General Cubs Chit-Chat

[TruffleShuffle]

It's not. For it to be the "white power" symbol it would have to be held upright so that the third, fourth, and fifth fingers form a "W" and the thumb, index finger, and wrist form a "P".

 

This dude is obviously playing the circle game. We used to play it at Menards all the time. You hold your hand in that position and try to get someone to look, and if they do you get to punch them in the shoulder or something. By getting everyone who tuned in to the broadcast to look this guy won in a big way. He should get season tickets rather than being the subject of an investigation.

You're wrong. You're being ridiculous.

 

 

are you sure that nazi wasn’t just playing the circle game though

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Looks kinda like Menards there in the background.

[Sammy Sofa]

That symbol evolved into a white power symbol. If there was anyone deserves the Bartman treatment, it's this guy.

 

I can't believe he's doing it as its previous meaning before white supremacy became mainstream again.

 

This excellent article posted in the politics thread yesterday seems fitting:

 

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/teenage-pricks-pareene

 

The rest of it goes on in similar fashion. “Of course Alyssa Milano is an idiot for insisting that those stupid red hats are ‘the new white hood.’” What self-evident poppycock, to all sensible people! Of course, the Klan didn’t even wear white hoods in its first incarnation. They didn’t have a uniform at all until The Birth of a Nation became a hit, and a clever salesman started mass-producing and marketing the uniform, hood and all.

 

As Alison Kinney wrote in The New Republic in 2016: “While the hoods could assure their wearers’ personal anonymity, their force came from declaring membership in a safe, privileged identity that was anything but secret. The hoods made Klan membership cool; they helped rebrand the Klan as a popular, patriotic, money-making, white clubhouse movement.” Alyssa Milano, you idiot, how could that possibly seem in any way reminiscent of any modern political movement whose practically all-white adherents sport a particular piece of mass-produced apparel? Why does everyone keep making this a race thing? I shout, as my proud teen sons unfurl a banner signifying their allegiance to a national identitarian movement of people who are taking “their country” back.

 

It may have been something else before/originally, but it was very loudly and intentionally hijacked for nefarious/trolling purposes a while ago, and somebody would have to be REALLY oblivious to be doing it intentionally like that and to have it have nothing to do with what it's become.

 

I know plenty of people love saying how they're sick and tried of hearing about "gaslighting," but this OK signal mutation is basically the dictionary definition of how it works. There's pretty much zero chance this guy wasn't at least doing this just to get people worked up over what his intentions were.

[Old Style]

Black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi uses that hand symbol too.

 

[Sammy Sofa]

Come on, man. I know you know that's not the slam dunk you want it to be.

 

The reality is there's just not a "it was only..." excuse anymore for a white guy to do what the guy at the Cubs game did. You might think it sucks that trolls and racists ruined the beloved dickhole game or whatever it was for white guys, but that's what's happened.

 

This has entered the same realm that excuses, like, "it can actually mean a bundle of sticks," or, "it's really an ancient Hindu symbol," don't fly, too. It's changed for the worse because that's what shitty people were intentionally trying to do to it (due in no small part to knowing that it would lead to people trying to defend it like this), and that's just the way it is. There's no "reclaiming" or "saving" it. People just need to be smarter.

[Old Style]

Was that rant directed at me?

[Sammy Sofa]

Rant?

 

And that's a weird question.

[Old Style]

Rant?

 

And that's a weird question.

Fine. Response, retort, reply. Pick whichever word tickles your taint.

 

How is asking if that was directed at me a weird question? I was simply commenting that I had seen that hand symbol used elsewhere. I think it's obvious that I wasn't trying to say that the dude in the pic was a member of that frat.

[jersey cubs fan]

Rant?

 

And that's a weird question.

Fine. Response, retort, reply. Pick whichever word tickles your taint.

 

How is asking if that was directed at me a weird question? I was simply commenting that I had seen that hand symbol used elsewhere. I think it's obvious that I wasn't trying to say that the dude in the pic was a member of that frat.

everybody has seen the symbol used elsewhere.

 

A white guy doing that on TV in 2019 is not doing it in support of a black fraternity.

 

 

[Sammy Sofa]

Rant?

 

And that's a weird question.

Fine. Response, retort, reply. Pick whichever word tickles your taint.

 

How is asking if that was directed at me a weird question? I was simply commenting that I had seen that hand symbol used elsewhere. I think it's obvious that I wasn't trying to say that the dude in the pic was a member of that frat.

everybody has seen the symbol used elsewhere.

