• pencilled_robin@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Genuine question, not really related to this case: is the OK signal usually associated with racism in the US? My friends and I just use it to sign okay, I’ve literally never heard of this other meaning.

    • Brawler Yukon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It wasn’t always, but 4chan trolls tried to make media outlets believe that it was a “white power” symbol (with the three fingers held up representing a “W” and the thumb-forefinger circle + wrist/arm representing a “P”). They succeeded a little too well, and so not only did media outlets report on it, but racist groups saw that reporting and went “dang, Cletus, we should start doin’ that!”

      So what started as a stupid joke has actually manifested itself.

  • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t know anything about this guy, so I’m not defending him.

    That said, I also had no idea the OK signal was taken over by white supremacists. I knew it could be used to make people look and then you get to punch them in the arm, which is how we used the OK signal all the time in High School. For all we know, he could have been playing a prank on his buddies that he got them all to look at his hand and gets to punch them all. Or maybe he’s a racist piece of trash.

    • GroggyKon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      First time I heard that the ok symbol was this bad. Granted, I’m not in the USA. That’s crazy I thought it was just a meme like pepe the frog. I flash my wife the ok symbol every night after dinner.