Army Cadet Caught Throwing Up "White Power" Hand Symbol

[The IbanezerScrooge]

I don't think this was white power. This was pretty clearly the circle game. Still dumb, but not racist.

 

[Kaon]

So what does that one mean?

It's a Texas Aggie symbol/long horn symbol, but it also a symbol in magic and the occult that does not mean anything pedestrian.

 

[dzheremi]

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.

What on earth are you on about? This wasn't some attempt at equivalency between the two situations, but to say that the rationale "X agency/institution is investigating this, therefore it means there's something to it" is a pretty bad attempt to appeal to authority, since similar official or semi-official investigations have gone on into other things that are much more obviously conspiracy theories. I assume that the investigation is going on into this matter because the authorities don't know whether it 'means' something or not. That's not the same as saying "This means X because it can."

 

[A Realist]

So what does that one mean?

Hook 'em horns!

 

[Kaon]

What on earth are you on about? This wasn't some attempt at equivalency between the two situations, but to say that the rationale "X agency/institution is investigating this, therefore it means there's something to it" is a pretty bad attempt to appeal to authority, since similar official or semi-official investigations have gone on into other things that are much more obviously conspiracy theories. I assume that the investigation is going on into this matter because the authorities don't know whether it 'means' something or not. That's not the same as saying "This means X because it can."

You are trying to connect my statement about the merit of something with another example of investigation you know is based on theory.

Aliens, as far as we know it do not exist. This human does. So, it is not the same as the government investigating aliens (insinuating we should dismiss this incident, or treat it with the same merit as we do alien investigations and UFOs). The implication is that "because the government investigates aliens as well, we shouldn't take this with too much seriousness".

That is what I am talking about - specifically in relation to your post.


Now, back to the OP: I have put the sources up that give the complete story - and I have even snipped a bit - that outlines exactly why this is a concern. It seems you are trying to dismiss the severity and contextual qualms with this - which is fine, I understand it - but let's not distract from it by implying that the investigation of the incident is less than meritorious - simply because you do not know how something that is used for benign reasons is being weaponized for racism hidden in plain sight.

Or, perhaps you do know about weaponized American racism hidden in plain sight.

 

[iluvatar5150]

So what does that one mean?

It's a Texas Aggie symbol/long horn symbol, but it also a symbol in magic and the occult that does not mean anything pedestrian.

Hook 'em horns!

It's an old world superstitious gesture popularized at least in part by Ronnie James Dio, who learned it from his grandmother.
BBC News - Dio's two-finger gesture - what does it mean?

 

[Michie]

Wow. Lol!

 

[Kaon]

It's an old world superstitious gesture popularized at least in part by Ronnie James Dio, who learned it from his grandmother.
BBC News - Dio's two-finger gesture - what does it mean?

Sure, that's a pedestrian use/lore for it.

But, it is definitely used in the occult. Overall, it isn't the symbol or numbers used: it is the intent and energy put into it. Others' belief are not as important as one's own belief is who would seek to use symbology and numerology for their own gain.

For example, the number 666 is not evil, neither is 13, and 3 is no more of a "magic" number than 17. It is all based on a system of belief, and we know how far faith goes in belief systems. All of it is trite illusion that seems to work to get what we want/need - whether it is a smile, or "magic".

 

[A Realist]

It's an old world superstitious gesture popularized at least in part by Ronnie James Dio, who learned it from his grandmother.
BBC News - Dio's two-finger gesture - what does it mean?

It take it that you don't follow college football.......

UT (whose team is named the Longhorns) was using that hand sign back in the 50s, over twenty years before Dio started using it.
https://web.archive.org/web/2006062...exasfootball.com/pages/proudtrads/hookem.html

 

[iluvatar5150]

It take it that you don't follow college football.......

UT (whose team is named the Longhorns) was using that hand sign back in the 50s, over twenty years before Dio started using it.

I'm sure Dio's grandmother was using it before then. :-D

 

[A Realist]

I'm sure Dio's grandmother was using it before then. :-D

In college football, it don't mean what you think it means, nor does it mean what Dio's granny thought it meant.

 

[Uber Genius]

What a bunch of "WOKE," madness!

