It's Okay to Be White

[[File:It's OK to be white.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Disfiguring a utility pole]]
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'''It's Okay to Be White''' was a poster campaign spearheaded by [[4chan]]'s [[/pol/]] and other [[far-right]] groups, such as ''[[The Daily Stormer]]'', in October 2017.<ref name=manipulation>{{cite web|url=https://mediamanipulation.org/case-studies/viral-slogan-its-ok-be-white|title= Viral Slogan: “It’s OK To Be White”|last=Friedberg|first=Brian|last2=Donovan|first2=Joan|publisher=The Media Manipulation Casebook|date=11 August 2020|accessdate=26 February 2023}}</ref> This campaign counters the context of the [[straw man|perceived]] "[[reverse racism]]" and society trying to make a privileged majority "guilty", and it consoles the privileged majority: "it's okay to be white." By use of this [[loaded language]], the campaign [[Morton's fork|attempted to force critics]] to [[False dilemma|either]] accept the posters' message (despite being pushed by far-right white supremacist groups) or to say that "it's not okay to be white" (an obviously absurd and [[Bigotry|bigoted]] statement). The campaign has expected the posters to be taken down so "normies" [[Wake up|can realize]] how [[Hostile media effect|the media hate white people]] and therefore try to recruit them to the white supremacist cause.<ref>Ross, J. (November 3, 2017). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/11/03/its-okay-to-be-white-signs-and-stickers-appear-on-campuses-and-streets-across-the-country/ ‘It’s okay to be white’ signs and stickers appear on campuses and streets across the country]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved November 17, 2017.</ref>

In October 2018, the phrase became notorious in [[Australia]], where [[Pauline Hanson]] proposed a motion that the Senate acknowledge the "deplorable rise of [[Reverse racism|anti-white racism]] and attacks on Western civilisation" and "that it is okay to be white". The motion was narrowly defeated,<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|title=Pauline Hanson’s ‘It’s OK to be white’ motion narrowly defeated in Senate – video|last=Hanson|first=Pauline|date=16 October 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2018/oct/16/pauline-hansons-its-ok-to-be-white-motion-narrowly-defeated-in-senate-video}}</ref> although it did receive the support of the deceptively-named [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/divisions/senate/2018-10-15/3|work=TheyVoteForYou.org.au|title=Motions - Australian Society - It's OK to be white|date=15 October 2018}}</ref>

==Origins==
On November 3rd 2017, Andrew Anglin of ''[[The Daily Stormer]],'' a [[neo-Nazi]] and [[white supremacist]] [[webshite]], wrote:

{{quotebox|Please, print off some of these papers on a printer and go post them around.

We need these everywhere.

All you do is: print "it's okay to be white" on a piece of paper and post it up.

You can even hand write it with a marker.

Let’s make this a phenomenon that is scene{{sic}} everywhere – an IRL viral meme.

This can go on for infinity. These [[Antisemitism|kikes]] will keep saying that [[strawman|if you think it is okay to be white, you are evil]]. They will be screaming that as they get shoved into cattle cars.|||<ref>[https://archive.is/ICFot It's Okay to be White] by Andrew Anglin (November 3, 2017) ''The Daily Stormer'' (archived from 16 Nov 2017 03:34:32 UTC).</ref>}}

Note that Anglin is promoting that it is "okay to be white" while simultaneously endorsing {{wpl|Holocaust trains}} for Jews, of whom many ''are'' white — 92% of United States Jews in 2020, for instance.<ref>[https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/race-ethnicity-heritage-and-immigration-among-u-s-jews/ "Race, ethnicity, heritage and immigration among U.S. Jews"], Pew Research Center, Jewish Americans in 2020, 2021 May 11</ref> It should be pretty clear that this troll campaign was disingenuous from the start.

==Responses==
In November 2017, posters saying "It's Okay to Be White" were found at Montgomery Blair High School in suburban [[Maryland]]. The school, knowing the real passive-aggressive motive behind the campaign, took down the posters before class began. The school officials cited it as a "part of a concerted national campaign to foment racial and political tension in our school and community". Rightfully so, given the white supremacist background of the campaign.<ref>''NBC Washington''. (Nov 2, 2017). [https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Its-Okay-to-Be-White-Flyers-Found-Outside-Montgomery-Blair-High-School-454702403.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DCBrand 'It's Okay to Be White' Flyers Found Outside Montgomery Blair High School]. Retrieved November 16, 2017.</ref> ''The Daily Stormer'' and friends predictably characterized this move as a "man-hunt". Posters frequently argued that if the poster said "it's okay to be black", there wouldn't be a controversy — perhaps forgetting their [[Black Lives Matter#All Lives Matter|response]] to "[[Black Lives Matter]]". They also expressed outrage that somehow saying "it's okay to be white" is unacceptable, which plays right into the strategy of this campaign.

