4Chan and Reddit are truly the worst; or the
best depending on how you look into it. Think
of the most perverse minds in the world scheming
on how to troll the most number of people;
and the higher the number, the more merrier
it is.
Recently couple of conspiracies have taken
new form in Reddit; well, conspiracy is not
the correct way to describe the first one.
It’s the Blue Whale game. If you don’t
know what it is, don’t worry; you had saved
some brain-cell, but let me destroy it. You
will not believe how stupid people can be;
but then again, to be honest, this is mostly
geared to small children and teenagers, and
small children are dumb. My little one doesn’t
even know who Charles Babbage is, or what
the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow
is. That being said:
The "Blue Whale challenge" - a social media
"suicide game" that was a viral urban legend
a few years ago - is circulating again within
the UK, prompting warnings from police and
fears a child could harm themselves
Northamptonshire Police has told parents to
be aware of the so-called 'Blue Whale challenge'
which is circulating on social media platforms
such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.
The challenge involves teenagers being encouraged
to take part in 50 challenges that culminate
in attempting suicide.
The origins of Blue Whale challenge are murky
but charities have previously advised parents
to be aware of what their children are getting
up to on social media and see if they detect
any dramatic changes in moods or signs of
self-harming.
In 2016 the so-called 'Blue Whale challenge'
began to circulate in Russia.
After originally gaining traction online through
viral posts it has since been widely discredited
- although police forces in the UK fear it
may be seeing a resurgence in the UK and lead
to increased cases of self-harm.
Most of the stories you hear have been debunked,
but even if there is a small chance that one
stupid teenager who might fall for this: well,
if you are that teenager, please just listen
to me. There are many fun things out there
in world; from opposite sex to same sex, to
games, and once you are old enough, some other
grown-up stuff. So chill man. Play some games.
Read some books.
Then we had a real conspiracy: did you know
that US-based company Wayfair was trafficking
children and selling them as furniture? Some
super sleuth first noticed some furnitures
sold by Wayfair that seems to be way too expensive
by any standard: well, by most standard. We
are talking about over $20,000 for a two-door
cabinet. The mystery thickens once you notice
every single of these furniture is named after
a missing girl in US, and identical units
selling for different amounts. How can that
be?
That’s not all; as you might know, most
items now-a-days have a SKU or stock-keeping
unit number; if you typed SKU numbers from
those furniture into Yandex: a major Russian
search engine; oh gosh; images of young hot
women would appear in the search result. Is
that not proof enough?
Honestly, they are just pranking us. I am
sure there is a meeting that takes place with
pizza and gaming rigs; and they try to outdo
each other on how much they pranked the world;
so you got that many people to do that? Big
deal; I did… insert achievement here. I
imagine that to be a very fun group.
Oh do you want to know more about Wayfair?
Well, there is nothing to say. Bunch of the
lost kids the initial poster mentioned have
already been found. In fact one woman, who
was mentioned when a cabinet with her first
name was linked to her alleged disappearance
as a teenager, did a Facebook live refuting
the claims. She said she never went missing
in the first place.
Now many retailers use common first names
to name it’s product. Wayfair acknowledged
the high prices and blamed them to either
a glitch or that the product are large “industrial
size” item.
As for the SKU; well Yandex had a problem
with their code, where “any random string
of numbers” would return the same result;
which seemed to be pictures of young women.
Well, Yandex seems to have corrected this
issue, and the searches no longer return those
results.
This crazy conspiracy generated 4.4 million
engagements on Instagram; damn, what do I
need to do to get that.
Now that was all prelude to my real question:
what does a symbol represents and who owns
it?
Let’s start with one of the most hated symbol
of all time: I present to you the Nazi symbol:
you might know it as Nazi swastika.
Would you consider it as a symbol of fascism;
hate; Arian race? Okay; how about if I remove
that red; and then if I turn it by 45 degree.
Do you know what that is? If you have guessed
a swastika: well, you are correct.
The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit
svastika, which means “good fortune” or
“well-being."
Next question: how old do you think that symbol
is; come on, take a guess. 100 years; 200
years; 500 years; 1000 years; 2000 years;
5000 years; well, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong,
wrong, and wrong. The motif, a hooked cross,
appears to have first been used in Eurasia,
as early as 7000 years ago, perhaps representing
the movement of the sun through the sky. To
this day, it is a sacred symbol in Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism, and Odinism. It is a common
sight on temples or houses in India or Indonesia.
Swastikas also have an ancient history in
Europe, appearing on artefacts from pre-Christian
European cultures.