 

Yeah, exactly.

 

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questions

[Bull]

Come on, man. I know you know that's not the slam dunk you want it to be.

 

The reality is there's just not a "it was only..." excuse anymore for a white guy to do what the guy at the Cubs game did. You might think it sucks that trolls and racists ruined the beloved dickhole game or whatever it was for white guys, but that's what's happened.

 

This has entered the same realm that excuses, like, "it can actually mean a bundle of sticks," or, "it's really an ancient Hindu symbol," don't fly, too. It's changed for the worse because that's what horsefeathers people were intentionally trying to do to it (due in no small part to knowing that it would lead to people trying to defend it like this), and that's just the way it is. There's no "reclaiming" or "saving" it. People just need to be smarter.

I literally had no idea this was a thing. I like to think I'm fairly up to speed with the culture, as I work with teens for a living and frequent reddit.

 

After some cursory googling this appears to be classic 4chan making a thing that wasn't a thing, but now its definitely a thing.

 

I don't think it's fair to expect the average fan to know its a thing.

 

It's likely the guy knew it was a thing. That is not a typical situation to be doing the old "you looked, you get punched" game. But it is entirely possible that it was a drunk fan who is (drunk) planning to go home and ask his friend if he watched the Cubs game and then punch him.

[Sammy Sofa]

It kinda blows my mind when people say they somehow managed to miss the ongoing discussion/debate about this when it's been going on over every media platform literally for years now...but then again, I have literally never heard of or encountered this "punch somebody because they looked at your balls through the hole" or whatever game in my nearly 40 years of being alive.

 

So everyone has their blind spots, I guess.

[jersey cubs fan]

I honestly find it very hard to believe anybody who is ONLINE doesn't know this symbol and the negative connotation. If you were on twitter, you would have to follow a very narrow group of people to have avoided the stories. I assume it's similar on facebook. It's been happening in the white house with proven white supremacists media members who have been granted access, it has happened all over the place.

[Old Style]

A white guy doing that on TV in 2019 is not doing it in support of a black fraternity.

That's exactly what I said.

[jersey cubs fan]

It kinda blows my mind when people say they somehow managed to miss the ongoing discussion/debate about this when it's been going on over every media platform literally for years now...but then again, I have literally never heard of or encountered this "punch somebody because they looked at your balls through the hole" or whatever game in my nearly 40 years of being alive.

 

So everyone has their blind spots, I guess.

 

well the punching game was certainly a thing in my childhood

[Old Style]

I honestly find it very hard to believe anybody who is ONLINE doesn't know this symbol and the negative connotation. If you were on twitter, you would have to follow a very narrow group of people to have avoided the stories. I assume it's similar on facebook. It's been happening in the white house with proven white supremacists media members who have been granted access, it has happened all over the place.

I'm online a lot but I have no idea what 4chan is even though I've heard of it. I vaguely recall hearing that this was not used to racists assholes but I don't hang out with anyone who would use it (to the best of my knowledge) so it's not something I immediately thought of when I saw the pic.

[Sammy Sofa]

A white guy doing that on TV in 2019 is not doing it in support of a black fraternity.

That's exactly what I said.

 

Nobody was denying that it's been a very common gesture for different reasons in the past. Nobody didn't know that. People are talking about how suspect it is that a white guy in May of 2019 decided to do that on TV behind a black reporter at the game given how loaded flashing that sign is now, and your response is to post pics of a black fraternity making similar hand gestures and to then act befuddled when people question your motivations. Like, your own best defense, in your own words, is that it was a totally unnecessary and uncalled for non-sequitur response that you were doing just because.

 

Surely you can see why that seems like a bit of a stretch.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Sammy Sofa

[Bertz]

It kinda blows my mind when people say they somehow managed to miss the ongoing discussion/debate about this when it's been going on over every media platform literally for years now...but then again, I have literally never heard of or encountered this "punch somebody because they looked at your balls through the hole" or whatever game in my nearly 40 years of being alive.

 

So everyone has their blind spots, I guess.

 

I think most of us on here are "extremely online" types and are far more likely to be aware of the conversations about this than the general population. Like, I bet if I ask my wife about this tonight she'd have no idea, as she's an Instagram/Pinterest type rather than a Twitter/Reddit/Message Board type.

 

That being said, I totally agree that it's obvious this guy knew what he was doing. The sheer effort he went to to make that particular symbol on camera in his limited window of opportunity makes it very unlikely that this came from a place of innocence.

