The narrative is that Pepe is associated with racism

[Kazukian]

Ban all cartoons...

 

[Jaskalas]

You mean... all we had to do was mark Hillary logos with Nazi symbols and you would have called for her to be banished?
If you're going to let detractors define the meaning of something... why stop at this pepe frog thing?

 

[Exophase]

I was wondering the same thing. I'd seen Pepe used plenty of times on forums but never as some kind of racist symbol. I thought to myself, it must be because like most people on the internet I'm not spending my time on /pol/. Then one day I actually did look at /pol/ to find all the racist Pepes and I actually had to look really hard to find any.

As far as I can tell this is what happened:

1) Some Jewish journalists got tweeted anti-Semitic Pepes by some asshole trolls, and having no experience socializing on the internet they started asking what this thing was.
2) A couple other trolls took this as an opportunity to feed the ignorant and lazy media an obviously false story about how they're Nazis who "appropriated" Pepe from the "normies." They also said Taylor Swift is their Aryan goddess.
3) Like with many public figures, a Pepe was made of Donald Trump and started becoming popular
4) Trump, probably knowing about as little about Pepe as most other people, retweeted the meme
5) The media (starting with The Daily Beast) cobbled these two things together to prove once and for all that Trump is literally Hitler
6) Hillary's campaign eventually latched onto this and escalated it even further.
7) One of the trolls who came up with this story, some teenager who is at this point pretty shaken, admitted that the whole thing was just a prank to see how far the gullible media would report on a narrative that was convenient to them (without actually fact checking it). But since this was reported by low-down right wing site the rest of the media didn't acknowledge it and kept reporting on racist Pepe. As did the ADL.

In other words, most of the media is garbage as usual and the internet arm of modern campaigns are even worse. They use the flimsiest pretenses to come up with these almost completely fabricated wild narratives then just keep spinning them further and further as all of them recycle each others articles instead of doing much in the way of actual investigation. It was the media who did far more to appropriate and tarnish Pepe than either the trolls or the actual white supremacists.

 

[alcoholbob]

Triggered?

Little odd coming from a Canadian Anti-Islamophobia activist with a woman's screen name aint it? Lmao. Stay in your safe space. But I suspect it won't be a safe space for long, as once your goal of turning Canada into a Islamic theocracy the new natives will have different opinions about your orientation.

 

[Victorian Gray]

Little odd coming from a Canadian Anti-Islamophobia activist with a woman's screen name aint it? Lmao. Stay in your safe space. But I suspect it won't be a safe space for long, as once your goal of turning Canada into a Islamic theocracy the new natives will have different opinions about your orientation.

Yep, definitely triggered. Too bad, so sad.

 

[OutHouse]

WTF is a PEPE?

 

[LegendKiller]

WTF is a PEPE?

Think of something completely innocuous. Then let 99% of the population use it in an innocuous fashion. Let 1% use it in a nefarious manner. Instead of smearing those who misuse it, smear the innocuous object. Why would you do that? Because those who use the innocuous object in an innocuous way are a group you want to politically marginalize for the purposes of "winning".

 

[Zaap]

WTF is a PEPE?

That's what I was wondering.

 

[Victorian Gray]

Think of something completely innocuous. Then let 99% of the population use it in an innocuous fashion. Let 1% use it in a nefarious manner. Instead of smearing those who misuse it, smear the innocuous object. Why would you do that? Because those who use the innocuous object in an innocuous way are a group you want to politically marginalize for the purposes of "winning".

Marginalize this.

EDIT: btw, the above done by the original creator of the character.

 

[jman19]

That's what I was wondering.

4chan idiocy is what it is

 

[leper84]

A cartoon frog makes all Republicans racist.

Just like Doom makes kids shoot up schools, and Ozzy & Metallica make kids kill themselves.

This is the kind of logic and attitude that won Trump the Presidency. Don't see the sense in doubling down on it.

 

[Kazukian]

IIRC, some of the folks at ADL are big time Hillary supporters, that likely factored into their proclamation.

 

[Victorian Gray]

IIRC, some of the folks at ADL are big time Hillary supporters, that likely factored into their proclamation.

"Everybody Limbo!"
"How low can you go?"

 

[Kazukian]

Here it is, Greenblatt, former Clinton White House staff, current director of the ADL

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Greenblatt

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/author/jonathan-greenblatt

 

[Exophase]

4chan idiocy is what it is

It was the most popularly used image on Tumblr in 2015. Tumblr is like the anti-4chan. It may have gained popularity on 4chan but like a lot of other popular memes that started there it belongs to the whole internet now (and has for years). It's also totally harmless.

The idea that some fringe group even can appropriate something like and turn it into something hateful is insane.

 

[agent00f]

Because liberals decry bigotry when you apply the actions of the few against the many, but then will do it to white people all day.

Add to that situations like the ADL when they are willing to toss around anti-semitism when it doesn't fit their narrative. Such as them calling Bannon an anti-semite, yet couldn't provide a single example and retracted.

