# What should be done in response to the White Power gesture being flashed on camera? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895 "2019-12-15T16:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/181 "2019-12-17T19:36:47Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > So explain why you think us assuming it’s just a game will make it “die out” like you claimed earlier. By what mechanism will this happen? > > Either they are playing a game innocently, not knowing there are mixed perceptions about the symbol. … Look, we gotta totally ignore this fucking stupid made up crap that 4chan has conned you into believing. That will make it go away. The pearl clutchers should never have bought into that made up shit. Ignore it and it will go away. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/182 "2019-12-17T19:39:01Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > This was the first I had heard of the ok symbol (which automatically triggers the eye phone emoji) to some meant “white power”. I had always understood that gesture was a fist pump to the chest followed by the “heil hitler” extended arm routine. Congratulations. You’ve mastered the 1940s white power symbology. You are now ready to progress to more recent ones. Such as the confederate flag, 14/88, Blood and Honor, the Celtic cross, (((Jewish))), hanging a noose, Pepe the frog, and the deaths head. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/183 "2019-12-17T19:39:44Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > This will be the second time you have butt into a question I’ve directed at **DrDeth** , so that he can elaborate on something that makes zero sense to me. Can you please quit? Thanks. Altho Manson is by no means speaking for me, and is hardly my buddy, anyone on these boards can answer any question. Unless it’s posed by a Mod acting officially, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/184 "2019-12-17T19:43:40Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Ok. Simply marvelous use of irony there, dude. :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/185 "2019-12-17T19:45:38Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > “Butbutbut… that used to be a perfectly innocent salute! Let’s not let Nazis take over the Nazi salute! Just keep on doing it, everyone!” Did it start as a hoax? Was it the symbol of the nazi party for like a half a decade before it came to be unusable elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/186 "2019-12-17T20:09:07Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > It seems like you’re trying really hard to miss the point. > > The question is not whether someone is offended by a hand gesture. The question is HOLY FUCK WE HAVE OFFICERS-IN-TRAINING IN THE US MILITARY PUBLICLY MAKING WHITE POWER HAND GESTURES! > > Yes, it should be investigated. I’d say there’s a very small chance that these guys were playing this circle game thing, because it makes no sense in this context, and it’s very likely that they were getting yuks by making white power hand gestures. But let’s investigate to find out. All I hear is, “WHY ARE PEOPLE SO RACIST WHEN USING A GESTURE THAT HAS HAD A COMPLETELY HARMLESS MEANING FOR 200 YEARS?? DON’T THEY KNOW IT’S RECENTLY BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO WHITE SUPREMACISTS??” The OK symbol fucking means “Okay”. Get over it being used. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/187 "2019-12-17T20:10:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Did it start as a hoax? Was it the symbol of the nazi party for like a half a decade before it came to be unusable elsewhere? I wasn’t 100% sure if it started as a hoax or not, but I’ve recently heard that it did. FTR, I’m not at all opposed to using it, or hell, using it MORE, so it loses any identity it MIGHT have to white supremacy. But if it’s all a hoax anyway… Christ, that makes this whole ‘controversy’ even more stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/188 "2019-12-17T20:14:59Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > “Butbutbut… that used to be a perfectly innocent salute! Let’s not let Nazis take over the Nazi salute! Just keep on doing it, everyone!” The Nazi solute being bad is firmly ingrained with almost everyone alive today, at least in the western world. The OK symbol being associated with white supremacy is…not. And it won’t be, unless everyone starts pitching a fit every time it’s used. Besides, it’s a damn hoax anyway. We need to stop falling for 4chan bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/189 "2019-12-17T20:18:40Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > The OK symbol fucking means “Okay”. Get over it being used. We’re not going to “get over” a movement that threatens our well-being and lives that uses such thin masking of its messaging. We’re not fools. I’ll say to you–A symbol you thought was innocuous no longer is innocuous. Get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/190 "2019-12-17T20:58:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Did it start as a hoax? Was it the symbol of the nazi party for like a half a decade before it came to be unusable elsewhere? I think you have to pinpoint when, exactly, the Nazi salute became unacceptable in YOUR opinion. 1932? 1936? 1942? 1945? 1980, when the Blues Brothers movie came out? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/191 "2019-12-17T21:23:20Z")
Way back in 2008 (jeez, that long ago??) I started a [thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=453301)asking if anyone did the OK sign. Small sample size, but the prevailing opinion there was that the gesture was not commonly used, having been mostly replaced by the thumbs’ up. Several of the posters in that thread responded that they did the gesture sarcastically. Interestingly, in that thread someone brought up the circle game. I replied that I had forgotten about the game but that after the post I recalled the object of the game as played in my college was making the other guy look at your danglies. I claimed that I never played it. In this thread I said I played the game. I dunno. It was a long time ago and my memory is shit. Maybe I played it, maybe not. Anyway the point is that using the OK sign to unironically indicate approval seemed to have been fading back then. In any case, it’s really unfortunate that the white supremacists have started using the gesture, and I truly wish that were not happening. But I question the practicality of any plan that starts out “We should all just agree to…” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/192 "2019-12-17T21:38:03Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > “Butbutbut… that used to be a perfectly innocent salute! Let’s not let Nazis take over the Nazi salute! Just keep on doing it, everyone!” Yes, it was just the Roman imperial salute for centuries! If you let the trolls steal our culture, you’re the one to blame for living in fear. