Racist kids at camp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My eight year old flashed this sign in a picture! I was shocked. He doesn't spend time online, so the only thing I could think of is that he picked it up from another kid, who picked it up online or from a sibling. To him, all he knew is that it was something funny/different/cool to do in a picture.

Even if this 12 year old did it on purpose, he's likely just doing it to be a jerk, not because he's a nazi or even racist. He may not even know what it means, just that it's transgressive.

Mine too! When I questioned him he said it waz the circle game. When I told him people use it to mean something else and told him what, he was very upset and insisted I was wrong because kids at recess were doing it and its fhe circle game. When adults do it, I assume they know better. With kids, give the benefit of doubt.

Truth. I started to try to explain it to my 8 year old, but then I stopped, because the explanation made so little sense that I was worried that it would just hurt my ability to have good conversations with him about actual race/gender/religious discrimination issues, and actual racial slurs like the n-word. I just left it as "you could get in trouble if you do that in a picture, and it hurts some people's feelings." Would be easier to explain to a teen. 12 seems like on the border.

You need to do some more reading and research on how to talk with your kids about racism and hate. I have had productive conversations with my just-the dd 6 and 8 year olds and they know that there are words, symbols and gestures that they should never use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My eight year old flashed this sign in a picture! I was shocked. He doesn't spend time online, so the only thing I could think of is that he picked it up from another kid, who picked it up online or from a sibling. To him, all he knew is that it was something funny/different/cool to do in a picture.

Even if this 12 year old did it on purpose, he's likely just doing it to be a jerk, not because he's a nazi or even racist. He may not even know what it means, just that it's transgressive.

Mine too! When I questioned him he said it waz the circle game. When I told him people use it to mean something else and told him what, he was very upset and insisted I was wrong because kids at recess were doing it and its fhe circle game. When adults do it, I assume they know better. With kids, give the benefit of doubt.

Truth. I started to try to explain it to my 8 year old, but then I stopped, because the explanation made so little sense that I was worried that it would just hurt my ability to have good conversations with him about actual race/gender/religious discrimination issues, and actual racial slurs like the n-word. I just left it as "you could get in trouble if you do that in a picture, and it hurts some people's feelings." Would be easier to explain to a teen. 12 seems like on the border.

You need to do some more reading and research on how to talk with your kids about racism and hate. I have had productive conversations with my just-the dd 6 and 8 year olds and they know that there are words, symbols and gestures that they should never use.

I have done tons of research, thanks. Precisely because I care a LOT about it is why I dropped the conversation about the ok symbol. If I heard him say the n-word, different story. The ok-symbol thing was make up specifically to put us all in a tizzy. The less attention paid to it, the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about the circle game?

What is the circle game?

Context is everything. I wouldn’t jump so quickly to the racism assumption.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_gesture

Pro tip: stop assuming the worst about others.

But things evolve and nobody plays that game anymore.

Just like the word gay doesn’t mean happy anymore.

Racist apologists everywhere.

No, things didn't evolve. Things were socially engineered by 4-chan to make us all look ridiculous. The more it's ignored and goes into the dustbin of history, the better.

[Anonymous]

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/764728163/the-ok-hand-gesture-is-now-listed-as-a-symbol-of-hate

[Anonymous]

So sad to me that you would all rather call OP a liar or her kid a liar instead of realizing there is a huge problem with racism in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sad to me that you would all rather call OP a liar or her kid a liar instead of realizing there is a huge problem with racism in this country.

But neither the circle game nor the ok sign is racism or a huge problem.

Did you know that some of the most universally understood words, everywhere all over the world, includes Coca-Cola, dollar, and ok? It is one of the greatest contributions to world communication that we've ever made.

[Anonymous]

But the symbol of making a circle with the thumb and forefinger with the other 3 fingers extended has taken on a new meaning that IS racist, no one is saying that the word/phrase ok is racist or problematic. Instead of showing that sign people can do a thumbs up. (And yes I am aware that this is considered a rude signal in some cultures, I’m speaking of American culture now because that is where I assume op is from and where this camp is.)

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of the OK symbol being a hate sign.

I use it all the time for texts. Shouldn’t it be a banned emoji then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of the OK symbol being a hate sign.

I use it all the time for texts. Shouldn’t it be a banned emoji then?

There have been several articles shared above that can help answer that. I don’t know what kind of phone you have but on my iPhone the emoji doesn’t show more than one finger visible pointing up, so I don’t see how you could “see” the “W” part of it, plus it is backwards for the effect of that symbol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But the symbol of making a circle with the thumb and forefinger with the other 3 fingers extended has taken on a new meaning that IS racist, no one is saying that the word/phrase ok is racist or problematic. Instead of showing that sign people can do a thumbs up. (And yes I am aware that this is considered a rude signal in some cultures, I’m speaking of American culture now because that is where I assume op is from and where this camp is.)

No, it hasn’t. It’s trolling and the sooner we ignore it the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about the circle game?

What is the circle game?

Context is everything. I wouldn’t jump so quickly to the racism assumption.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_gesture

Pro tip: stop assuming the worst about others.

But things evolve and nobody plays that game anymore.

Just like the word gay doesn’t mean happy anymore.

Racist apologists everywhere.

It isn’t racist apologizing to challenge the notion that a child is such a racist so as to be flashing this very cynical sign. Get an effing grip.

[Anonymous]

I can't remember the last time I did that sign, or why, but I do know that I had absolutely no idea why or even that the OK sign was offensive (had to google what you were talking about) and I really don't think you should judge to assume things. Frankly, if I was in a restaurant and had to indicate across the room that everything was fine, it would probably be a random toss whether I'd pick the thumbs up or the OK sign. I had no idea there was a difference between the two.

I'm so sick of people being offended constantly by looking for things that sometimes just aren't there.

I also had to look what you meant about the circle game (I don't watch that show). It sounds dumb but kids are dumb so I'm not sure what you expect. They aren't killing anyone which is more than we can say for some kids these days so I really don't think that's a hill to die on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about the circle game?

What is the circle game?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But the symbol of making a circle with the thumb and forefinger with the other 3 fingers extended has taken on a new meaning that IS racist, no one is saying that the word/phrase ok is racist or problematic. Instead of showing that sign people can do a thumbs up. (And yes I am aware that this is considered a rude signal in some cultures, I’m speaking of American culture now because that is where I assume op is from and where this camp is.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about the circle game?

What is the circle game?

Context is everything. I wouldn’t jump so quickly to the racism assumption.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_gesture

Pro tip: stop assuming the worst about others.

But things evolve and nobody plays that game anymore.

Just like the word gay doesn’t mean happy anymore.

Racist apologists everywhere.

It isn’t racist apologizing to challenge the notion that a child is such a racist so as to be flashing this very cynical sign. Get an effing grip.

He said he was making a racist sign.