Or how about calling Sessions a racist when, in fact, he personally led the effort to dismantle the KKK in Alabama, executed the KKK leader, desegregated, championed inner cities. To the point that Elijah Cummings will hold his hand. I guess Cummings is okay with racists...err...

http://americanlookout.com/jpb-media-slandering-jeff-sessions-as-racist/

Sessions literally lost his SC bid due to involvement in racial incidents. Though I can see why the white nationalists will say anything to get one of their own into power.

 

[agent00f]

Ban all cartoons...

There are theme parks and corporations around this guy:

I was wondering the same thing. I'd seen Pepe used plenty of times on forums but never as some kind of racist symbol. I thought to myself, it must be because like most people on the internet I'm not spending my time on /pol/. Then one day I actually did look at /pol/ to find all the racist Pepes and I actually had to look really hard to find any.

As far as I can tell this is what happened:

1) Some Jewish journalists got tweeted anti-Semitic Pepes by some asshole trolls, and having no experience socializing on the internet they started asking what this thing was.
2) A couple other trolls took this as an opportunity to feed the ignorant and lazy media an obviously false story about how they're Nazis who "appropriated" Pepe from the "normies." They also said Taylor Swift is their Aryan goddess.
3) Like with many public figures, a Pepe was made of Donald Trump and started becoming popular
4) Trump, probably knowing about as little about Pepe as most other people, retweeted the meme
5) The media (starting with The Daily Beast) cobbled these two things together to prove once and for all that Trump is literally Hitler
6) Hillary's campaign eventually latched onto this and escalated it even further.
7) One of the trolls who came up with this story, some teenager who is at this point pretty shaken, admitted that the whole thing was just a prank to see how far the gullible media would report on a narrative that was convenient to them (without actually fact checking it). But since this was reported by low-down right wing site the rest of the media didn't acknowledge it and kept reporting on racist Pepe. As did the ADL.

In other words, most of the media is garbage as usual and the internet arm of modern campaigns are even worse. They use the flimsiest pretenses to come up with these almost completely fabricated wild narratives then just keep spinning them further and further as all of them recycle each others articles instead of doing much in the way of actual investigation. It was the media who did far more to appropriate and tarnish Pepe than either the trolls or the actual white supremacists.

A cartoon frog makes all Republicans racist.

Just like Doom makes kids shoot up schools, and Ozzy & Metallica make kids kill themselves.

This is the kind of logic and attitude that won Trump the Presidency. Don't see the sense in doubling down on it.

It's quite revealing how hard people will try to fail at understanding this rather simple situation.

Pepe was made the symbol of /pol/ by the very people who frequent it. In case anyone is out of the loop, that's the blatantly racist section of 4chan. They make quite a few meme images with the means to distribute them widely.

Respectable people want no part or association with this, which is why said imagery/symbolism is rather frowned upon. To those folks, the /pol/ sort are the ones responsible, because they are.

Of course others who identify more with the /pol/ crowd don't them to be blamed, since it's like blaming themselves, so they divert it to old standby scapegoats like all their problems in life. Frankly I'm surprised illegals or other undesirables haven't been invoked.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Pepe is a Spanish nickname that has been around for centuries for those named Jose.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=spanish+nickname+pepe

There are different interpretations and theories but the most prevalent seems to be:

"is that Pepe comes from the initials P.P. from the Spanish term "padre putativo" (putative father) an old way of referring to Joseph, the husband of Mary from the Bible."

 

[UglyCasanova]

Well, when they got called on calling Bannon an "anti-semite" by pretty much every major Jewish leader on the planet, they backed the fuck down. Their faux offense was called bullshit. Thus, SJW tag is appropriate.

Thank you. You cry wolf long enough no one believes you even when a legit wolf comes around. Bush, McCain, Romney, and Trump were all called Hitler. No one listens to it anymore.

 

[agent00f]

Well, when they got called on calling Bannon an "anti-semite" by pretty much every major Jewish leader on the planet, they backed the fuck down. Their faux offense was called bullshit. Thus, SJW tag is appropriate.

Thank you. You cry wolf long enough no one believes you even when a legit wolf comes around. Bush, McCain, Romney, and Trump were all called Hitler. No one listens to it anymore.

^ Just a heads just these people get their news from right wing sources like the Federalist, which'll make up anything to cover for the alt-right.

 

[Valantar]

Didn't Pepe start out as a "slacker" icon? That's my impression, at least. What has followed is nearly inevitable on the current internet (populated by, among others, 4channers): 4chan collectively thinks "Slacker? Hey, we're slackers. He's like us. That's cool." 4chan then adopts Pepe. The rabid racist, anti-semitic and islamophobic ("alt-right") subset of 4chan (that might be the minority, but knows how to be LOUD) then thinks "Hey, I'm a slacker. What do I do while slacking? Talk sh*t about [insert minority group]. That'll make for some fun memes!" And thus Racist Pepe is born. With the aforementioned disproportionate loudness of these 4channers, racist Pepe thus becomes noticeable outside of 4chan, even above the din of regular "slacker" Pepe memes. This gets pushed further by all the various racists outside of 4chan (Twitter stands out here), and all of a sudden, Racist Pepe is the only Pepe anyone can remember. The media didn't create this. Idiots online did.

