https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/the-trump-internet-keeps-making-fake-hate-symbols-and#4ldqpgp
The Trump Internet Keeps Making Fake Hate Symbols, And People Keep Falling For It
The latest: the universal “OK” hand sign, which two pro-Trump writers made at the White House on Friday.
A Feb. 28 thread on 4chan’s /pol/ board, a hub of alt-right trolling and discussion, titled “Operation O-KKK has gained quite a bit of progress,” stated, “Our goal is to convince people on twitter that the ‘ok’ hand sign has been co-opted by neo-nazis.” A thread on the same board from Saturday titled “We successfully false flagged,” with an image of The Independent’s story, reads: “HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH THESE F*CKING RETARDS FALL FOR IT EVERY TIME.”
“There was a troll meme going around saying that it meant white power,” Fairbanks told BuzzFeed News. “But it was a joke because Trump supporters are always being called Nazis even when it isn’t true.”
Cernovich, meanwhile, told BuzzFeed News that the “OK” sign began as a reference to another popular internet conspiracy theory. “Jay Z would do it... illuminati,” Cernovich said, referencing a conspiracy theory that grew partially around a hand gesture oft-used by Jay Z. “So we f*cked around and started doing it and it just became this huge thing.”
This pattern — which has also included attempts by /pol/ and similar internet communities to turn milk (the dairy cow-produced beverage) and a cartoon dove made popular on Thai Facebook into white power symbols — most likely started with Pepe, the notorious cartoon frog. A kind of mascot for the meme-savvy Trump internet, Pepe was designated a hate symbol by the ADL in September, and the Clinton campaign subsequently added a Pepe “explainer” to its website. The move angered Pepe’s creator, the comic book artist Matt Furie, who told PRI at the time “its swift inclusion into the database is an attempt to add legitimacy to Hillary Clinton’s false claim that Pepe’s image is ‘almost entirely co-opted by the white supremacists.’”
Rep. Jackie Speier Reads 'I Am Jazz' on House Floor: ‘I Have a Girl Brain But a Boy Body’
EXCERPT...
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Jackie Speier (D.-Calif.) went to the House floor on February 28 and along with her colleague Rep. Angie Craig (D.-Minn.) read to her colleagues from a book titled “I Am Jazz.”
“It’ is a book about a transsexual young boy who becomes a young girl,” Speier explained at the beginning of her speech.
“I am Jazz,” Speier said from the podium at the front of the House chamber.
“For as long as I can remember, my favorite color has been pink,” she said, reading from the manuscript. “My second-favorite color is silver and my third favorite color is green.
“Here are some of my other favorite things: dancing, singing, back flips, drawing, soccer, swimming, makeup, and pretending I'm a pop star,” Speier continued.
“Most of all, I love mermaids. Sometimes I even wear a mermaid tail in the pool,” Speier said reading from the text.
“My best friends are Samantha and Casey. We always have fun together. We like high heels and princess gowns, or cartwheels and trampolines,” she said.
“But I am not exactly like Samantha and Casey,” Speier said, reading from the text.
“I have a girl brain but a boy body. This is called transgender. I was born this way,” she said.