Now why the hell should we give up over 7000
years of culture just because some asshole
decided to use it for his cause. By doing
that, don’t we just let fascism win? Instead,
shouldn’t we be saying, No; you can’t
have it.
Recently we have seen Pepe the frog debacle;
According to Know Your Meme, users began creating
their own Pepe images in 2008 in forums on
the imageboard site 4chan.
This unassuming cartoon frog became so established
as a racist symbol that the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL) labeled Pepe the Frog as a hate
symbol in September 2016, but said most instances
of Pepe were not used in a hate-related context.
Since then, Pepe's creator has expressed his
dismay at Pepe being used as a hate symbol
and has sued organisations for doing so.
Then I win: I mean, the idea I stand for wins.
In 2019, Pepe was used by protesters in the
2019–20 Hong Kong protests as a symbol of
liberty and resistance. Protesters, especially
children and teens, see it as a cartoon that
"looks funny and captures the hearts of so
many youngsters. It is a symbol of youth participation
in this movement."
So there; a symbol has all the power, but
it is the power that we give them; Smashing
an Atom can destroy cities, and it can also
light it with minimal pollution.
What do you think of the ‘OK’ symbol?
If you had asked me this question, say two
years ago, I would say that it’s a symbol
that means ‘okay’ in most of the world;
but do be careful in Latin America, where
it has connotation towards anal sex; or in
middle east where it’s considered as evil
eye.
How about inward-facing peace sign or the
V-Shape; well, whatever you do, don’t do
it in my country; cause in UK, that’s equal
to giving someone the finger.
Thumbs up: all good, right? Well, unless you
are in Afghanistan, where it is also “Up
yours”; it’s strange how almost every
sign is up yours somewhere.
Closed fist? Well, you think of solidarity;
but in Pakistan; guess? Yes, it is up yours.
Gesturing at someone to come over: well, don’t
do it in Singapore, Japan or Philippines;
it either symbolizes death, or in case of
Philippines, is reserved only to call a dog.
Dozen roses: well, this one got me in trouble;
as in Russia, even stands for funeral. Damn,
damn, damn; who knew.
Last year, ADL added ‘OK’ hand gesture
to list of hate symbols; and it is crap like
this is why I don’t care about ADL any more.
And I’m not even white. When Anti-Defamation
League does this kind of stupid stunt, it
takes focus away from what might be actually
bad.
This OK sign started as an online joke: to
take something innocent and widely used gesture
and pretend there was a sinister hidden meaning
behind it.
So when you do the ‘OK’ sign with your
fingers pointing upwards: apparently those
three fingers represent ‘W’ where the
loop and your palm represents ‘P’; ‘WP’
or ‘White Power’; why not bloody ‘Winnie
the pooh’; China would ban it immediately;
and guess what? We are just as bad. HashTag
Free Tibet.
Anyway, the joke was successful. Both far-left
and far-right started believing that ‘OK’
sign is changing it’s meaning. It was even
used in court by the suspect in Christchurch
killing; after he killed 51 people after opening
fire on two mosques.
Now where else is this sign used? Well, in
Yoga, it’s a symbol to demonstrate inner
perfection. Something I learned in Philippines;
Divers use that symbol to indicate everything
is okay; who would have guessed? In Venezuela
and Brazil, it means your butt. Damn.
In case you didn’t know; I used to be a
gamer; now a days, I don’t get to play as
much, but I do buy games regularly and keep
up with all the recent news.
Recently Infinity Ward has quietly removed
the OK gesture from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
and Warzone.
In that game, you're able to assign hand gestures
to your character for use out on the battlefield.
The OK gesture, which was added to the game
earlier in 2020, was used by some as a trickshot
of sorts - the player character doing the
OK sign with their left hand while firing
their gun with their right.
Call of Duty social media and subreddits would
often carry clips of players doing the OK
sign as they ended a multiplayer match or
a game of Warzone with the final kill.
They wrote, "This is an effort we began with
launch and we need to do a better job," adding,
"We’re issuing thousands of daily bans of
racist and hate-oriented names. But we know
we have to do more.”
The company also stated that they would be
adding additional resources to monitor and
identify racist content, increase the number
of hourly bans, and adding filters and improved
restrictions on name changes.
If there was ever a time for a slow-clap,
this would be it.
Well, I guess I made my feeling pretty clear
through out this video. What do you think?
Do you think it is okay to remove the okay
gesture. Following the slippery slope, where
does it end? I really want to know how you
feel about it. Please let me know in the comments
below.
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As always, have a safe day. Signing off.
