# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/141 "2019-12-17T14:18:36Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > I played the circle game in college in the early 90s. As we played it, the idea was to trick someone into looking at the finger circle (held below your waist, and maybe over your dick IIRC). Shoving your hand in front of someone’s face and claiming a score wasn’t the way it was done. How is putting your hand in front of a camera and going “I got you, yuk yuk” part of the circle game? Same here time-wise. We had lots of dumb-ass games that involved punching each other in the arm beyond just the circle game. All I can think of, and it’s something of a stretch, is that maybe somebody they played the circle game with wasn’t at the football game- brother, cousin, friend, and by doing it on TV, they thought they could get them from afar, and then punch them later. But I agree with the others- I think it’s more likely that it’s teenagers/young adults trying to be trollish for fun, rather than anything sinister. That’s not to say that they couldn’t be white supremacists, but I think the odds are probably against it. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/142 "2019-12-17T14:49:18Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Your own posts contradict this assertion. We’re supposed to believe these cadets are making a stupid gesture to make people look at their hand. If this is true, then they are playing a game that is more than two decades old. How they can continue to mine yuks out of this is beyond my comprehension, but that’s the theory y’all are asking us to swallow Yeah, people still play this game. Often a friend on Facebook will post a picture, like the Mona Lisa or something, and there she is making the OK sign. If I look at it, the poster wins. It’s stupid and childish, but not racist. In my part of the AF (communications), we didn’t actually punch people, just knowing that you made somebody look at it was funny enough. > [@](#): > > So if we assume that’s what they are doing, why wouldn’t they keep doing it? And why wouldn’t racists (trolls included) hide behind this fig leaf to antagonize the people they hate? Who says they are not still doing it? ---
**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, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/143 "2019-12-17T15:22:03Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > It actually is? It’s the exist same scenario. If you think it’s stupid, congrats - you are the average person. Nope, it’s not the same scenario at all. It’s more like the situation with the swastika, which no one addressed. At one point, the swastika was an innocuous symbol used to mean good luck and other positive connotations, not for decades, not for centuries, but for millennia. That changed, not when one guy on the internet told another guy on the internet that the meaning had changed, but when a group of people started using it with a different meaning _to signal to each other_ their membership in a particular group. Your telling me the meaning has changed is not analogous at all. ---
**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, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/144 "2019-12-17T15:26:56Z")
> [@justanothermike](#): > > The problem is the outrage culture and ridiculousness that pervades our society where people are constantly looking for reasons to be offended You need to get off this “offended” bandwagon. It’s not about being “offended.” It’s about people saying things that suggest that some people should be considered unequal, or not deserving of respect or dignity or rights. It’s about suggesting that some people are legitimately locked out of certain corners of society. People get angry not because they are “offended,” but because they are being threatened. The threat is to their status as equal members of society, something that has financial, health and other consequences. ---
**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 17, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/145 "2019-12-17T15:32:05Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Who says they are not still doing it? See the post I replied to. **DrDerth** asserts that we should assume this is just a innocent game people are playing, because this assumption will eventually cause the game to die out. This makes no sense to me. If they are doing this innocently (as he insists), without any attempt to troll or broadcast racism, shouldn’t they just continue to play the game irrespective of what others think of it? Either they are ignorant of outside perceptions or they aren’t. You can’t have it both ways. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/146 "2019-12-17T15:39:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, we shoudl encourage it. Dont let the assholes at 4chan win. > > Never, ever assume it’s a white power sign. If we do this, their little game will die out. Why do we want it to die out? Isn’t it better if white supremacists advertise themselves? I’m very serious. I think a lot of white kids get more racist from 18-22. They are raised with nominal ideas about equality, by parents who think not “teaching them to be racist” is the same as “teaching them to be not-racist”. Then they get into some environment where some white person tells them “oh, all white people know deep down inside that black people are basically animals, but you can’t say that. But we all know,” and they believe it. It’s an attractive belief, that you are better than other people. And it becomes increasingly internalized and normalized, because either people are repeating that shit to you, or they aren’t, but you think that’s because they are following the “we can’t say it out loud rule”. Honestly, even if they kick out these cadets, white supremacists will translate that as “they were punished for breaking the ‘don’t say it out loud’ rule, even though most white people agree with them”. When I was young, I thought the racists were the old people and they would die out. But I am more and more aware that people can become racist, at any age, and that the late teens/early 20s seem to be a key interval for this transformation. Figuring out who those young men and women are and dislodging that narrative is really, really important. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/147 "2019-12-17T15:42:45Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > See the post I replied to. **DrDerth** asserts that we should assume this is just a innocent game people are playing, because this assumption will eventually cause the game to die out. This makes no sense to me. > > If they are doing this innocently (as he insists), without any attempt to troll or broadcast racism, shouldn’t they just continue to play the game irrespective of what others think of it? Either they are ignorant of outside perceptions or they aren’t. You can’t have it both ways. I think Dr. Deth thinks they are doing it to troll, knowing it means white supremacy. But they don’t mean it-mean-it, so we should ignore it and hope it goes away. That argument makes no sense to me, but I think that’s the one he means. Bear\_Nenno thinks it was entirely an innocent game and that they weren’t thinking about race or the racist implications at all, they just want to troll people into looking like they are looking at a dick (which is itself a pretty problematic game, as the whole point is “I made you look gay, haha”) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/148 "2019-12-17T15:50:22Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > See the post I replied to. **DrDerth** asserts that we should assume this is just a innocent game people are playing, because this assumption will eventually cause the game to die out. This makes no sense to me. > > If they are doing this innocently (as he insists), without any attempt to troll or broadcast racism, shouldn’t they just continue to play the game irrespective of what others think of it? Either they are ignorant of outside perceptions or they aren’t. You can’t have it both ways. I think the “game” he meant was “getting people to freak out about the ok sign” and not the “made you look” game. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/149 "2019-12-17T15:52:15Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > they just want to troll people into looking like they are looking at a dick (which is itself a pretty problematic game, as the whole point is “I made you look gay, haha”) I’m not sure how YOU play the “made you look” game, but in all my years “made you look gay” was never part of it. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/150 "2019-12-17T16:01:11Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’m not sure how YOU play the “made you look” game, but in all my years “made you look gay” was never part of it. It’s been said in this thread that part of the point is to make it look like they were looking at your dick. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/151 "2019-12-17T16:17:48Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > Me, I don’t give two shits about what some nameless shmuck decided is offensive. If I want to use the OK sign the way the OK sign has been used for (as someone else said) 200 years? I’ll use it. Reappropriate that shit. You don’t just get to decide that a symbol means whatever you want it to mean, and now everyone else needs to find it offensive too or they’re terrorists :rolleyes: 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. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/152 "2019-12-17T16:20:12Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > It’s been said in this thread that part of the point is to make it look like they were looking at your dick. Yes, ONE person said that. Doesn’t make it true. Similar to “ok sign = white power” or whatever stupid thing it’s supposed to mean. I mean, if morons on 4chan started holding up “Manda JO” signs at sporting events and said that was the new “White Power” slogan, would you change your name? ---
**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, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/153 "2019-12-17T16:31:59Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I mean, if morons on 4chan started holding up “Manda JO” signs at sporting events and said that was the new “White Power” slogan, would you change your name? If racists started using my handle as a sign for racism, and it became kind of a thing, hell to the yes I’d change my handle in a moment. If it became a thing that the Klan did to pay for goods and services using only using one dollar bills, I would also stop doing that thing, because there’s no real reason for me to keep my handle or pay for groceries with 80 $1 bills, but there is good reason to distance myself from racist creeps. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/154 "2019-12-17T16:36:57Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > If racists started using my handle as a sign for racism, and it became kind of a thing, hell to the yes I’d change my handle in a moment. > > If it became a thing that the Klan did to pay for goods and services using only using one dollar bills, I would also stop doing that thing, because there’s no real reason for me to keep my handle or pay for groceries with 80 $1 bills, but there is good reason to distance myself from racist creeps. About how many “racists” would have to start doing that before you changed your handle? It’s not that hard to get something like that going in this day and age. Should I change my username because some people think I am honoring Charles Manson? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/155 "2019-12-17T16:37:58Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > If it became a thing that the Klan did to pay for goods and services using only using one dollar bills, I would also stop doing that thing, because there’s no real reason for me to keep my handle or pay for groceries with 80 $1 bills, but there is good reason to distance myself from racist creeps. Wait, you currently pay for all your goods and services with $1 bills? ---
**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, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/156 "2019-12-17T16:38:26Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Wait, you currently pay for all your goods and services with $1 bills? Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/157 "2019-12-17T16:38:54Z")
How about you do what you want? If you don’t care that people think you’re an asshole or whatever then what difference does it make? ---
**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, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/158 "2019-12-17T16:44:15Z")
Missed edit window… > [@](#): > > About how many “racists” would have to start doing that before you changed your handle? It’s not that hard to get something like that going in this day and age. It’s just a handle. I can get rid of it because I get tired of typing so many letters when I log in. If it comes to my attention that racists are using it, I’m not going to go around the Internets counting how many users are doing such a thing, but then if the total number of users is one fewer than some arbitrary number I chose, I would keep it. This is not how humans work. > [@](#): > > Should I change my username because some people think I am honoring Charles Manson? Your choice. I’m not aware that Charles Manson worship is an actual concern these days. For all I know, you might be a huge fan of Charles Manson but I’m not aware of it, nor do I care. I would care if my handle made me look like an associate of racists. ---
**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, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/159 "2019-12-17T16:52:02Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Maybe. Racist. It’s like anything else. How many people IRL do you know named Adolf Hitler? That’s aren’t white supremacists? Yet prior to oh say 1934 it was a perfectly normal name. If you met a guy at a bar with than name in 2019, what would you think? Would you give him the benefit of the doubt? If someone has a bumper sticker or license plate with “88” on it, my first thought is he is a neo-nazi. I’m sorry if that’s his birthday. He should have put 1988, or 11/1/88. Same with any company that uses inappropriate names or symbols in their business that have[obscene or racist or just plain funny alternate meanings](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-15-worst-corporate-logo-fails-2014-1#now-check-out-what-works-16). You have to be aware of double meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-be-done-in-response-to-the-white-power-gesture-being-flashed-on-camera/844895/160 "2019-12-17T16:52:09Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Missed edit window… > It’s just a handle. I can get rid of it because I get tired of typing so many letters when I log in. If it comes to my attention that racists are using it, I’m not going to go around the Internets counting how many users are doing such a thing, but then if the total number of users is one fewer than some arbitrary number I chose, I would keep it. This is not how humans work. I just wondered because it would be a fun kind of experiment to see if you WOULD actually change your username. I live in Southern Maryland, and there are plenty of racists around. Not too hard to get them to start using “Ravenman” as a code for something. It’s interesting that you would change something about yourself based on what racist morons are doing. [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=7) [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=9)