Pepe the frog is an internet meme that is popular on Alt-Right message boards.
Here’s a post on what Pepe the Frog is about, and what I propose we do to wage symbolic warfare against the alt-right in response to this meme.
Background on Pepe
Here's a wikipedia article about Pepe:
Wikipedia Article: Pepe the Frog
Pepe the Frog is a fictional character from Matt Furie's comic series Boy's Club. He became an internet meme when his popularity steadily grew across Myspace, Gaia Online and 4chan in 2008. By 2015, he had become one of the most popular memes used on Tumblr. Beginning in 2016, his image has increasingly been appropriated as a symbol of the controversial alt-right political movement.
"turning Pepe into a white nationalist icon" was an explicit goal of some on the alt-right.
Background on Kek
Kek (also Keku, Kekui) is the deification of the concept of primordial darkness
He embodies the time right before dawn.
Here’s a post on HRC’s website:
Donald Trump, Pepe the frog, and white supremacists: an explainer
But in recent months, Pepe’s been almost entirely co-opted by the white supremacists who call themselves the “alt-right.” They’ve decided to take back Pepe by adding swastikas and other symbols of anti-semitism and white supremacy.
“We basically mixed Pepe in with Nazi propaganda, etc. We built that association,” one prominent white supremacist told the Daily Beast.
Richard Spencer
Finally, here’s an article about a dinner interview with Richard Spencer:
MEET THE DAPPER WHITE NATIONALIST WHO WINS EVEN IF TRUMP LOSE
Spencer says Pepe could also be seen as the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian frog deity, Kek: "He is basically using the alt-right to unleash chaos and change the world," he says, looking slightly annoyed when I crack a smile. "You might say, 'Wow,' but this is literally how religions arise."
Richard Spencer coined the name Alt-Right in 2008. He hopes for a whites only country. He believes that other races have lower IQs and are predisposed to crime. He says stuff like: "Race is something between a breed and an actual species."
By the way, Spencer and the interviewer were drinking Arrogant Frog merlot during the interview.
So, basically, we have neo-nazis playing with magical symbolism, just like the original nazis. You don’t have to believe in woo to see that this is a problem. He-who-I-refuse-to-name has tweeted images of Pepe as a call-out to his Alt-Right supporters.
My proposal
I propose that we fight this meme with an appropriate meme. I propose that we populate the web with imagery of bald eagles or hawks eating frogs. Here’s why:
- Pepe is a symbol of the primordial, chaotic darkness that precedes the sunrise. Horus, represented by a hawk, is a solar deity.
- The bald eagle is an American counterpart to a hawk.
- Eagles and hawks are natural predators of frogs.
Who’s with me?