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More Olympic culture warring: Olympic Games official has accreditation revoked for...
Honestly, I can't even complete the headline, it feels too much like giving credence to the delusion. Can you guess? Here's a hint: think 2017.
Yes, that's right. The rest of the headline is "‘white supremacy’ hand gesture."
Dictionary.com has a whole entry on the "circle game" which is mostly not about the circle game, but is about the "OK hand gesture" that in almost no context has ever been a genuine signal of white supremacist beliefs. The Telegraph article asserts without evidence that "its use as a far-Right symbol is apparently on the rise." And from Dictionary.com:
Even the ADL's own expert had this to say about the "OK hand gesture" in 2017:
Of course, the ADL has since changed its tune, because, well, if you're not a part of the solution, there's money to be made prolonging the problem, I guess. I honestly kinda thought this particular meme had run its course when it got misapplied during the Kavanaugh hearings. It got new life when the Christchurch shooter flashed it in 2019, but that was more than 5 years ago, now--an eternity on 4chan. I don't know--did it actually catch on in Europe? Apparently it caught on in Brazil, kinda--
I hadn't heard the Brazil story before now. "The crime of racism" sounds pretty damn Orwellian to me, but I live in the land of the First Amendment... people do things differently in foreign countries. I'm also a little taken aback by the actions of the Brazilian journalist, who did not report a man saying racist things, or a man harassing people, but a man who might have been positioning himself on camera while making a hand signal that has sometimes been associated with having beliefs outside the Overton window. I already hold journalists in pretty low regard, generally, but this Brazilian displayed all the dignity of a classroom snitch, minus any compelling evidence that there was anything to snitch about.
For whatever it's worth, offensive hand gestures are nothing new for the Olympics--not even for these Olympics. But flipping the bird in each case appears to be pretty context-informed. As far as I can tell from the story, the dude maybe playing the circle game and maybe not doing anything especially deliberate at all was booted without hesitation:
I have never been much of a sports fan, but the Olympics in particular really get me conflicted. I've seen some remarkable displays of athleticism; Olympic gymnastics and figure skating are events I have on several occasions watched on purpose and with some interest. But I simply have no good feelings at all for the IOC. They are intellectual property trolls; they have for example attempted to use their trademark to prevent criticism (fortunately they lost that case, but the First Amendment doesn't reach everywhere). Other, specific cases of corruption are pretty well known. I, personally, would never spend any money in direct support of the Olympics, despite my occasional interest over the years.
Though I've little reason to care too much about one subcontractor getting an unceremonious boot for what, to my eyes, looks like playing a silly game he probably didn't even know had been at the center of a culture war flare-up five years ago--I do have reason to care about a slow, global slouch toward Orwellian big brother/little brother behavior. When people talk about "threats to democracy" and "the rise of fascism" I don't see Nazis goose-stepping down main street; I see progressives enforcing ideological conformity through everyday acts of institutional bullshit. This is "cancel culture," writ small.
I only half understand this news item but isn't it saying that he deliberately made this hand gesture while on duty as an olympic official, having manoeuvred himself carefully so that it would be visible on TV? I don't know what he thought he was doing if not clandestinely referring to this meme. If he was just trying to subtly make the 'cool' hand gesture with hand by side while on TV, then that is behaviour that at least needs looking into on the grounds of it being baffling!
It's saying that's how the Brazilian reporter described things. Maybe it's true?
I mean... did you read my post? Assuming everything was as described by the Brazilian, the "circle game" is probably the most obvious explanation to anyone who is not Extremely Online. It was popularized (as noted in my links) by the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, which still streams and airs in several languages around the world.
...really, though? "Someone is engaged in baffling behavior, I'd better report them to the authorities" is usually something progressive reporters get conspicuously concerned about and ask the general public to stop doing. Remember: this guy wasn't saying anything to anyone. He wasn't hurting anyone. He wasn't doing anything overtly aggressive or even, probably, actually against any rules. He was, at worst, making a hand gesture that some people sometimes associate with ideas they don't like. If you think that's the sort of thing that "needs looking into," like... hard disagree, I guess.
I admit I didn't click the circle game link, but having now done so, yeah that makes sense. I still think it is eminently reasonable to look into it though because he's an employee of a broadcast company messing around on camera during a broadcast.
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I don't think it's uncharitable at this point to say progressive reporters are not really concerned about stopping the general public from snitching.
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