The Concordia College took down one of the signs, citing that the posters violated the campus display policies.<ref>Harlow, T. (November 4, 2017). [http://www.startribune.com/it-s-okay-to-be-white-posters-appear-at-moorhead-s-concordia-college/454977133/ Moorhead's Concordia College takes down 'It's OK to Be White' posters]. ''StarTribune''. Retrieved November 17, 2017.</ref> The school president Willaim Craft posted a response, which sounds very similar to responses to the frequent complaints Black Lives Matter receives:

{{quotebox|There is and must be a place here for people of different ethnicities and skin colors, of different faith traditions or no faith traditions, of different nations, of different gender identities, of different political convictions,” he wrote. “In that sense, it is indeed OK to be white — and to be black, to be brown, to be Christian, to be Muslim, to be straight, to be gay, to be conservative, to be liberal, and so on. We are stronger for this diversity of identities.}}

Craft also cites another problem with the poster, that they do not identify the group behind the message, thus not allowing for more honest and open debates. The alt-right created this campaign not for open debate, but to provoke an emotional reaction and backlash against anti-racism.

==Redux 2019: "Islam is Right About Women"==
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A similar poster campaign was conducted in September 2019 with the slogan "Islam is Right About Women". Posters hoisted on lampposts and telephone poles in Winchester, Massachusetts, received coverage in particular.<ref>https://www.boston25news.com/news/-islam-is-right-about-women-odd-signs-spark-confusion-in-local-town/987837653/</ref>

==Taking down Dilbert==
In February 2023, cartoonist [[Scott Adams]] of newspaper comic ''Dilbert'' encountered controversy after telling white people to "get the hell away" from black people, who he called a "hate group", based on a Rasmussen Reports poll finding that 53 percent of black respondents agreed with the phrase "it's okay to be white".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/dilbert-cartoonist-scott-adams-tells-white-people-to-get-the-fuck-away-from-black-people|title=Fully Unhinged ‘Dilbert’ Guy Tells White People to ‘Get the Fuck Away’ From Black People|last=Baragona|first=Justin|work=The Daily Beast|date=23 February 2023|accessdate=26 February 2023}}</ref> Rasmussen has been criticized for [[push poll|push polling]] with questions "almost certainly calculated to demonstrate public support for the conservative position."<reF>{{cite web|last=Chait|first=Jonathan|title=The Rasmussen problem|work=The New Republic|date=25 May 2010|url=http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/75161/the-rasmussen-problem|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731004315/http://www.tnr.com:80/blog/jonathan-chait/75161/the-rasmussen-problem|archivedate=31 July 2012|url-status=dead|accessdate=26 February 2023}}</reF> Following public criticism of Adams's remarks, hundreds of newspapers stopped carrying ''Dilbert'', including those in major markets such as ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and ''The Plain Dealer'' in Cleveland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/25/business/dilbert-comic-strip-racist-tirade/index.html|title= Hundreds of newspapers drop ‘Dilbert’ comic strip after racist tirade from creator Scott Adams|publisher=CNN|last=Darcy|first=Oliver|date=26 February 2023|accessdate=26 February 2023}}</reF>

==See also==
*[[Alt-right glossary]]
*[[Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white]]
*[[Loaded question]], which relies on a similar deceptive conundrum
*[[Paul Nehlen]] uses the slogan quite often, including a variant called "It's Okay to be Nehlen"
*[[Persecution complex]]
*[[Reverse racism]]
*[[White genocide]]
*[[White guilt]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}
[[Category:4chan]]
[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Deceit]]
[[Category:Hoaxes]]
[[Category:Memes]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Right-wing troll campaigns]]
[[Category:Reverse discrimination]]
[[Category:White supremacy]]

Categories: 4chan, Alt-right, Deceit, Hoaxes, Memes, Propaganda, Racism, Right-wing troll campaigns, Reverse discrimination, White supremacy