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babylonsister

(170,965 posts)
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 07:52 PM Dec 2019

When young men in the military flash the OK sign, it's time to take the trolling 'joke' seriously

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/28/1906908/-When-young-men-in-the-military-flash-the-OK-sign-it-s-time-to-take-the-trolling-joke-seriously

When young men in the military flash the OK sign, it's time to take the trolling 'joke' seriously
David Neiwert for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Saturday December 28, 2019 · 12:00 PM EST


At some point, both reporters and public officials are going to have to stop playing dumb when young white men pull stunts like publicly flashing the “OK” sign before television cameras and dressing up at school in Ku Klux Klan uniforms. Of course it’s deliberately racist, behind transparently phony denials uttered with a cynical nihilism that doesn’t disguise itself. The people who are in real position to know better are responding with hapless befuddlement, as though they can’t really tell what these young men are up to.

The juvenile “irony” pose behind which they hide, allowing them a kind of plausible-deniability narrative in which they really are just harmless people “trolling” in order to make a point of some kind, wore out a long time ago. The distance (including over time) between an “ironic” racist and a seriously dedicated racist is simply negligible, especially in terms of the toxic effects of their vile contributions, as it were, to public discourse.

Yes, it’s just an OK sign. But anyone using it today is making clear that they just don’t care if they’re mistaken for the serious white-nationalists who flash it, mass murderers like the Christchurch killer. As I explained with the SPLC, it’s at best a sign of being a troll, who is only a better human being than an express bigot by a small degree.

Cadets certainly have been drummed out of the officers’ corps for less than the trio who flashed the white-power OK sign at the Army-Navy game earlier this week. Even if any were able to produce evidence of active anti-racism (unlikely as that may be), the harm they inflicted on the institutions they supposedly represent is incalculable.

Because now Americans around the world are wondering: Are we harboring closeted white supremacists in our military, particularly in its highest ranks? That’s not a question any patriotic American wants to be asking. Because of these clowns, we have to.

Particularly not with the news, first reported by Christopher Mathias at HuffPost, that the Senate had excised language intended to screen military enlistees for “white nationalism” from the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

The Senate’s version of the House-approved NDAA approved language intended to screen for “extremist and gang-related activity” that completely omitted the phrase “white nationalism,” a phrase pointedly inserted in the House after alarming reports in the media about the infiltration of military ranks by far-right white extremists.

There needs to be zero tolerance for this, not least because military training increases the likelihood of competence at terrorist action later, as the Timothy McVeigh example always reminds us. Prioritize screening both recruits and current ranks for this poison. And drum them out without hesitation. Nothing less than our national security is at stake here. It’s serious, and needs to be taken seriously.
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When young men in the military flash the OK sign, it's time to take the trolling 'joke' seriously (Original Post) babylonsister Dec 2019 OP
I didn't believe their phony excuse 1 bit. Disgusting. I've lost a lot of respect for these... SWBTATTReg Dec 2019 #1
I was shocked when the Navy and the Army brushed it all away ... marble falls Dec 2019 #6
It makes me wonder how many are in the military. Hermit-The-Prog Dec 2019 #16
Any is too many. marble falls Dec 2019 #17
5th Rec. Zero tolerance. Hekate Dec 2019 #2
I saw the hand sign on a car sticker mahina Dec 2019 #3
We don't let it stand. marble falls Dec 2019 #4
And the 'old' leaders who falsely rationalize it as a 'game' excuse. keithbvadu2 Dec 2019 #5
First step is for leaders to announce... Girard442 Dec 2019 #7
Right, so there IS no excuse. dchill Dec 2019 #9
At the very best, it showed poor judgment that shouldn't be a trait of an officer. Grasswire2 Dec 2019 #8
It is prevalent with bi-racial guys also. "I am not a nig$$r". surprised the hell out of me. LiberalArkie Dec 2019 #10
K&R... spanone Dec 2019 #11
I didn't know they also dressed up in kkk costumes... egduj Dec 2019 #12
We're not stupid we know exactly what those puppy water shooters were doing. Trying to fool all UniteFightBack Dec 2019 #13
what do we expect? not_the_one Dec 2019 #14
Pete's plan sounds like Israel to me. Mandatory babylonsister Dec 2019 #15

SWBTATTReg

(21,869 posts)
1. I didn't believe their phony excuse 1 bit. Disgusting. I've lost a lot of respect for these...
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 07:54 PM
Dec 2019

students/enlistees and their superiors for accepting such a ridiculous excuse on their part.

marble falls

(56,381 posts)
6. I was shocked when the Navy and the Army brushed it all away ...
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 08:38 PM
Dec 2019

as a game in less than a week. I was convinced that there would be serious consequences.

mahina

(17,506 posts)
3. I saw the hand sign on a car sticker
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 08:24 PM
Dec 2019

From the base here

And heard a little girl at a taco truck tell her military Dad and her mother that the Hispanic woman making her food was the wrong color.

All military.

In Hawwai, a very multicultural place.

It’s gotten bad. What do we do?

keithbvadu2

(36,372 posts)
5. And the 'old' leaders who falsely rationalize it as a 'game' excuse.
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 08:37 PM
Dec 2019

And the 'old' leaders who falsely rationalize it as a 'game' excuse.

Girard442

(6,059 posts)
7. First step is for leaders to announce...
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 08:59 PM
Dec 2019

...that whatever you think your gesture means, there's a whole hell of a lot of people who think it means "White Power", so knock it the f--- off.

Grasswire2

(13,564 posts)
8. At the very best, it showed poor judgment that shouldn't be a trait of an officer.
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 09:36 PM
Dec 2019

And so they should be out.

 

UniteFightBack

(8,231 posts)
13. We're not stupid we know exactly what those puppy water shooters were doing. Trying to fool all
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 11:44 PM
Dec 2019

the people ain't gonna work.

 

not_the_one

(2,227 posts)
14. what do we expect?
Sun Dec 29, 2019, 12:25 AM
Dec 2019

Since abolishing the draft, the services can't keep their ranks filled, so we do several things:

We offer service to criminals as an option to not go to jail.

We (either intentionally or unintentionally) recruit neo-nazis and white supremacists who get off on the power trip the service offers, while training them in facilities that push fundamental christianity (Air Force, Colorado).

We offer service as a fast track to citizenship for non-citizens.

What could possibly go wrong?

So now we have gang problems in the military.

We have haters flashing white power signs.

We renege on our offer of citizenship, even deport service members and their family. If they are being deported, then they must have been "illegal" aliens...

Pete's plan for a year or two of civil service (while sorting out what you REALLY want to do with your life, because very few of us have a clue as to what we want to do with our life at age 18) would help solve this situation AND provide breathing room for the next step of life AND help financially support your decision.

What could possibly go RIGHT with THAT plan?

There ARE good men and women who join the services. They join for many honorable reasons.

It is too bad that their reputations are sullied because of the likes of Gallagher (Trump's bad-boy fetish of the hour), Dedolph, Madera-Rodriguez, Maxwell (felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice, hazing and burglary).



babylonsister

(170,965 posts)
15. Pete's plan sounds like Israel to me. Mandatory
Sun Dec 29, 2019, 01:14 AM
Dec 2019

service.

I have a few nephews who voluntarily joined the USCG and all are thriving, so doesn't sound like a bad idea.

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