It's Not Okay, Plus More Than 200 Symbols and Memes That Say "I Hate"

There won't be any redemption for the swastika, a symbol that represented well-being and good fortune for thousands of years. Up until the Nazis appropriated the ancient symbol it had been used by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Greeks, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Native Americans and even the Coca-Cola company.

The latest symbol to develop a bad reputation is the okay hand gesture, one of 36 new entries being added to the Anti-Defamation League's online database of extremist symbols. It was appropriated by a 4chan trolling campaign a couple of years ago to symbolize white power and is now claimed by those on the right and also extremists.

Being able to recognize these displays of hate — including symbols, slogans and memes used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, racists, and white supremacist prison gangs — is important because hatred is on the rise.

So much so that the Department of Homeland Security is now broadening its mission to target domestic terrorism, which includes white supremacist extremism. They're still going to thwart international terrorists, but now they're focusing on targeted violence: the attacks we've been seeing in movie theaters, schools and places of worship.

Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/like-the-swastika-the-once-benevolent-okay-hand-gesture-is-now-a-symbol-of-hate-11363517