Speaking to some people in these circles, this is quite likely in direct response to a news piece: "High School Spends $53,000 To Reprint Yearbooks After Students Flash Racist Symbol" [1].

[1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/high-school-yearbooks-racist-...

I think this really highlights the stupidity of the "okay symbol". As long as we allow people to change the meaning of words and symbols, this will continue to happen.

How do we prevent meaning from following usage in an era where a small group can create apparently extensive usage?

>prevent meaning from following usage in an era where a small group can create apparently extensive usage

A good first step would be if journos stopped treating Twitter as if it were a meaningful representation of the real world.

Stop news media from creating articles like this and take back the meaning by using it in its original context. I think that's a good start.

Uh you are aware of the history of the swastika, right?

When such a large group of people begin using the symbol it's hard to combat, but a few people on the internet with a small amount of usage should be easier to combat.

Does anyone ever question the competence of the media based on their ability to fall for such obvious bait time and time again?

From their perspective, whether it is bait or not, they only benefit from commenting on it. People buy into their news media if it either asserts what they already believe to be true or outlines something outrageous.

This news coverage is just the beginning, but it'll probably fizzle out because it's a lose-lose for news media. It has also been started in public and is easily debunk-able.

They know it's a bait. It's written in most of the articles itself. But they can't help the urge to virtue signal. See "it's okay to be white"

The most brilliant counter to this I've seen is replacing the "it's ok to be white" paper that was removed with a blank piece of paper. Hopefully, once seeing blank paper is sending people to the campus police, this can all come to a truly ridiculous end.

/pol/s campaigns can work surprising magic. The okay sign worked reasonably well. And still the "it's okay to be white" continues to make people mad on both sides. This one.. it'll be more difficult.

/pol/ works magic b/c everyone is so far up their own ass, utterly humorless, and can't look at things in context. Nuance and context have eroded in favor of absurd, rigid tribalism. And /pol/ pulls on that thread constantly. And as a progressive (at a high level - a BLM, OWS, #MeToo supporting) - i find it utterly amazing. The inability for the left and the press to have nuance, take things with a grain of salt, have a chuckle from time to time (even at yourselves), is their greatest weakness right now.

The world is getting dumber at an alarming rate.

Pedantry ahoy: that’s not a hashtag, it’s just a hash.

Honestly, this is just too funny.

Imagine if these guys chose to use their powers for good instead.

If they succeed yet again it will only be more evidence Western civilization has gone completely off the rails.

(The first time around they managed to convince nearly the entire left wing community that the universal "okay sign" was a symbol of hate. Yes, that was them too.)

I don't think this will work. Excuse my nonsense logic but the swastika works well as a symbol of hate (despite having other origins and meanings) in that it has a single center with coherent angular spirals, the center signifying the ego and the spirals signifying logic and order complying with it... or something.

The hashtag has an empty center and four equal points that sort of radiate in multiple directions... seems more oligopolistic and ambivalent than totalitarian and opinionated.

the idea is for it to be a troll and a signal with plausible deniability

more along the lines of the "okay" gesture https://www.adl.org/blog/how-the-ok-symbol-became-a-popular-...