It's been going on for a while now, hasn't
it?
Everything marks some kind of hatred, and
most commonly it's just that everything is
racist.
Of course, it's not that everything is racist
in reality.
Most people aren't that hateful, and most
of the time most things aren't being used
to represent hate.
Yet it's not hard to find posts on social
media and even news articles freaking out
about the latest hate symbol - often of something
innocent - or, more often it seems, people
freaking out about just how ridiculous it's
gotten that absolutely everything is a hate
symbol.
So, did you ever wonder how we got here?
I'm curious what you think now.
Do me a favor, and in the comments right now
tell me what - or who - you think caused this
mess.
I'll give you a moment to pause the video
and type.
Thanks.
So I wonder if I can guess what you might
have thought the cause was.
Did you think it was SJWs?
People so worked up about any injustice - real
or imagined - that even milk or an okay symbol
can become a sign of hatred...
Or maybe it's a product of hypersensitivity?
All these coddled college students with their
need for warnings over every little thing...
Or does the answer require a whole different
discussion - perhaps a tendency to focus on
certain (usually bad) things?
There are certainly a lot of possible other
discussions to be had about how the world
has ended up where it is today.
And I hope to have at least a few of them
eventually.
If you answered anything like what I just
mentioned, then the reality of this situation
will probably surprise you.
While I can't rule out a group I can't identify,
and hypersensitivity seems to have played
a role, it really can't be pinned on the images
usually conjured by labels like "SJW" or throwing
"hyper sensitive college students" under the
bus.
The simple answer is 4chan.
I wonder, do you think I'm kidding?
Because I'm not.
Or maybe you're more familiar with 4chan and
it's grip on Internet culture and tendency
toward trolling, which should make this less
of a shocker.
Either way, a large part of some of the most
ridiculous examples taken seriously (and in
some cases later used seriously) simply stem
from 4chan.
For example the OK hand symbol.
Anyone familiar with that being said to mean
"white power?"
I remember seeing that a while back.
Actually, this references multiple
different examples, but I'll stick to this
one for now.
4chan's /pol/ literally decided to make the
OK hand sign a hate symbol, and here are some
screenshots to back me up.
"We must flood social media...claiming that
the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy."
And so they did.
And they weren't done there, though I haven't
seen as much indicating the rest took off.
Maybe they went too fast, or maybe they'll
pop up later - feel free to keep an eye out.
Oh, and apparently even fidget
spinners are questionable.
Yeah.
Obviously, part of the problem is the media
has fallen for a lot of it.
It's hardly a secret that various news outlets
aren't doing their jobs properly all the time,
even if there's still some need to rely on
them.
Similarly, people don't do their own research
either.
I mean, I get it.
It's not like anyone really has the time to
research every single thing for themselves.
If you trust the source, it makes sense to
just continue on especially if it doesn't
seem that important.
And yet, look at where we are...
Full disclosure for anyone who has been so
kind as to hear me out: I didn't really make
this unsure how it happened.
I made it just as able to title my video something
more clickbaity like "the shocking way 4chan
convinced us everything is racist!" or perhaps
even being slightly insulting with "how 4chan
made idiots fight over fake hate symbols."
Hell, I could have even gone for "how 4chan
hijacked politics" and maybe delved a bit
deeper into other things.
The last one, though, I'm speculating a little.
I've known for a few months that 4chan was
behind at least some of this nonsense, egging
people on and making what was already a mess
even worse, likely for their own amusement.
I also know it doesn't really change much.
It hardly matters if someone is trolling or
if something started out as a troll, so long
as there are other people making the same
case sincerely.
But I do hope you'll think about this, what
this means, and what it maybe should mean
in the future.
To me, at least, this shows that not everything
people are fighting is even backed by *anyone*
at least initially.
How many other things are out there distracting
us because someone thought they were being
funny or an agency blew something out of proportion?
What has become an issue only because people
fought over it while misinformed?
And are we actually making the world better
(or preventing it getting worse) with what
we do, or are we inadvertently making things
worse hoping to prevent a problem that wasn't
real to begin with?
Thanks for hearing me out!
As always, civil discussion, suggestions,
and constructive criticism are welcome in
the comments or via social media.
Feel free to rate, comment, share.
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