Ya learn somethin' stupid every day.

I recently discovered the "OK" hand gesture, which we were using as the first iteration of our icon, meant to represent The Circle Game we played in Jr. High School, has been usurped by known hate mongers and is now included in the ADL’s “Hate on Display” database, albeit with serious caveats.

This NPR article from September 2019 (we started CircleDumb in early 2020) sheds a bit more light on the issue at hand–if you’ll forgive a little pun. It turns out there is a lot written on the subject that a quick Google search will reveal. It’s an interesting story that–in my view–warrants a discussion about semiotics, free speech, censorship, and viewpoint diversity. 

How is it that we can be so confused by the post-structuralist notion that “nothing means anything” while at the same time insisting that what they–whoever “they” are–must certainly be using the “OK” hand gesture as an Alt-Right Neo-Nazi Bird-Call… Or Dog-Whistle, or what the fuck ever?

That said, we are not interested in being associated with any such group or individuals explicitly or implicitly, so it was better to simply update the logo than to argue for my right to, well… steal the graphic that I used (more on the topic of appropriation later). Actually, it’s quite embarrassing once you hear the whole story, which I plan to write someday. 

Until then,
Larry