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

[JonLP24]

The "OK" hand gesture, commonly seen as a way of indicating that all is well, has now been classified as something else: a symbol of hate.

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."

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/764728163/the-ok-hand-gesture-is-now-listed-as-a-symbol-of-hate

Sharing because there was a lot of controversy over whether this was a hate symbol or not. Context is key.

[mrs_p]

1. I saw a tween kid do this about 2 years ago during

Final bows after a children’s production of Fiddler on the Roof. He was in the show!!

I looked over at his parents and they had no clue. I had two littles with me I had to navigate out of there, otherwise I would have said something.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Context is definitely key, and it should piss everyone off that this started out as a joke...

Once again some bottomfish have taken a perfectly normal gesture and made it into something vile. Now we are supposed to be suspicious of the OK gesture. This is not OK.

Why do we let them do that? And why can't we take these things back?

https://www.adl.org/blog/how-the-ok-symbol-became-a-popular-trolling-gesture