[ConstableRabbit]

It kinda blows my mind when people say they somehow managed to miss the ongoing discussion/debate about this when it's been going on over every media platform literally for years now...but then again, I have literally never heard of or encountered this "punch somebody because they looked at your balls through the hole" or whatever game in my nearly 40 years of being alive.

 

So everyone has their blind spots, I guess.

This is surprising to me.

[jersey cubs fan]

I honestly find it very hard to believe anybody who is ONLINE doesn't know this symbol and the negative connotation. If you were on twitter, you would have to follow a very narrow group of people to have avoided the stories. I assume it's similar on facebook. It's been happening in the white house with proven white supremacists media members who have been granted access, it has happened all over the place.

I'm online a lot but I have no idea what 4chan is even though I've heard of it. I vaguely recall hearing that this was not used to racists horsefeathers but I don't hang out with anyone who would use it (to the best of my knowledge) so it's not something I immediately thought of when I saw the pic.

I've never been on 4chan. 4chan isn't the story.

 

This symbol is a racist symbol used by racists and has been for years and people know it.

[ConstableRabbit]

I honestly find it very hard to believe anybody who is ONLINE doesn't know this symbol and the negative connotation. If you were on twitter, you would have to follow a very narrow group of people to have avoided the stories. I assume it's similar on facebook. It's been happening in the white house with proven white supremacists media members who have been granted access, it has happened all over the place.

I'm online a lot but I have no idea what 4chan is even though I've heard of it. I vaguely recall hearing that this was not used to racists horsefeathers but I don't hang out with anyone who would use it (to the best of my knowledge) so it's not something I immediately thought of when I saw the pic.

I've never been on 4chan. 4chan isn't the story.

 

This symbol is a racist symbol used by racists and has been for years and people know it.

It's definitely a racist symbol but it became a thing in large part because of 4chan and it really hasn't been a thing for that long.

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

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/09/18/ok-sign-white-power-symbol-or-just-right-wing-troll

[Sammy Sofa]

I honestly find it very hard to believe anybody who is ONLINE doesn't know this symbol and the negative connotation. If you were on twitter, you would have to follow a very narrow group of people to have avoided the stories. I assume it's similar on facebook. It's been happening in the white house with proven white supremacists media members who have been granted access, it has happened all over the place.

I'm online a lot but I have no idea what 4chan is even though I've heard of it. I vaguely recall hearing that this was not used to racists horsefeathers but I don't hang out with anyone who would use it (to the best of my knowledge) so it's not something I immediately thought of when I saw the pic.

I've never been on 4chan. 4chan isn't the story.

 

This symbol is a racist symbol used by racists and has been for years and people know it.

 

Yeah, people are trying to drill down and act like this is a story/discussion that hasn't really transcended meme-level status off of platforms like Twitter and 4chan; that's simply not the case. It's been a straight up international news story/debate multiple times over the past 2-3 years.

[badger]

It kinda blows my mind when people say they somehow managed to miss the ongoing discussion/debate about this when it's been going on over every media platform literally for years now...but then again, I have literally never heard of or encountered this "punch somebody because they looked at your balls through the hole" or whatever game in my nearly 40 years of being alive.

 

So everyone has their blind spots, I guess.

 

well the punching game was certainly a thing in my childhood

 

me too. I lost it alot.

 

I also didn't know this was a White power symbol (and I probably should have since I'm not White).

[Old Style]

I don't think it's anywhere near widely known & accepted as a racist gesture as you do but what do I know?

 

EDIT: That was for Sofa.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Old Style

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm online a lot but I have no idea what 4chan is even though I've heard of it. I vaguely recall hearing that this was not used to racists horsefeathers but I don't hang out with anyone who would use it (to the best of my knowledge) so it's not something I immediately thought of when I saw the pic.

I've never been on 4chan. 4chan isn't the story.

 

This symbol is a racist symbol used by racists and has been for years and people know it.

It's definitely a racist symbol but it became a thing in large part because of 4chan and it really hasn't been a thing for that long.

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

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/09/18/ok-sign-white-power-symbol-or-just-right-wing-troll

 

The whole 4chan "let's make this a fake thing to pwn the libs, 'whoops', now alt-right people are doing it ironically/seriously" started in 2017. But Milo and Richard Spencer and co. started it back in 2015 as this intentionally nebulous dog-whistle along the lines of, "white guys chill like this" or whatever the hell goes on in their lizard brains. It's been festering for a while.