[Bobboau]

And the swastika is just a hindu religious symbol.

See, you're right, Pepe by itself is just a character from a cartoon. But as it happens, the alt-right use him in a very coherent way; they are, at this point in time, the only organized group using him. He is no longer just a character (just as the swastika is no longer an innocuous religious symbol) and while I suspect he won't get as infamous as the swastika, it is certainly accurate to refer to Pepe as an alt-right icon at this point.

You know what else the alt-right does, other than post pepes?
They breath air.
Just because a racist does something does not make the thing they do racist.
Many different groups use pepe and like all memes it gets mixed with other things by the people who post it. there are certainly racist pepes, but pepe has been a popular internet meme for nearly a decade. It's not like a proper /pol/ meme like moonman which is unambiguously racist from it's core. Going after pepe because it was used to do racist things is like going after rope.
They use the english language (and some french and german) to communicate racist ideas too, does that mean that the english language is also a white nationalist meme?

You're an idiot if you swallow this.

[Ghostavo]

Just to reiterate, a few years ago the media focused on games like Doom being played by school shooters.

Romero must be proud to have created murder making games I guess, since that's what the media said.

[The E]

Guys.

Could you do me a favour and try to understand what I'm writing?

That aside, the issue is, the swastika continues to be used in other contexts without the Nazi implication. I don't see the media accusing Indian use of the swastika, for example of, of association with the Nazis. And I don't really like the idea that a symbol is forever tarnished just because a group of people used it.

Yes, well, that is the world we live in unfortunately. Maybe the Swastika will have reverted to being innocuous in a hundred years or so, but for now, the main association anyone in the western world is going to have with it is Nazis. Same with Pepe: Maybe he'll revert to being innocuous in a year or five, but for now, he is part of the alt-right iconography.

You know what else the alt-right does, other than post pepes?
They breath air.
Just because a racist does something does not make the thing they do racist.

And yet, the Swastika is a symbol for Nazis now. Funny how that works.

Bob, please try to put a bit more effort into understanding the things I write. Just as Ghostavo, you read my posts as saying "if racists do something it is racist", which is not at all what I was getting at.

Many different groups use pepe and like all memes it gets mixed with other things by the people who post it. there are certainly racist pepes, but pepe has been a popular internet meme for nearly a decade. It's not like a proper /pol/ meme like moonman which is unambiguously racist from it's core. Going after pepe because it was used to do racist things is like going after rope.

Many different groups, all concentrated in one remarkably isolated part of the internet. If you are part of that bubble (as I have tried to explain above), Pepe has essentially no meaning for you (because he himself is the substrate used to communicate meaning). If you are not, and your first exposure to it is via alt-right bull****, then the association between him and the alt-right is quickly made and hard to shake.

They use the english language (and some french and german) to communicate racist ideas too, does that mean that the english language is also a white nationalist meme?

Again, read what I am writing, not what you think I am writing.

[Bobboau]

or, perhaps it is YOU who are in a bubble and are ignorant of simple ****ing internet memes. I hate to tell you this, but memes exist way beyond image boards, even if that is where they start.
this is the most idiotic thing, You realize you are only making yourself look like an out of touch 65 year old fool who doesn't get these internet kids and their chinese girl cartoons when you try to push this, right?

[Ghostavo]

The E, there is a difference between you saying "people are linking X with Y" and the media saying without a hint of self-reflection "someone we dislike said X, did you know <Nazis/alt-right/boogieman of the week> said X?".

[Bobboau]

Could someone find that one PBS idea channel video where they talk about rare pepes? I'm at work right now and can't really do it.

[The E]

or, perhaps it is YOU who are in a bubble and are ignorant of simple ****ing internet memes. I hate to tell you this, but memes exist way beyond image boards, even if that is where they start.
this is the most idiotic thing, You realize you are only making yourself look like an out of touch 65 year old fool who doesn't get these internet kids and their chinese girl cartoons when you try to push this, right?

You are in the internet bubble. You assume that just because you know something, everyone else knows it too, which is very simply not the case. Now something has breached that bubble, taken something from it and changed its meaning in the process. Get used to it.

Am I ignorant of memes? Yes, I suppose I am. Guess what. So are most other people.

