Memes and Social Engineering: How the OK hand sign became a Symbol of Hate

Since the first few weeks of Sept. 2018, the MSM, online news sites, bloggers, and the twitterverse have been vociferously talking about the newest alt-right symbol for white nationalism.

Video footage from the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing was dissected. Attorney Zina Bash was accused of flashing a hand sign that is associated with white power and internet trolling. Many people have been openly contemplating why Bash was seen flashing the OK hand sign on more than one occasion. Some questioned if Bash was possibly promoting white power ideology while others proposed that “/b/ash” was actually a well known internet troll from 4chan.

More recently, a member of the US Coast Guard Hurricane Florence Response Team was ultimately removed from their position after the person flashed the OK hand sign during a live news feed. It was reported by FOX NEWS that backlash from social media is what prompted the swift removal of the individual. This incident shows how much power that social network sites can have. It also paints a very clear picture of how influential memes and internet jokes can be.

It is important to note that for decades political figures as well Hollywood and the Entertainment industry have used the “OK” hand gesture and it was never deemed socially offensive.

The OK hand sign was only considered offensive after a large group of Internet trolls created a meme campaign that joked about the symbol being connected to white power and white nationalism. The prank went viral.

I am using the term “joked” very loosely here. Some have accused the elaborate joke of having dark nefarious deep state intentions. While the conspiracy theorists continue to debate on the semantics of internet trolling,a detailed history of the “OK Symbol” meme/joke can be found here.

The idea that the hand sign was being used to promote white power was only popularized after the well known anonymous forum board 4chan.org decided to troll the entire Internet with their own jokes. The repercussions of this joke ultimately infected the Internet and also leaked into the social-political-sphere as well.

In early 2015 people from the internet began joking among themselves about the OK symbol being connected to white people. The trending joke slowly evolved and began to spread through the internet channels. By 2016 the hand symbol was being flashed at political events and gatherings.

On 02/27/2017 4chan commentators decided to escalate their jokes and memes in what was described as “Operation O-K-K-K”. The objective of “Operation O-K-K-K” was to spam the Internet with the idea that the “OK” hand symbol was a sign of white supremacy. Some claim that the intention was to expose the weaknesses in journalism. Regardless of the true purpose for creating operation O-K-K-K,the end result has ultimately led to the rebranding of the hand symbol.

Within two months, “Operation O-K-K-K” had taken strong hold and the concept that the OK hand sign was associated with white power rapidly spread.On April 28th, 2017 reporter Emma Roller from FUSION tweeted “just two people doing the white power hand gesture in the White House” she attached a picture of Cassandra Fairbanks and Michael Cernovich at the white house. Fairbanks can be seen displaying the OK hand sign. The picture quickly went viral.

Notice that Emma Roller was using the same picture that was promoted in Operation O-K-K-K

Eventually, Fairbanks responded to the tweet with a defamation lawsuit against Roller. Fairbanks lost the lawsuit because she was not able to prove that Roller’s tweet had malicious intent against her. The concluding memorandum opinion of the case was that “Cassandra Fairbanks trolled the web through Twitter, releasing a photo of herself and a fellow journalist in the White House press room making a gesture widely recognized as the “okay” hand symbol but also speculates at the same time to be a “white power symbol.”

Its important to note that while Cassandra Fairbanks considered herself to be a grass roots journalist, she has a history of writing for Russian funded news sites such as Sputnik. Fairbanks accused Roller and other MSM journalists of being a “gatekeepers” for the news.

Ultimately, all of Fairbanks accusations were dismissed in the court of law. However, I think a fair argument can be made regarding these click bait journalists who peddle memes and jokes to create viral news stories. The influence that yellow bellied journalists and gossip bloggers have over our social reality is astonishing.

The execution of “Operation O-K-K-K” is one of 4chans most blatant social engineering campaigns in recent history.What started off as a joke escalated into wide-scale trolling with the sole objective of grooming societal perspective and opinion. I believe it is safe to say that Operation O-K-K-K was a successful mission. It now appears that anyone who flashes the OK hand sign may come under scrutiny for being associated with internet trolling and white nationalism.