[dragonwriter]

> Adams was looking at a poll that said 47% of black people disagreed with the statement "It’s okay to be white.".

The thing about Black culture in America is that it is a product of very strong selective pressures to be aware of messages that carry meanings beyond what is on the surface, and, well, that one has a history:

https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/4chan-another-trolling-ca...

[roenxi]

If the black community is going to be persuaded by 4chan that "it is ok to be white" is a racist message that just suggests a mis-step by the leadership in the black community. The longer they tilt at the windmill the more silly they'll look.

If somehow that poll is picking up a real opinion then Adams has a point. That sort of racism has no place in modern society, it is acceptable to have any skin colour. And it is acceptable to assert that any skin colour is ok to have.

Which, coincidentally, is exactly the debate dynamic that Adams was likely trying to set up. The slogan is just too inoffensive and reasonable to complain about. The people trying to get worked up about it are just going to look bad.

[dragonwriter]

> If the black community is going to be persuaded by 4chan that "it is ok to be white" is a racist message that just suggests a mis-step by the leadership in

If you read the link, you would know that it was white supremacist phrase before the 4chan thing that saw a massive upswing in actual white supremacist use not following the isolated use of the supposed bait effort during and since the 4chan thing.

Whether the trolling effort was ignorant of and accidentally tapping into and energizing the preexisting racist usage or a knowing effort to leverage and provide cover for it is something that we’ll probably never know, but what we know for sure is that it is not the origin.

[roenxi]

If the white supremacists are advocating agreeable and common sense positions then well done to them. They've successfully made a good point. If they claim that the sky is blue or water is wet they will be on similarly safe ground.

Being a white supremacist doesn't mean they are automatically wrong about everything. In this case reality and slogan have, by happy chance, coincided.

> “The point of IOTBW,” explained one Twitter user, “is to bait shitlibs into showing their ass to normies. The beauty is in the simplicity.”

I think the Twitter user in the article has a more accurate position on this. If the black community were fooled by this into thinking that there is something wrong with the slogan, that is on them. I still don't believe they were, it is more likely that the poll was inaccurate.