The E, there is a difference between you saying "people are linking X with Y" and the media saying without a hint of self-reflection "someone we dislike said X, did you know <Nazis/alt-right/boogieman of the week> said X?".

And there's a difference between that topic and what I was talking about.

[Bobboau]

no you are in an internet bubble.
gee this is ****ing fun.

no, you do not get to just assert a reality. no pepe the frog is not a white nationalist symbol.

[The E]

no you are in an internet bubble.
gee this is ****ing fun.

no, you do not get to just assert a reality. no pepe the frog is not a white nationalist symbol.

He is now. Get used to it.

https://heatst.com/politics/hillary-clinton-is-absolutely-right-pepe-meme-is-antisemitic-an-apology/
http://www.vox.com/2016/9/21/12893656/pepe-frog-donald-trump

[Ghostavo]

A rotten apple spoils the barrel, a nazi meme now apparently.

[The E]

If you can't see how that isn't comparable to what happened with pepe, this whole discussion makes no sense.

[Ghostavo]

Yes, the rotten apple meme is far wider known than Pepe. Exactly what your counterpoint was.

[Bobboau]

https://heatst.com/politics/hillary-clinton-is-absolutely-right-pepe-meme-is-antisemitic-an-apology/

Heat Street? you are using ****ing HEATSTREET to justify your position? even I know not to trust that ****ing blog site?



get out of your ****ing sjwverse bubble, just because a vox/gawker/dayly beast/jezebel reporter who's part of some political circlejerk writes it, doesn't mean it's true. no one is believing this, we all know you know you are full of ****.

[zookeeper]

Whether something is "a X symbol/icon" is an academic question for sociologists and no one else should even care.

[Scotty]

Bob, calm the hell down.

[Bobboau]

oh, so I get a warning for insulting someone for saying they are full of **** and nothing for posting blatant white nationalist propaganda? I guess I see where HLPs priorities lay.
You and the people you like get to tell people to **** OFF with impunity. Oh yeah, you aren't just having fun exercising your small amount of power over a small cadre of people.

[Grizzly]

Trump could post the freaking red cross symbol and the media would find some way of linking it to Nazis or alt-right or something.

No, they really could not.

They linked what is basically "a rotten apple spoils the barrel" to the Nazis for god's sake...

"They" can not be taken to account for your lack of reading comprehension. The article makes damn clear what it's associating what with.

[Ghostavo]

Trump could post the freaking red cross symbol and the media would find some way of linking it to Nazis or alt-right or something.

No, they really could not.

They linked what is basically "a rotten apple spoils the barrel" to the Nazis for god's sake...

"They" can not be taken to account for your lack of reading comprehension. The article makes damn clear what it's associating what with.

Thanks for the non-sequitur, can I also imply with this link that you lack reading comprehension also?

[The E]

Yes, the rotten apple meme is far wider known than Pepe. Exactly what your counterpoint was.

Except that wasn't my counterpoint. The Red Cross is a widely known and recognized symbol. To change its meaning, someone would have to expend a lot of effort. Pepe, like the Swastika before it, is an obscure thing. Giving it meaning in the public eye is trivial by comparison; all it takes is a sufficiently large megaphone.

The rotten apple thing is somewhat irrelevant to this. First of all, the article you cite shows parallels between the use of that proverb in nazi propaganda and its use by one Donald Trump Jr; it doesn't say (as you claim) that that is where the analogy originated (It does make the claim, which I find spurious, that that was the first use of the analogy in a race politics context, but that's a different claim).

get out of your ****ing sjwverse bubble, just because a vox/gawker/dayly beast/jezebel reporter who's part of some political circlejerk writes it, doesn't mean it's true. no one is believing this, we all know you know you are full of ****.

You know, if you want to change my opinion, it is perhaps not a good idea to call me a liar. In this discussion, I have represented my opinions and viewpoints as accurately as I can.

[Grizzly]

Thanks for the non-sequitur, can I also imply with this link that you lack reading comprehension also?

No, but I am going to accuse you once again of a lack of reading comprehension, with as evidence you typing that response.

When you're at the point that you're linking a specialized subsection of a specialized type of media (I literally only gave you the about us page of the article you linked to!), an article that doesn't actually provide any substance to your claim, and claim that as evidence that the media, in it's entirety, affirms to your view of it is silly. It's also - hi - a non-sequitur.