This is the real reason why you keep seeing people putting brackets around their Twitter names
They're making an important point
Anyone floating around the feeds of Twitter of late may have come across users surrounding their names with a series of three brackets.
Why? Well in short, because of anti-Semitism.
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
In the past month, various neo-Nazis, white supremacists and members of the deeply unpleasant 'alt-right' movement that's currently lending its voice to support the Donald Trump campaign, have been placing three sets of brackets around Jewish people’s surnames on Twitter.
The subtle marking allowed individuals to pick out Jewish members of the Twitter community, using a Google Chrome plugin called 'Coincidence Detector' (since removed by Google) that allowed users to search Twitter for names with the triple brackets.
When individuals such as New York Times’ deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman drew attention to the hateful activity, it spurred others to raise awareness to the harassment. By bracketing their own name in a similar way, users are able to show solidarity with Jewish Twitter users, ruining the system the alt-right had been using.
And so, Twitter members have used the neo-Nazi's own tool against them, befuddling them as to who they should vent their twisted anger toward.
Well done, Twitter users. If want to lend your voice to the cause and show some solidarity, you can add brackets to your Twitter name by clicking 'Edit Profile' from your Twitter settings.
