Infestation 88 developer, Nightmare Forge Games, have responded to claims that the ‘88’ in the game’s title refers to the Neo-Nazi salute.
It really is annoying how many alt right dog whistles there are
It seems like every time the alt-right and neo-Nazis make something a new dog whistle (remember the “ok” sign thing that started on 4chan?) the left is just like “oh fuck, I guess we better stop using that now.”
I’m not sure there’s a better option. It’s not like it’s a good idea to just go on flashing “ok” signs and pretending it hasn’t been coopted by fascists, but it seems shitty and frustrating to just cede ground like that every time the alt right is just like “this is ours now.”
Come to think of it, I named a project at my workplace “IG-88” a while back and didn’t think about the Nazi connection until the name was already in common use. (With that name, the project in question even had a badass theme song.)
There’s some pretty obscure ones to that came and went in a hurry like a glass of milk.
I feel like some have also been claimed for general use. I don’t really associate Pepe memes with the alt right anymore
In my opinion the better option is to ditch the concept of dogwhistle. We [people in general] should look at what a symbol (including words, gestures, etc.) conveys within a certain context, we shouldn’t be picking individual symbols and assuming the discourse (what is being said) based on them.
For example, the 88 in the title of the game should be associated with the rest of the game. Because depending on the rest of the game it might convey only “1988”, or it might convey “heil Hitler”.
Well sure, but people use dog whistles so it’s important to recognize them. Context can be important but sometimes it’s subtle, that’s why they’re called dog whistles.
It’s not like it’s a good idea to just go on flashing “ok” signs and pretending it hasn’t been coopted by facists
Why not? Symbols only have meaning given context. In Germany, a swastika is a symbol of hate, whereas in India it’s a symbol of prosperity and good luck. It’s usually not hard to differentiate them, so there’s no real reason to avoid a symbol just because some idiots have decided to use it to mean something else.
On the flip side, there’s a fantastic reason to keep using them: the best way to beat a troll/bully is to ignore them. Don’t give them the emotional response they’re looking for and you remove all rewards for their behavior.
So if the alt-right coopt a symbol, use it more. Don’t let them impact you or they’ll keep doing it.
So does that mean you would have preferred that Infestation hadn’t changed its name?
The “ok” sign thing pissed me off. I had learned from a very young age that it was sign language for “ok” (it combines the signs for the letters) and when I went to swim class, my mom would watch and when I’d look over to her she would sign that to me that everything was ok, and sign “I love you” (🤟 — not to be confused with 🤘ROCKANDROLL🤘) to me as well. For the record, no one in our family is deaf, we just learned some basic sign language because communication is cool.
Then keep using it as the ok sign.
If they coopted the peace sign or the “I love you” sign, would you stop using them too? Stop giving in to their trolling. I feel like being so sensitive to Nazis gives them way more relevance than they deserve.
I’m not saying we should ignore Nazis in general, just… don’t let them control our culture.
Honestly, a lot of it was just some random twitter user trying to start shit. The drinking milk thing was one of those.
That’s the thing is it always seems like it’s just one of these shitheads but soon enough it always becomes more, that’s why they push this stuff, and why they hope for reactions like yours.
It goes back to the 60’s and 70’s, the dawn of Punk music, back before Skinheads were inherently Nazi they were black and white people in London fighting for worker solidarity, then the Nazis took it over and it became a thing inherently Nazi.
So this corruption of things is what they do to grow and to maintain a general ignorance about them.
It’s because they purposely co-opt things in order to spread their message and find new recruits, they’re societal human cancer.
This isn’t “the ‘OK’ hand gesture is used by nazis”
This is shit like a game about gassing rodents to death, lots of “14 88” references, references to german WW2 military technology, etc.
I guess you’re not getting this.
The Ok hand gesture, Pepe the frog, Yes Chad, GigaChad, Wojak, these are all things that the neo-nazis online utilize to get the conversation about them going, this is stuff that they take purposely to get guys like you to say “but this isn’t the ok hand gesture is used by the Nazis” because they want that cover, they want that doubt, they want that degree of dismissal of the person pointing out that this or that is nazi shit, and they also want the person who has it pointed out to them to feel like the claimant is just being silly, hyperbolic, and seeing Nazis everywhere, this is their goal and their purpose, not only to recruit and become bigger, but also to seem like there are more of them than there are.
My point is it’s all the same shit, 1488 or just 88 isn’t old nazi shit, that was a post-war Hitler humper invention, so even you’re conflating the topic out of confusion.
Here’s some good references and write ups about this stuff, because educating yourself on what is or isn’t nazi shit will help prevent you from falling for their bullshit:
https://www.isdglobal.org/explainers/memes-the-extreme-right-wing/
https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/ADL Hate on Display Printable_0.pdf
Yeah I remember working with people who didn’t even feel comfortable using the “ok hand” emoji because of associations with white supremacy (back when the hand sign was in the news again). Obviously white supremacy is a lot worse than that kind of minor chilling effect, but yeah, they just smear a little of their leaky shit everywhere so that people who actually care about their fellow humans have to expend extra energy vetting their own messages for dog whistles and double meanings.
