While the usage of the ok sign likely began as a LARP hoax, it has since become adopted as a high sign/shibboleth by actual white supremacists and adjacent fringe groups like Boogaloo Boys, similarly to Hawaiian shirts.
That’s the entire point of these types of signaling behaviors - they’re plausibly deniable, innocuous or not obviously offensive or aggressive, and they’re usually inscrutable or indecipherable to the out-group while being effective as signifiers of the in-group.
It just sounds like a conspiracy theory. The right has tons of theories about "elites" using secret hand signals and gestures meaning all kinds of satanic things.
Both are conspiracy theories for the same reasons.
> It has become an extremist meme, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL maintains a "glossary" of every random meme and inside joke from 4chan and claims that they are all somehow connected with Nazis.
The ADL itself is in fact considered a hate organization by many people.
>Under the guise of fighting hate speech, the ADL has a long history of wielding its moral authority to attack Arabs, blacks, and queers.
https://droptheadl.org
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/emmaia-gelman-anti-def...