Army Cadet Caught Throwing Up "White Power" Hand Symbol

[Kaon]

When the O.K. Sign Is No Longer O.K.

Touching the thumb and index finger to make a circle, with the remaining three fingers held outstretched, is a gesture that people around the world have made for centuries, mostly in positive contexts.​

It is used for several purposes in sign languages, and in yoga as a symbol to demonstrate inner perfection. It figures in an innocuous made-you-look game. Most of all, it has been commonly used for generations to signal “O.K.,” or all is well.​

But in recent years, it has also been appropriated for a more malign purpose — to signify “white power.” The gesture has become an extremist meme, according to the Anti-Defamation League.​

Now, officials at West Point and Annapolis are investigating whether cadets and midshipmen who made the sign with their hands during television coverage of the Army-Navy football game on Saturday were doing so to express racist sentiments.​

Army Investigating Alleged White Power Hand Symbols at Navy Football Game

Cadets and midshipmen appeared to flash white power hand signs at Army-Navy broadcast | Daily Mail Online

Officials at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are investigating after several cadets and midshipmen were seen flashing a hand sign sometimes associated with 'white power' at Saturday's Army-Navy football game.

Students at both service academies were seen appearing to flash the controversial hand symbol during a pregame sideline report from journalist Rece Davis on an ESPN broadcast.

The hand symbol, once innocuous and typically meaning 'OK', was initially associated with 'white power' as an online joke, but has since been adopted by fringe racist figures.

Now, military officials are investigating to see what the intention of the cadets and midshipmen may have been in displaying the hand symbol.

​

 

[98cwitr]

No...it's a "made ya look" sign. Eek-gads...are we really going to buy this nonsense? People also use it in basketball for 3-pointers. It's also the sign for "OK"

edit: Ah the NYT...nm...just a propaganda piece.

 

[civilwarbuff]

Here is another one.....

Oh, wait....that is the Hook'em Horns sign.....my bad.....

 

[Jude1:3Contendforthefaith]

I thought that was the 666 hand sign :

.

 

[HTacianas]

When the O.K. Sign Is No Longer O.K.

Touching the thumb and index finger to make a circle, with the remaining three fingers held outstretched, is a gesture that people around the world have made for centuries, mostly in positive contexts.​

It is used for several purposes in sign languages, and in yoga as a symbol to demonstrate inner perfection. It figures in an innocuous made-you-look game. Most of all, it has been commonly used for generations to signal “O.K.,” or all is well.​

But in recent years, it has also been appropriated for a more malign purpose — to signify “white power.” The gesture has become an extremist meme, according to the Anti-Defamation League.​

Now, officials at West Point and Annapolis are investigating whether cadets and midshipmen who made the sign with their hands during television coverage of the Army-Navy football game on Saturday were doing so to express racist sentiments.​

Army Investigating Alleged White Power Hand Symbols at Navy Football Game

Cadets and midshipmen appeared to flash white power hand signs at Army-Navy broadcast | Daily Mail Online

Officials at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are investigating after several cadets and midshipmen were seen flashing a hand sign sometimes associated with 'white power' at Saturday's Army-Navy football game.

Students at both service academies were seen appearing to flash the controversial hand symbol during a pregame sideline report from journalist Rece Davis on an ESPN broadcast.

The hand symbol, once innocuous and typically meaning 'OK', was initially associated with 'white power' as an online joke, but has since been adopted by fringe racist figures.

Now, military officials are investigating to see what the intention of the cadets and midshipmen may have been in displaying the hand symbol.

​

The "hand signal" is not a symbol of white power. It is a joke that originated on 4chan meant to make people believe that it is a symbol of white power. It is flashed in public, especially in front of the media, as a means of triggering a reaction from those who have taken the bait.

The cadets in the pictures were in on the joke.

 

[bèlla]

Conspiracy theorists also associate it with 666, the devil, and Illuminati membership.

~Bella

 

[Kaon]

No...it's a "made to look" sign. Eek-gads...are we really going to buy this nonsense? People also use it in basketball for 3-pointers. It's also the sign for "OK"

edit: Ah the NYT...nm...just a propaganda piece.

It started in early 2017 as a hoax. Some users of 4chan, an anonymous and unrestricted online message board, began what they called “Operation O-KKK,” to see if they could trick the wider world — and especially liberals and the mainstream media — into believing that the innocuous gesture was actually a clandestine symbol of white power.

“We must flood twitter and other social media websites with spam, claiming that the OK hand signal is a symbol of white supremacy,” one of the users posted, going on to suggest that everyone involved create fake social media accounts “with basic white girl names” to propagate the notion as widely as possible.

