When OK is not OK

[sam_gordon]

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/new...rlando-character-made-hate-symbol/3831430002/
Short version...
Mixed race family goes to Universal in March. Kids get a picture w/Gru and a minion. In August, the family is going back through the pictures and notices Gru had formed his hand into an 'OK' sign and had it on the daughter's shoulder. The family complains to Universal because white supremacists have used the symbol. The actor playing Gru is fired.

Apparently doing an OK sign with your hands upside down means you're a racist. I had heard among my kids friends that if someone "flashes" this sign and you look at it, they're supposed to punch you in the shoulder or something stupid like that. That's going back a couple years though.

So here's my question... why do we allow people to "take over" the symbol? It only means something if we (whoever views it) feel it means something.

Thoughts?

 

[VandVsmama]

What in the world? We can't make the OK symbol anymore? I have never heard of this until now.

 

[dez1978]

This is getting a bit ridiculous. That sign has meant ok for how long now? Now we are just gonna decide it means something else? good grief.

 

[lifesavacation]

I've never heard of this either, but the hand symbol on the kid's shoulder does look odd and purposeful to me. I wonder what he told Universal he was trying to portray in the picture. I've not seen this movie. Maybe it's a movie thing.

 

[Praying Colonel]

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/new...rlando-character-made-hate-symbol/3831430002/
Short version...
Mixed race family goes to Universal in March. Kids get a picture w/Gru and a minion. In August, the family is going back through the pictures and notices Gru had formed his hand into an 'OK' sign and had it on the daughter's shoulder. The family complains to Universal because white supremacists have used the symbol. The actor playing Gru is fired.

Apparently doing an OK sign with your hands upside down means you're a racist. I had heard among my kids friends that if someone "flashes" this sign and you look at it, they're supposed to punch you in the shoulder or something stupid like that. That's going back a couple years though.

So here's my question... why do we allow people to "take over" the symbol? It only means something if we (whoever views it) feel it means something.

Thoughts?

"Apparently" is doing a lot of work here.

 

[L&Lfan]

Never heard of this and wouldn’t even have noticed it in the photo. I certainly wouldn’t have complained. This is now banned???

 

[AustinTink]

So dumb. I don't know anything about it being a racial thing. When I was in high school, guys played this dumb game. They put the ok sign on their leg and if another guy looked they got punched. We were bored and low-tech in the 80's.

 

[disneychrista]

Isn't is only an upside down "okay" ? Fingers pointing down? A regular, fingers pointing up, still means what it has always meant, right?

 

[cabanafrau]

Something that bothers me is that the hand gesture has had the okay meaning associated with it for as long as I remember. I've never heard of it being a hate gesture until this news cycle. Do I live under a rock and everybody but me is aware of this suddenly being a hate gesture?

Over the years working in such a public setting I've noticed that it's a common thing for many people to hold their hands in certain positions when they are resting their hands someplace. I've noticed it often on the backs of benches in front of people when they're sitting and waiting, and on the backs of chairs when they're standing behind a chair. I can easily see the a person's resting hand position happening unconsciously when throwing their arm around someone's shoulder to take a picture. In the case of an arm around a shoulder any hand gesture is likely to be upside down just based on anatomy.

I'd need a lot more before jumping to the conclusion this "gesture" had any meaning in the circumstance, let alone a derogatory or hateful one. First let's start with demonstrating that this person actually was gesturing and doesn't habitually simply rest their hand in this position.

 

[cabanafrau]

So dumb. I don't know anything about it being a racial thing. When I was in high school, guys played this dumb game. They put the ok sign on their leg and if another guy looked they got punched. We were bored and low-tech in the 80's.

I completely forgot all about that until you mentioned it.

 

[MrsDuck]

This seems purposeful on the employee's part... otherwise, I'd say it was ridiculous.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

It all started with a hoax perpetrated by hateful and disgusting site 4Chan and then spread, according to the ADL: The article is here:

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/okay-hand-gesture

 

[kimblebee]

If he was just really wanting to make an ok signal, why did he do it on her shoulder. Why couldn’t he have held it up like the normal state for doing it? Seems suspicious..

 

[smiths02]

Universal is taking the stance that it was purposeful, it seems:
We never want our guests to experience what this family did,” the spokesperson said in an email to The Independent.

“This is not acceptable and we are sorry – and we are taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again. We can’t discuss specifics about this incident, but we can confirm that the actor no longer works here. We remain in contact with the family and will work with them privately to make this right.”

 

[sam_gordon]

will work with them privately to make this right.

So here's my question... what exactly can "make this right"? They noticed it five months after the incident. So it didn't have any impact on their vacation. Maybe it affects the memory of meeting Gru. But other than that...

 

[soccerdad72]

First time I had heard of this was regarding a Cubs' baseball broadcast: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...-fan-who-appeared-flash-white-power-sign-air/

 

[Jennasis]

The upside down OK symbol has been (to my knowledge) a longstanding SIGN LANGUAGE gesture for the profane word for your backside. I didn't know it had a connection to white supremacy, and I think it's a rather new addition.

Regardless, it seems it was an intentional slight against the child and/or her family and the appropriate action of firing the employee was taken.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/new...rlando-character-made-hate-symbol/3831430002/
So here's my question... why do we allow people to "take over" the symbol? It only means something if we (whoever views it) feel it means something.

Thoughts?

That Dog aint a gonna hunt. Either it's
A. I've been living under a rock for years and I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to mess up your picture. And in that case, he gets a chance but is on a short leash.
or
B. He knew what it meant in which case he or she should be disciplined according to Universal policy.

And no, doing these things under the guise of it only means something if we let it won't cut it.

Don't flash white power symbols. Don't fly the Nazi flag. Don't use racial slurs and do all kinds of other stuff like that unless you mean it.

 

[dez1978]

That Dog aint a gonna hunt. Either it's
A. I've been living under a rock for years and I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to mess up your picture. And in that case, he gets a chance but is on a short leash.
or
B. He knew what it meant in which case he or she should be disciplined according to Universal policy.

And no, doing these things under the guise of it only means something if we let it won't cut it.

Don't flash white power symbols. Don't fly the Nazi flag. Don't use racial slurs and do all kinds of other stuff like that unless you mean it.

I think the point is who decided this was a white power symbol? Why is this suddenly now a thing? Why does everything have to be something?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I think the point is who decided this was a white power symbol? Why is this suddenly now a thing? Why does everything have to be something?

I understood the point perfectly. The point is moot. It has become such a symbol. It is such a symbol. One shouldn't use it unless they mean it. And if they mean it, well then they've showed everyone who they are by doing so. And if by chance they didn't know, once it is explained they shouldn't use it again.