In a world where social media and engineering has taken political correctness to new and frightening levels, one New Jersey Police department is feeling the heat after a photo surfaced of an officer making a playfully innocuous hand gesture.
Monmouth County Police are under fire after one officer was spotted making the “circle game” hand gesture, causing some netizens to decry the symbol as racist.
MPD Chief Jason D. Gallo meant no ill-intent when he posted a playful photo of his officers, reminding them that his men and women are “specially trained ‘cuddlers’, who can stop by” if one’s heat goes out during the 2018 blizzard.
In the photo, one balaclava-clad constable was subtly playing the circle game, presenting an inverted “okay” hand signal below his waist.
“We try to keep it very cool, very lighthearted,” Gallo said.
However, being the internet, someone was inevitably offended, claiming it was a hand gesture representing white supremacy.
The hand gesture’s more “sinister” connotations have been long disproven, even by the Anti-Defamation League. Unfortunately, logic does not always reign supreme in a society where social media, polarization and emotion-based reasoning have created a perfect storm of political correctness.
Gallo has since had the post taken down, but denied any white supremacy allegations.
“The circle game, that kids play in school,” Gallo told NJ.com. “Someone tried to say it was something racial. It’s just ridiculous.”
Still, the chief lamented how unfortunate it was that Social Justice Warriors decided to take the matter so far.
“Unfortunately something nice turned into us being in the news,” added Gallo. “That’s why a lot of departments are not on social media.”
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