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Triple parentheses ortriple brackets, or anecho, often referred to in print as an(((echo))), are anantisemitic symbol that has been used to highlight the names of individuals thought to beJews, and the names of organizations thought to be owned by Jews. This use of the symbol originated from thealt-right-affiliated,neo-Nazi blogThe Right Stuff, whose editors said that the symbol refers to the historic actions of Jews which have caused theirsurnames to "echo throughout history".[1] The triple parentheses have been adopted as an onlinestigma by antisemites, neo-Nazis, browsers of the "Politically Incorrect" board on4chan, andwhite nationalists to identify individuals of Jewish background as targets foronline harassment, such as Jewish political journalists critical ofDonald Trump during his2016 election campaign.[2][3]
Use of the notation was brought to mainstream attention by an article posted byMic in June 2016.[4][5] The reports also ledGoogle to remove abrowser extension meant to automatically place the "echo" notation around Jewish names on web pages, named "Coincidence Detector",[5] and the notation being classified as a form ofhate speech by theAnti-Defamation League.[4] In the wake of these actions, some users, both Jews and non-Jews, have intentionally placed their own names within triple parentheses as an act ofreappropriation orsolidarity.[6]
Prior to its use as an antisemitic label or identifier, (((screen name ))) had been used in online communities such asAOL to indicate that a user was "cyberhugging" the user with the specified screen name.[7]
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The use of the "echo" originated from a 2014 episode ofThe Daily Shoah, apodcast produced by thealt-right, antisemitic, white nationalist blogThe Right Stuff.[8] The podcast includes a segment known as the "Merchant Minute", where Jewish names are spoken with a cartoonish echo effect to single them out.[1] The editors ofThe Right Stuff explained that the use of an echo, represented in text using triple parentheses, was an internalmeme meant to symbolize an opinion that the actions of Jews in the past cause their names to "echo throughout history". From the inside out, each parenthesis represents perceived Jewish involvement inmass media,mass immigration, and globalZionism.[1]
The triple parentheses have since been used onsocial networking services such asTwitter by antisemites, alt-righters,neo-Nazis, andwhite nationalists as a signal to target Jews forharassment.[1] A number of Jewish journalists told the websiteMic that after their names were mentioned in echoes, they began to receive messages fromtrolls containing antisemitic messages,Holocaust photos, and death threats.[1]The Jerusalem Post reported that the triple parentheses had "emerged as a weapon in the arsenal of the so-called 'alt-right', an amorphous, primarily online conservative movement that has been becoming more visible and vocal in the midst ofDonald Trump'spresidential campaign", and that these tactics were increasingly being used to target Jewish journalists posting content that was critical of theRepublican Party candidate.[5] A user who engages in these "dog-piling" actions described the echo notation as being like a "dog whistle".[5][4] Search engines typically ignorepunctuation contained in a query, meaning that it can be difficult to intentionally locate posts containing this notation.[1]
In a June 2016 article detailing the phenomenon, Mic also reported that anextension had been developed for theGoogle Chromeweb browser known as "Coincidence Detector", which automatically places the triple parentheses around the names of individuals who "[have] been involved in certain political movements and media empires". The extension contains a list of 8,771 names, including common Jewish names and surnames, those of media personalities who have been critical of Trump, Trump's son-in-lawJared Kushner, as well as organizations such asBen & Jerry's andKars4Kids.[9][10][11][12]
Theabsurdist Twitter userdril sparked controversy in June 2016 after posting a tweet in which he made satirical use of the triple parentheses.[13] Specifically, dril tweeted: "i refuse to consume any product that has been created by, or is claimed to have been created by, the (((Keebler Elves)))".[14] Journalist Jay Hathaway wrote that most of dril's followers understood the tweet to be an ironic joke exploring the uncertain "etiquette around this very 2016 expression of bigotry ... Can a non-Jew apply the (((echoes))) to his own name[15][16][17] as a show of allyship? Is it OK to use the parentheses in a joke at the white supremacists' expense? There's no clear consensus."[13] Regardless, some far-right users of Twitter saw the tweet as a genuine signal of support for antisemitism, and other users found the tweet to be in poor taste even as a joke.[13]
During theStalinist purges, Jews who were accused of being "rootless cosmopolitans" had their names placed in single parentheses. It is unknown if the modern triple-parentheses practice is derived from the Soviet one or not. However, the epithet "rootless cosmopolitans" has recently been revived in a right-wing populist context in the United States, allegedly as a euphemism for Jews.[18]
On June 3, 2016, following the publishing of the Mic article,Google pulled the Coincidence Detector extension from theChrome Web Store, citing a violation of its policies prohibiting "promotions of hate or incitement of violence". It had been downloaded around 2,500 times before its removal.[11][5] In the wake of Google's removal of the extension, some Twitter users, including Jews and non-Jews, intentionally put triple parentheses around their usernames in an act ofreappropriation orsolidarity.[6] White nationalists, in turn, put inverted echo parentheses—like)))this(((—around their usernames to indicate their non-Jewish heritage.[19] AuthorJeffrey Goldberg fromThe Atlantic said that he hoped that Jews could reclaim the symbolism in the same way as some LGBT people had reclaimed the word "queer".[20] Jonathan Weisman, an editor atThe New York Times, included the triple parentheses in the title of his 2018 book release,(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.[21]
On June 6, 2016, theAnti-Defamation League (ADL) announced that it had placed the triple parentheses in its database of symbols that it considers hate speech.[22] CEOJonathan Greenblatt explained that the symbol was "the online equivalent of tagging a building with anti-Semiticgraffiti or taunting someone verbally", and that the ADL was "working with our partners in the tech industry to investigate this phenomenon more deeply".[22]
Thanks to everyone participating in this act of (((cultural appropriation))). Since the culture in question is Nazi, it's permissible.— (((Goldberg))) (@JeffreyGoldberg) June 3, 2016
Want to raise awareness about anti-Semitism, show solidarity with harassed Jews & mess with the Twitter Nazis? Put ((( ))) around your name.
