Racism - It's a real thing.

[Nebfanatic]

I hope you're not serious...

I am. They threw the sign multiple times all above waist no one was being punched. It did not look like the circle game. 

 

[Nebfanatic]

They were trying to get the sign on camera. That is not the circle game and clearly they had alterier motives. What those motives are is hard to say, but I can say with 100% confidence they were not playing the circle game

 

[ZRod]

You're being trolled. This whole thing started out  by essentially pointing out how over sensitive people are. They literally made it up that it's a white power symbol and now overly PC people freak out everytime they see it giving it relevance. Trolling to perfection.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Then the academy is being trolled too. 

 

[commando]

because the proud boys and all those white supreaicists groups aren't using the "white power" signal.  they are playing a game

 

[Danny Bateman]

???

 

[ZRod]

Then the academy is being trolled too. 

because the proud boys and all those white supreaicists groups aren't using the "white power" signal.  they are playing a game

You guys seriously have no idea what this started as, do you? It's literally the best troll job in history, thus far. People freaked out because it's an extremely common game that's played, quite literally, all over the world and you can find pictures or video anywhere you want of people doing the gag. It only became a "real" thing because of idiots getting worked up about some 4chan troll job that they were clueless to. Then these groups picked it up to troll even harder. The only reason it has any relevance is because people are overly sensitive and want to see something. It never would have got this far without that sensationalist sensitivity.

 

[BigRedBuster]

You guys seriously have no idea what this started as, do you? It's literally the best troll job in history, thus far. People freaked out because it's an extremely common game that's played, quite literally, all over the world and you can find pictures or video anywhere you want of people doing the gag. It only became a "real" thing because of idiots getting worked up about some 4chan troll job that they were clueless to. Then these groups picked it up to troll even harder. The only reason it has any relevance of because people are overly sensitive.

I have absolutely no clue about it all and not trying to act like I do. 
 

However, it appears the academy is taking it seriously. Maybe you should write to the and fill them in. 

 

[commando]

You guys seriously have no idea what this started as, do you? It's literally the best troll job in history, thus far. People freaked out because it's an extremely common game that's played, quite literally, all over the world and you can find pictures or video anywhere you want of people doing the gag. It only became a "real" thing because of idiots getting worked up about some 4chan troll job that they were clueless to. Then these groups picked it up to troll even harder. The only reason it has any relevance of because people are overly sensitive.

i hope these young men were playing a game.   but there is evidence that the 4-chan joke has been adopted by at least the proud boys if not other racist groups.  that makes it tough to tell what they actually meant by throwing the signs for the cameras.   how does the game work when you make that sign on T.V.?  

 

[deedsker]

It started as a troll job by 4chan, but it has since been adopted by white nationalists. It has since been added to the list of hate symbols with the caveat that it isn’t always a hate symbol when you see it and there is context to each scenario. Discretion is required.

 

[Mierin]

You guys seriously have no idea what this started as, do you? It's literally the best troll job in history, thus far. People freaked out because it's an extremely common game that's played, quite literally, all over the world and you can find pictures or video anywhere you want of people doing the gag. It only became a "real" thing because of idiots getting worked up about some 4chan troll job that they were clueless to. Then these groups picked it up to troll even harder. The only reason it has any relevance is because people are overly sensitive and want to see something. It never would have got this far without that sensationalist sensitivity.

How it started isn't the only thing that's relevant. Something can be started as a joke and then co-opted. I don't have an opinion one way or another if that's what happened here - hard to know why the people at the game were using it - because they're playing the game, to troll people, or because they're White supremacists.

I don't disagree that people shouldn't have fallen for it in the first place.

 

[Landlord]

It started as a troll job by 4chan, but it has since been adopted by white nationalists. It has since been added to the list of hate symbols with the caveat that it isn’t always a hate symbol when you see it and there is context to each scenario. Discretion is required.

If something is a hate symbol, except it isn't always, but it might be sometimes, but it depends on the context and the scenario and discretion in interpretation, then it's not a hate symbol.

The 'ok' sign only becomes more of a 'legitimate' white power symbol the more that people immediately see it in any context without actually knowing the context, like some in this thread, and immediately cry, "RACIST HAND SYMBOL!" You're literally helping its legitimacy along.

What's more likely, 2-3 military kids are bona fide explicit white power racists trying to whistleblow to their kind, or are giggling and getting off on doing what essentially amounts to an immature rick roll.

 

[Ulty]

Symbols and language evolve. The "circle game" has typically only been one of those idiotic and juvenile things that kids do. Somewhere along the way, whether it was intended as a troll-job or not, it has been corrupted and adopted as a racist symbol. Maybe not widely used, not as racist as a swastika, a confederate flag, or a MAGA hat, but can still be used in the same way.

The swastika was not always a symbol for the Nazis. It used to be a symbol for prosperity and luck in other religions and cultures for centuries. But when the Nazis adopted it, the meaning changed for everyone. You can't use a swastika today and simply claim that you are wishing for luck.

We don't know for sure that the cadets at the Army-Navy game are white supremacists or even racists at all, but trying to throw "the circle game" into a photo like that is, at best, immature, moronic, and ignorant. If they don't know that the symbol has now been co-opted into a hate symbol, they are ignorant better learn. If they aren't white supremacists but still knew that the gesture has been used that way, then they are still trolling/baiting based on race. 

Either way, it is a fair conclusion that the kids who threw this gesture into a photo are immature dumbasses. This is not unexpected from college age kids, but I would hope that we could expect better from our military cadets. 

I'm sorry that you all have to stop playing the circle game now, that it was trolled into something sinister. But if you don't want to be accused of racism/white supremacy, now you know not to f**king do it.

 

[deedsker]

If something is a hate symbol, except it isn't always, but it might be sometimes, but it depends on the context and the scenario and discretion in interpretation, then it's not a hate symbol.

The 'ok' sign only becomes more of a 'legitimate' white power symbol the more that people immediately see it in any context without actually knowing the context, like some in this thread, and immediately cry, "RACIST HAND SYMBOL!" You're literally helping its legitimacy along.

What's more likely, 2-3 military kids are bona fide explicit white power racists trying to whistleblow to their kind, or are giggling and getting off on doing what essentially amounts to an immature rick roll.

Do you see the beauty in being able to capture the language of others when you can claim it was a joke...unless no one is offended?

 

[Nebfanatic]

In the circle game the circle has to be below the waist or it doesn't count. Doesn't look like the circle game to me.....

Edit: I think the most likely scenario is trolling, but even that is extremely immature especially on national television 

The thing is does it matter if they were trolling? They WERE NOT playing a game, that I am sure of. I said from the beginning it's impossible to say what their motives are, but US cadets using 4 chan troll tactics on live national TV is concerning. The symbol may be a 'troll' but that type of trolling is far from harmless.