The 4chan hoax succeeded all too well, and ceased being a hoax: Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen and other white nationalists began using the gesture in public to signal their presence and to spot potential sympathizers and recruits. For them, the letters formed by the hand were not O and K, but W and P, for “white power.”

The gesture is not the only symbol to have been appropriated and swiftly weaponized by alt-right internet trolls. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified memes featuring the hoax religion of Kek and the cartoon character Pepe the Frog, among others, as being at the forefront of white nationalists’ efforts to distract and infuriate liberals.

When the O.K. Sign Is No Longer O.K.

 

[archer75]

This is very stupid.

 

[Kaon]

The "hand signal" is not a symbol of white power. It is a joke that originated on 4chan meant to make people believe that it is a symbol of white power. It is flashed in public, especially in front of the media, as a means of triggering a reaction from those who have taken the bait.

The cadets in the pictures were in on the joke.

The argument is that the "joke" was a psyop in and of itself - meant to hide in plain sight based on the generally understood meaning of the hand gesture.

 

[dzheremi]

The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified memes featuring the hoax religion of Kek and the cartoon character Pepe the Frog, among others, as being at the forefront of white nationalists’ efforts to distract and infuriate liberals.

I hate to say it, but it seems to be working.

 

[Kaon]

I thought that was the 666 hand sign :

.

Symbology is layered.

Laypersons do not practice symbology, which is why whole conversations can occur in front of us - without one word said. The practice has been well hidden (occult) because it is easily assumed to be insane. Again: hiding in plain sight.

 

[Kaon]

I hate to say it, but it seems to be working.

That's the point. Of course it means several things (like "OK"), but that makes the perfect vector to communicate messages that others would dismiss (since they have a closed interpretation of symbols in the first place).

I can communicate to someone who is in my group with no words shared - without suspicion from other laypersons.

 

[dzheremi]

Did the conspiracy theory subforum get deleted or something? Is that why this is in News & Current Events?

 

[Kaon]

Did the conspiracy theory subforum get deleted or something? Is that why this is in News & Current Events?

I put it in the current events sub because the US NAVAL ACADEMY and WEST POINT are both investigating this - which I assume (by most standards) they would not be investigating conspiracy theory - unless it had merit.

At this point, it isn't really a theory, but it could be conspiracy - which is a crime. Military (on paper and usually in practice) does not tend to tolerate this behavior.

 

[archer75]

I put it in the current events sub because the US NAVAL ACADEMY and WEST POINT are both investigating this - which I assume (by most standards) they would not be investigating conspiracy theory - unless it had merit.

At this point, it isn't really a theory, but it could be conspiracy - which is a crime. Military (on paper and usually in practice) does not tend to tolerate this behavior.

Conspiracy to do what?

 

[dzheremi]

I put it in the current events sub because the US NAVAL ACADEMY and WEST POINT are both investigating this - which I assume (by most standards) they would not be investigating conspiracy theory - unless it had merit.

At this point, it isn't really a theory, but it could be conspiracy - which is a crime. Military (on paper and usually in practice) does not tend to tolerate this behavior.

Yes, and other government-affiliated agencies and institutions have at other times investigated claims of UFOs and aliens. Does that mean that there are aliens?

 

[dzheremi]

Conspiracy to do what?

To distract and infuriate liberals, according to the bolded portion of post #7.

I might be crazy, but I've never seen that as necessitating any kind of conspiracy. Accordingly, the people who make a game out of doing that are usually not very hidden about it.

Maybe this is an exception...or maybe this thread belongs in the conspiracy theories subforum.

 

[Kaon]

Conspiracy to do what?

Did you see the black guy in front of him? IF the person is investigated, and if it turns out he has affiliation, or ideology related to white supremacy, then it could easily be conspiracy to commit a hate crime. That is just the most obvious application.

There is an investigation to determine if there is anything to his behavior at all.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Here is another one.....

Oh, wait....that is the Hook'em Horns sign.....my bad.....

So what does that one mean?

 

[Kaon]

Yes, and other government-affiliated agencies and institutions have at other times investigated claims of UFOs and aliens. Does that mean that there are aliens?

So, you are marginalizing the context of this incident by applying it to other tangential situations - an attempt at a false equivalence. Unlike the UFO phenomenon, and especially aliens:

1. The human that made the symbols allegedly exists
2. This was done on live TV
3. There were witnesses, including supervisors and commanding officers
4. The use of this hand gesture is something that has been documented as being used for projections of white supremacy by many different non-government organizations - the origin, rationale and operation of the phenomena (no matter how green to the public) is well documented.

UFOs and aliens are part of conspiracy theory - because it is theorized that there is a conspiracy to hide the nature of these entities and objects from the general public.