This is what postmodernism gets you.

This is also why The Left ends up eating The Left!

Lunch is served whoever is the wokest wins!

 

[Kaon]

What a bunch of "WOKE," madness!

This is what postmodernism gets you.

This is also why The Left ends up eating The Left!

Lunch is served whoever is the wokest wins!

"Woke" began erroneously due to grammatical error: you can't be "woke" if you aren't "woke" enough to use correct language to convey the message to the masses as well as those in your circle. The "woke" paradigm is an exploitation of layperson ignorance (and dismissal) of the "illuminaughty" - more [grammatically] appropriate as it implies "enlightenment".

This is "woke" enough to be investigated by West Point, and the US Naval Academy. You may dismiss it, but the military does not tolerate this kind of behavior - which is why there is an investigation.

The left-right/democrat-republican paradigm is its own distraction and illusion.

 

[archarios]

It took the Holocaust to change the swastika from a worldwide symbol of good luck to a symbol of hate.

Nowadays it took the left about a month, plus some boredom, to follow 4chans orders precisely.

4chan pulled the prank because they saw that the left-run media kept instantly believing anything that seemed to make America/Americans/White people/men/anybody/anything more racist. It worked completely. "OK" has never been and is not a racist symbol.

But the left keeps asserting it is because they are obedient slaves to the nonsense orders they get from their own masters.

They are incapable of admitting that they've been had and they look stupid, so their media keeps inventing its own "evidence" that it can use to save face. No wonder why the left sought to own the media. It's so useful.

 

[Kaon]

It took the Holocaust to change the swastika from a worldwide symbol of good luck to a symbol of hate.

Nowadays it took the left about a month, plus some boredom, to follow 4chans orders precisely.

4chan pulled the prank because they saw that the left-run media kept instantly believing anything that seemed to make America/Americans/White people/men/anybody/anything more racist. It worked completely. "OK" has never been and is not a racist symbol.

But the left keeps asserting it is because they are obedient slaves to the nonsense orders they get from their own masters.

They are incapable of admitting that they've been had and they look stupid, so their media keeps inventing its own "evidence" that it can use to save face. No wonder why the left sought to own the media. It's so useful.

You have already been exploited and had if you believe in a "left-right" paradigm.

...

4chan banned hate speech and terrorist threats in 2014, so most of the supremacists went to 8chan. That is why it had to be a meme on 4chan - something no one could question until word got out. Then, if it ever does get out, claim it is something benign - showing cowardly, insulting and weak-minded passive aggressiveness while at the same time making attempts to gaslight.


I understand I am not supposed to see beyond that veil, but it would be an uphill battle for you or anyone to convince me there is nothing to this. People are people, and they kill for fun; why am I to assume the best in people? That is a moral choice you can make.

Incidentally those who were quick to say there is nothing to it (with ferocity, even)... always interesting.

I know passive aggressiveness - these forums are full of passive aggressive activity, for example, because of rules. But 8chan has been linked to extremism violence like New Zealand supremacist mass shooter. We know the profile of American mass shooters, so why KNOWINGLY let that profile into the military? That is why there is an investigation. It's only a witch hunt if you are a witch: this generation always says, "if you have nothing hide, why are you opposed to [insert intrusiveness here]."

Hypocrisy.

 

[Ana the Ist]

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.

It's not a white supremacist symbol. Claiming that something is "white supremacist" because a white supremacist does it...is dumb.

If white supremacists started feeding the homeless on Sundays....does that make everyone feeding the homeless a white supremacist?

 

[civilwarbuff]

How did the good old ‘OK’ sign become a hate symbol ? | Commentary

 

[Ana the Ist]

This is "woke" enough to be investigated by West Point, and the US Naval Academy. You may dismiss it, but the military does not tolerate this kind of behavior - which is why there is an investigation.

The military is "investigating" it to cover their own behinds. I doubt they take it particularly seriously.

 

[usexpat97]

I went into this originally thinking it might be the OK symbol, but this thread has swayed me to believe it is white power. First, there is no reason for him to be giving the OK in that shot. Second, it is upside-down. No one does "OK" upside-down.

 

[Chesterton]

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.

Sush. You'll ruin the joke.