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Chinese never cared, 88 is "double prosperity" to us chinese and it will never change. Western gatekeeping is annoying as heck.
I will continue to see and use 88 at weddings and assume wealth and fortune. If I'm in a room with white guys and guns I'll see 88 as dangerous.
That's fine. In the US, it's a dog whistle for Nazis. It's not gatekeeping when it is simply factual. There's a giant facility off the highway here in Nebraska called "Tactical 88" (with a logo that's quite literally based on a nazi symbol: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsadler) that is 100% a nazi training facility. They even have a giant billboard that says "free AR-15 for signing up".
Fascists love to use it all over the place. So here, in this context, it has a very specific meaning. And when we are dealing with a fascist takeover of our goddamn country, we have every fucking right to tell Nazis using nazi dog whistles to fuck off.
Chinese folks live in the US too. There's a popular Asian-american music label called 88 rising.
Right, everything is somehow going to offend someone. Honestly. I had no idea of 88 being offensive until a few years ago, and it was on Reddit/Lemmy echo chambers; I have never heard or seen 88 being used intentionally offensively IRL; I have never been made aware of it, anyway.
Yes, I've used 88. I was born in 88.
I think in Greek culture it's offensive to "show your palms"/an open hand, they treat it like a middle finger. Americans accidentally do that all the time.
I want to say maybe 8 years ago now they tried to sound the alarm about the OK symbol (👌) being a dogwhistle for "White Power", and they listed off a number of weak examples. And I think everyone collectively said shut the fuck up, nobody cares, the OK symbol is used everywhere & the great majority of people don't use it to express "White Power". How ridiculous.
Don't ask for permission to do painfully basic things. They'll take everything from you, they'll take your 88s, your OK symbols, and idk anything else they feel like being offended about. I hear Nazis breathe oxygen & drink water. Damn, guess we need to stop that, too. Or maybe, just maybe...just don't be a Nazi & live your life. ¯\(°_o)/¯
88 is not offensive. It's a nazi dogwhistle. There's a big difference.
I also assure you that Americans don't do the Greek "mountza" all the time.
It's not gate keeping if it's symbolic as hate to people here. That's neat for you, assuming you're really chinese. But the sincerity and severity of 88 as a symbol of hate, has to be taken as that's the most likely, as it's far more dangerous to dismiss hate as potentially innocent, than the opposite. And I suspect that you're not arguing this point at face value.
If it's a hate symbol there, then keep it there. More often than not american treat the internet as "theirs", then judge everyone like an american. The comment on the pic did not differentiate anything, so i might as well judge it as is.
assuming you're really chinese
as it's far more dangerous to dismiss hate as potentially innocent, than the opposite.
Even you're doing exactly that, assuming everyone is american/westerner unless proven otherwise.
That's fair to a point, but since "our" "values" have spread so thoroughly in the internet, since this was where the boom came from. Racist Americans took to the internet very early to spread hate and symbolism.
As an American, I admit ignorance that 88 was a special number in Chinese. However, you have to understand that I would have to actively seek out that information to know it before you said that. Which is awesome and why were all here, right? That said, our culture is so prevalent on the internet and otherwise that I suspect you did know that 88 was a number for Nazis. I mean, the fact that you know English and I don't know Chinese is part of a testament to that, well that and our failing educational system.
I do appreciate you teaching me about another culture.
I appreciate your civility in this discussion, i'm just annoyed that it's what it is. Same for the use of swastika by asian culture. Fuck nazi though.
Always fuck Nazis and whatever other names they try to hide behind.
Yeah it's a shame that "it is what it is" is the answer at the moment. We'd all rather it be different and hope that soon, it will be. But we've got a lot of work to do on our end.