Of course others who identify more with the /pol/ crowd don't them to be blamed, since it's like blaming themselves, so they divert it to old standby scapegoats like all their problems in life. Frankly I'm surprised illegals or other undesirables haven't been invoked.

That's easy to explain: they've got a new scapegoat now. The media used to bee seen as "lamestream" (i.e. liberal-leaning and not Fox News). Now, it's seen as somehow corrupt and elitist due to actually giving a sh*t about how the world works (and not simply blaming everything on "corrupt elites", immigrants and minorities). Today, for the "alt-right", the media is far worse than illegals and immigrants. After all, the media actually has some power, and would be far harder to detain and deport.

Although I can't stop thinking of the hilarious irony of Trump being elected as an anti-elite candidate ... seriously? A billionaire*? Tax-evader extraordinaire*? Financial ties all over the world? Known to spend huge sums on lobbying? He's going to "drain the swamp"? By hiring advisors and bringing in cabinet members from major banks, the oil industry, and other huge lobbyist groups? You've got to be kidding me. That's like making Winnie the Pooh CEO at a honey producer because there is too much spillage and waste.

*remains to be seen, but for all practical extents and purposes true.

/end of slightly-OT rant.

 

[agent00f]

Didn't Pepe start out as a "slacker" icon? That's my impression, at least. What has followed is nearly inevitable on the current internet (populated by, among others, 4channers): 4chan collectively thinks "Slacker? Hey, we're slackers. He's like us. That's cool." 4chan then adopts Pepe. The rabid racist, anti-semitic and islamophobic ("alt-right") subset of 4chan (that might be the minority, but knows how to be LOUD) then thinks "Hey, I'm a slacker. What do I do while slacking? Talk sh*t about [insert minority group]. That'll make for some fun memes!" And thus Racist Pepe is born. With the aforementioned disproportionate loudness of these 4channers, racist Pepe thus becomes noticeable outside of 4chan, even above the din of regular "slacker" Pepe memes. This gets pushed further by all the various racists outside of 4chan (Twitter stands out here), and all of a sudden, Racist Pepe is the only Pepe anyone can remember. The media didn't create this. Idiots online did.



That's easy to explain: they've got a new scapegoat now. The media used to bee seen as "lamestream" (i.e. liberal-leaning and not Fox News). Now, it's seen as somehow corrupt and elitist due to actually giving a sh*t about how the world works (and not simply blaming everything on "corrupt elites", immigrants and minorities). Today, for the "alt-right", the media is far worse than illegals and immigrants. After all, the media actually has some power, and would be far harder to detain and deport.

Although I can't stop thinking of the hilarious irony of Trump being elected as an anti-elite candidate ... seriously? A billionaire*? Tax-evader extraordinaire*? Financial ties all over the world? Known to spend huge sums on lobbying? He's going to "drain the swamp"? By hiring advisors and bringing in cabinet members from major banks, the oil industry, and other huge lobbyist groups? You've got to be kidding me. That's like making Winnie the Pooh CEO at a honey producer because there is too much spillage and waste.

*remains to be seen, but for all practical extents and purposes true.

/end of slightly-OT rant.

They never cared about all that shit they pretend to any more than thinking twice about backstabbing jesus. They just saw other white people getting even more privileged handouts, which they want in on; and even the brown people getting a piece of their action, and that needed to stop. That's what trump is promising, to pull them back on top of the social status totem. Simply witness their leader Steve Bannon talking about too many asians in top positions as a threat to civic society, and asians are the model minority; imagine what he's thinking about the other ones.

Also to clarify, /pol/ ("politically incorrect") is the part of 4chan responsible for alt-right pepe. It's where the next gen of white nationalists hang out.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Didn't Pepe start out as a "slacker" icon? That's my impression, at least. What has followed is nearly inevitable on the current internet (populated by, among others, 4channers): 4chan collectively thinks "Slacker? Hey, we're slackers. He's like us. That's cool." 4chan then adopts Pepe. The rabid racist, anti-semitic and islamophobic ("alt-right") subset of 4chan (that might be the minority, but knows how to be LOUD) then thinks "Hey, I'm a slacker. What do I do while slacking? Talk sh*t about [insert minority group]. That'll make for some fun memes!" And thus Racist Pepe is born. With the aforementioned disproportionate loudness of these 4channers, racist Pepe thus becomes noticeable outside of 4chan, even above the din of regular "slacker" Pepe memes. This gets pushed further by all the various racists outside of 4chan (Twitter stands out here), and all of a sudden, Racist Pepe is the only Pepe anyone can remember. The media didn't create this. Idiots online did..

No, Pepe started as a nickname in Mexico several centuries ago.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Here's another one -

 

[Valantar]

No, Pepe started as a nickname in Mexico several centuries ago.

I'm talking about Pepe the frog, the cartoon character ... (Which is what this whole debacle is about, not the (nick)name. Jeez.)