Actually, that’s not really what most people are saying at all.
Most people are suggesting that, instead of acting like a bunch of usenet morons, we judge a person by the content of his or her posts, rather than actually buying into Neo-Nazi symbology.
If we let the bigots have the number 88 for themselves, then they win. If we just treat it like any other number, it may be that people will see it as exactly that.
It’s very simple really.
It seems that most everyone in the thread is saying that-- the only difference is that some people are saying that in its unaltered state, Huerta’s name gives them pause because of a frequent connection with Neo-Nazis, while others are indeed basically saying this connection doesn’t exist because they are not strongly aware of it.
As for myself, I was only dimly aware of the symbolism until this thread-- i.e., I remember having heard of it, but I wouldn’t have made the connection myself. However, the substantial number of posters professing their strong initial reactions to the name makes me believe that 88 is a fairly widely-recognized symbol, at least on the Dope (and isn’t that the primary place that matters with regards to this issue?). It makes more sense to me to believe numerous other people that the phenomenon exists than to ignore it in order to jibe better with my previous understanding.
And it’s not due to some sort of Fun With Numerology speculation gone wild that 88 has been deemed somewhat unsavory-- it’s because of the way some people actually use it. The whole “I can make any number sinister” argument is a strawman: I can make any cluster of sounds sound vulgar but I’m not going to drop the f-bomb in a church. I think this use of 88 is somewhat analogous to the use of 69. If I saw someone with 69 in their username, I wouldn’t necessarily assume they’re obsessed with oral sex, but I would assume that they, for whatever reason, chose the number cognizant of its association. 88 is definitely overall more obscure than 69, but the result is still exactly the same for the people who have ‘88-dar’.
I’d heard the 88 thing before, but I still would never have assumed someone was a neo-nazi just because they had those numbers in their name. My first thought would probably be that he’s a pianist.
But what really has me curious is why this was started in the Pit. A sincere question about why someone chose their name, with discussion of how it could be interpreted, seems like a perfectly good MPSIMS topic.
On the other hand, if one were trying to stir up shit about someone…
For anyone unaware of all that history - a text search for ‘Millen88’ and username search for ‘Millen89’ will fill you in.
So, this was inspired by that other trainwreck. Hmph.
To me, it seems blindingly obvious that the man’s not just racist, but obsessively so.
Big deal. His intellect is tiny, so he’s of no consequence to me (as for the intellect of his defenders in that thread in the stats argument with the face person, well, let’s just say that the list of players isn’t exactly surprising). Not the sort of person who keep me up at night.
However, this numbers thing is amusing, so, for those who, like me, are passing through on a lazy Saturday morning, I offer:
in which the number eight plays a major role.
Isn’t it about time Huerta88 dropped into this thread to explain his/her choice of a handle?
It seems to me that the best thing to do, in this case, would have been to pit the individuals who were making the inappropriate connection between Huerta and Nazism. Instead, you put the onus on Huerta to change his name (or make some other adjustment) because other people were misinterpreting it. Certainly a pit thread directed at the people who were actually behaving badly would have served to alert Huerta to the issue. Also a link to the thread in the OP might have been helpful.
I have no dog in this fight at all. While I recognize **Huerta’s ** handle, I know absolutely nothing about his politics or opinions other than those that have been mentioned here. I am speaking only to the premise of the OP as it was stated. I think you erred in the way you formulated it.
You seem to have skipped page 2. See post #61.
I was just quoting a poster from my workplace.
Making an assumption that the name ‘Huerta88’ definitively indicates Nazi glorification would be inappropriate - but has anybody actually done that? I thought the OP phrased a difficult question with tact:
Posted again because I can’t say it any better.
I’d advise that folks in this thread check the one referenced to earlier to get a better idea of why the nazi connection isn’t too far of a stretch. 88 may in fact be a jersey number (or whatever the excuse was), but you can’t blame anyone for being suspicious based on the shit he was posting.
And the fact that Bricker actually agrees with Huerta should be noted by those who think the former is a hellava guy. As much as I hate to say this (and I know he doesn’t give a fuck…OTOH I’ve never cared about the opinions of jackasses), I don’t have an ounce of respect left for him–a guy who’s supposedly a lawyer–after reading those last few exchanges and the OP in this thread, especially the part about Huerta having well-reasoned posts. The guy crossed the line big time in that thread, and yet Bricker continues to pat him on the back. It’s sickening.
The whole thread is an embarrassment to the StraightDope and it’s mission statement. It should have been closed pages ago IMHO.
As for the obscurity of “88” and the Nazi connection…can’t we just agree that if you’re going to choose that as your moniker, you need to be aware of the possible connotations? It seems that about half the posters here know about the double meanings of the number. What that says to me is that if I want to use 88 in my username–especially when coupled with a “H” name–I need to tread carefully when discussing anything dealing with race. I don’t know why this warrants a debate.
88 also means “Love” (or some such things – forget exactly what) for radio amateurs. And here’s a Swedish neo-nazi ice-cream called 88
Do you have a link? I’ve looked back through this thread and can’t seem to find a link to the thread you’re talking about.
I remember that episode, too. It seemed like every day for a month we had a new Stormfronter trolling this MB. It was really ugly.
Like **jsgoddess **says, if you have encountered some of these NeoNazis online, it’s not something you easily forget. Just spend a few minutes over on the Stormfront message board and you’ll get a nice little taste of that culture.
Not regularly, but it does happen. I can’t remember the exact username, but one of the “Stormfronters” we had here used an Hispanic username-- that’s part of the whole trolling bit. I’ll call myslef Pablo or something like that, claim to be Hispanic and see if I can rile these guys up with some White Supremisist hatred.
mhendo, here’s the link.
I glanced thru the thread. Can you quote the posts that you’re talking about? Seems to me he’s basically saying she’s an alleged victim, not a victim.
He also told you with the face that she wants to be raped like a slave.
Where? Can you link to the specific post?
Choie quoted that post back in post 47 of this thread. I’m not sure who the “they” who haven’t learned anything are (is it you with the face, black women in general, or someone else?).