The far left “anti-hate” organization, the Anti-Defamation League, has officially designated the OK hand sign as a hate symbol.
In 2017, an online troll campaign began to trick the media into thinking that the OK sign was a white supremacist one, given how willing they are to decry anything as racist. As expected, the legacy media jumped right onto it, but the ADL themselves did not take the bait, and noted the trolling for what it was.
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Despite knowing the entire thing was made up to incense the liberal media, the ADL on Wednesday declared that the OK sign was now an unironic racist symbol, and decided to include it in their hate symbols database:
Some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature. By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy.
In order to stop the spread of hate, we must be able to identify it when we see it. Our Hate Symbols Database helps us all do just that. Watch ⬇️ and learn how common gestures can evolve into sincere expressions of hate. For all 179 symbols, click here: https://t.co/pGBgWG1Wwy pic.twitter.com/WhlRDnJz3d
— ADL (@ADL) September 26, 2019
Writing in The Federalist, David Marcus ridiculed the decision, saying it was “deeply irresponsible” to add the OK sign to their hate list:
Should school counselors be on the lookout for this symbol? Should photos of prominent people using it go viral amid mindless speculation of motive? Should the symbol’s use be a part of red-flag laws? Because these seem like the almost inevitable repercussions of ceding this symbol to extremists.
If a handful of white nationalists use the OK hand sign to troll the media, who cares? Are we really going to give them the power to destroy a sign that has been used for hundreds of years and which is used presumably millions of times a day with no harmful intent? Obviously we should not, and the ADL should remove it from their database.
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Many users mocked the decision on Twitter, noting how insane it was to realise it was a hoax on one hand, and then claim it is unironic on the other, despite there being no real material change in the past two years.
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/1177251100774170625
The ADL is basing its policy on trolling boomer memes https://t.co/9YsAWFHSLY
— neontaster (@neontaster) September 26, 2019
If the ADL is once again being so easily fooled by online trolls, perhaps we should begin to question why groups like this (SPLC etc) are still respected as cultural authorities?
This “racist” hand symbol has been debunked countless times as nothing more than a joke. https://t.co/MpODFV1dYr
— Elijah Schaffer (@ElijahSchaffer) September 26, 2019
4chan should make the ADL logo a hate symbol as its next prank. Absolute buffoonery. 🤡🎪 https://t.co/A67i1CPlaf
— ☠️ L̶i̵l̷i̶t̴h̷ ̴L̷o̷v̶e̵t̷t̷ ☠️ (@LilithLovett) September 26, 2019
We will update readers if any scuba divers are subsequently cancelled by the ADL for their clearly racist actions.
