking lame white supremacists are. It's nothing but limp masculine posturing and terrible memes.
 

Geoff

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,115
If you switch the colour of your hand signal emoji from yellow to white are you basically a racist? I say yes.
 

caliph95

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,160
Because no one reads you're not getting accused of racism because you use the ok sign it's been stated ages before that context is key and it's mostly to say racist also use the symbol
 

Rover

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,417
i have not seen anybody even use this gesture regularly in the past 20 or so years (at least), until trump became president and it got picked up by white nationalists. after that it's become a pretty clear emulation of trump, or white nationalist fuckery in photos.

i had no idea so many people would come to the defense of it in 2019
 

Deleted member 2145

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
29,223
it's not about capitulating to shit heads it's about educating people who are ignorant to these new hate symbols
 

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,975
well if hundreds of millions people use it as an "ok" sign, just like it always used to be, maybe thats exactly what it is?

what if racists claim thumbs-up as their gang sign tomorrow?

Did you just like ... choose to not read the rest of my post you quoted?

If racists decide to claim thumbs-up as their hand-sign tomorrow, maybe in 10-20 years it'll start to have a different meaning than it does today, just as the "Okay" symbol was claimed by the KKK/WHite Nationalists 10 or 20 years ago, and slowly more and more racists have started using it as a sign to express white nationalism.

Language changes, communication methods change. You can selectively quote people and stubbornly beat your head into your keyboard flustered and flummoxed that words, gestures, and phrases change meaning over time, or you can be a sensible, empathetic human being.
 

Deleted member 41638

User requested account closure
Banned
Apr 3, 2018
1,164
I thought the white supremacy version was upside down near the crotch?

Is the ADL going to go after John Cena every time he does the double okay symbol above his head?
 

GodofWine

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,775
191002124349-06-trump-oval-office-1002-large-tease.jpg


CNN Homepage image lol ( I dont think he's flashing hate symbols here - he just holds his hands like a princess when he talks)