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/193 "2019-12-17T21:54:58Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > The first thing to do is not to overreact, but to give the person the benefit of the doubt. Not because racism is acceptable, but because this is a fundamental principle of justice. I’m sorry, but no. We are not engaged in the justice system here, so principles of justice don’t apply. Also, racism and white supremacism have been fundamental values of our society and institutions since the beginning. Granting the benefit of the doubt regarding racism does nothing but perpetuate the power of the white supremacist system. If you insist on putting in terms of justice, it’s sham justice. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/194 "2019-12-17T22:10:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Look, we gotta totally ignore this fucking stupid made up crap that 4chan has conned you into believing. That will make it go away. The pearl clutchers should never have bought into that made up shit. Ignore it and it will go away. Are you asserting that the entire thing, soup-to-nuts, is a hoax, and no white supremacists anywhere have adopted the okay gesture as a symbol of white power? Because once white supremacists are actually doing it, its origin as a “hoax” means absolutely fuck-all. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/195 "2019-12-17T22:45:49Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Same here time-wise. We had lots of dumb-ass games that involved punching each other in the arm beyond just the circle game. Yes, to this point. “Slug Bug” or “punch buggy” is a game played throughout the U.S. and, as far as I know, beyond. “Jinx, pinch poke, buy me a coke” similarly. However, other punching games have not entered the common consciousness like the “circle game” has recently because they do not have the same associations. Anyone playing the circle game knows exactly what they are doing. Double secret terms like The Shocker, Kink, BDSM, Fluffer, MILF are used every day in high schools across the country. Teens are way better connected and then more knowledgeable because they have had the internet and a search engine their whole lives. Any frog or other possible symbol is going to be well known and used carefully, unless they are repping it. To everyone else arguing, “it’s just a game there shouldn’t be any punishment”, OK Boomer! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/196 "2019-12-17T23:11:36Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > The Nazi solute being bad is firmly ingrained with almost everyone alive today, at least in the western world. The OK symbol being associated with white supremacy is…not. And it won’t be, unless everyone starts pitching a fit every time it’s used. Besides, it’s a damn hoax anyway. We need to stop falling for 4chan bullshit. I read an interesting post in an unrelated thread that seems relevant here. > [@The Ghostbusters films and the stupidity of the internet.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ghostbusters-films-and-the-stupidity-of-the-internet/844654/53): > > I’m not entirely sure who you think twitter and reddit trolls are if not real people… The internet isn’t some make-believe entity filled with only bots. Trolls might be expressing a fake opinion, but that opinion is being passed around and shared like it’s genuine, which ultimately doesn’t make any difference. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/197 "2019-12-17T23:15:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Are you asserting that the entire thing, soup-to-nuts, is a hoax, and no white supremacists anywhere have adopted the okay gesture as a symbol of white power? > > Because once white supremacists are actually doing it, its origin as a “hoax” means absolutely fuck-all. Sure- they are they are even more gullible than progressive pearl clutching over-reacters. But so? They also like to fly the American flag, should we stop doing so? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/198 "2019-12-17T23:25:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure- they are they are even more gullible than progressive pearl clutching over-reacters. > > But so? They also like to fly the American flag, should we stop doing so? Hitler ate sugar! Racists have decided that the OK sign is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. Racists have **not** decided that flying the american flag is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. See if you can spot the subtle bolded difference between those two sentences. It should be noted, though, that racists _have_ decided that flying the _confederate_ flag is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. So you might want to stop doing that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/199 "2019-12-18T00:00:20Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Racists have decided that the OK sign is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. > > Racists have **not** decided that flying the american flag is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. > > See if you can spot the subtle bolded difference between those two sentences. > It should be noted, though, that racists _have_ decided that flying the _confederate_ flag is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. So you might want to stop doing that. A \*\*few \*\*Racists have decided that the OK sign is a (not-so) secret symbol supporting racism. And there you are wrong- America first, and isolationism is a deeply patriotic but racist movement. Many racists are deeply patriotic, and think they are keeping America pure. They fly the American flag everywhere. To _them_, it _is_ a symbol of what they believe. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/200 "2019-12-18T00:06:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Look, we gotta totally ignore this fucking stupid made up crap that 4chan has conned you into believing. That will make it go away. You can’t simultaneously say there is no “it” there and insist on a hoax, but then refer to an “it” that will go away if we sudden start ignoring “it”. Not unless you’re trying to gaslight us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895.md?page=11)