We can turn that "OK" hate symbol back to be about inclusion

[dreamland]

It's sad when a good symbolic gesture is turned into a hate symbol. Maybe if we start associating that OK with love and inclusion, it will not be an alt right hijack. What if we use that symbol to show our acceptance of LGBT and to say we are "one with LGBT"? The alt right never wants to be associated with that group and imo that's the strongest group against them. It would need to be done at a national level in order for it to work and to be widely advertised. It's terrible that all this is associated with Number One Idiot. I can't even use the thumbs up gesture either for the fact that he's used it so often. Sad.sad.sad.

[Unbelievable]

1. Its unfortunate

That we allow someone else to depict to us what a hand gesture means. One that has never meant what everyone says it means now. That all started as a joke from a bunch of trolls. It's actually not a hate symbol and never has been but when the RW trolls found out that it ruffled the feathers they got together on 8 Chan and decided they would throw it up in every picture just to "own the libs."

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. And then actual white supremacists started using it. nt

[Unbelievable]

7. Yep

I hate to say it but I think the only real way to combat these people is to ignore them. Sounds childish but as soon as they see that you hate something or that you dislike something or that something makes you uncomfortable, that is what they throw in every direction.

[Codeine]

8. It very much is a hate symbol now.

The destination didn’t start out that way but that doesn’t mean it didn’t finish that way. It’s being used to symbolize hate, therefore. . .

[Unbelievable]

13. its being used

to troll. The receiver is who decides meaning and affect. I could decide right now that the middle finger has no meaning other than being a finger and poof. Im not offended.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

17. If a white supremacist is using it, then it most certainly

is their symbol.

But as I stated downthread, context is key.

[Unbelievable]

19. Yes you are correct.

We completely agree.
I am saying if someone called you a poo poo head, it is up to you to react for it to be a problem. We were taught to ignore bullies. Being an adult isn't any different until they act. Then it's time to fight. Sticks and stones. These people are feeding off of our reaction to their trolling. We react,they troll harder.
We ignore, we take their power.

[USALiberal]

2. Thumbs up still works I guess. Nt

[Dr Hobbitstein]

3. It"s still the OK symbol, and it's still the asshole game.

And it's also a white power symbol.
Context is key.

[Codeine]

9. My kid still uses it in the asshole game

context, and she’s an out lesbian liberal art-school kid. Context is, as you say, key.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

16. Indeed it is.

If some smarmy looking white kid in a polo and khakis with a face only a 2x4 would love is using it, it’s probably a WP symbol.
If you just asked someone to do something and they use it, they probably mean ok.
If a young kid is using it, and then punches their friend in the arm when they see it, it’s probably the asshole game.

[Mike 03]

4. I really resent that that hand symbol has been hijacked.

It's a symbol I've given like the thumbs up almost subconsciously at times, usually in situations where I'm on foot and somebody I'm communicating with is in a vehicle, or helping someone back out of a driveway or something similar, or to express "great job" to someone landscaping my yard.

[Cattledog]

6. Won't ever happen in our lifetimes.

Hard to change once a symbol it is co-opted. Think swastika.

[dreamland]

10. That really is too bad.. the swastika, that is.

It's a buddhist symbol of peace and I believe it still is but when people are it, they are ignorant of that history. Although some say the direction of the arms are reversed, I've seen it go both directions.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. The Gadsden Flag should be co-opted by the LGBTQ Community and flown at every LGBTQ parade.

.

Not the Rainbow version, but the actual Yellow "Don't Tread On Me" flag.



After a while, people will see that flag and question whether the one displaying it is LGBTQ or not.

That alone will stop those MAGAts from flying it.

.

[d_r]

15. If I had unlimited money

I would totally cause chaos by putting up billboards and facebook targeted adds in right wing spaces that were the Gadsden Flag and words like "My Body, My Choice - Protect Our Constitutional Rights!" I would saturate it.

I also support your plan.

[Whiskeytide]

12. The more people voice resentment ...

... over it, the more it feeds the trolls. Just ignore it.

[TidalWave46]

14. Personally, I like clear identifiers of my enemies.

Make sure society knows it is now a symbol for hate.

[Bonx]

18. I told off a young man I saw using that symbol in Target the other day.

he acted innocent, but I knew better.

[TidalWave46]

20. Things that never happened for 200, Alex. NT