General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This white supremacy hand signal is really making the rounds. These cops should be suspended [View all]Anon-C
(3,430 posts)I understand your point. But as said up thread, context is key. Memes are malleable, can convey multiple meanings even to the same audience. Sure, it started in the depths of 4Chan trollery...fine.
But I think it's a disservice for the ADL to make such declaritive statements and bemoan that fact that it's simply a troll to liberals. That's bad enough in and of itself. But that's one layer of meaning that I believe is fit for your consumption. As a black man, I fear for my children at the hands of police officers such as this and other law enforcement agencies, and I know what they mean when they throw this sign.
It's similar to Kate Bouldan claiming that it's uncivil to refer to Stephen Miller, literally a professional bigot and career troll, as a "white nationalist". She, her producers and CNN are dead wrong, Stephen Miller is literally a white nationalist advancing a white ethnostate as a cause in policy and in fact...but that can't be discussed rationally on TV? And this is Zina Bash's colleague!
In high school I had the opportunity to be an extra in the courtroom scene of a made-for-TV biopic on the life of Morris Dees and the founding of the Southern Poverty Law Center. I don't know if you work for or with them, but I believe Dees and the SPLC are real heroes. I was just reading about their monitoring efforts in this case:
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/08/22/suspect-who-fatally-stabbed-black-man-pennsylvania-liked-nearly-50-racist-alt-right
I know my response is all over the place, but there is nothing at all benign in this use of the sign. Nothing.
I won't be gaslit or bullied into accepting otherwise.