
The Truth About Pepe the Frog and the Cult of Kek - SocksCanClose
https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com/
======
themgt
For reference (this post is clearly mimicking the format):
[https://www.hillaryclinton.com/feed/donald-trump-pepe-the-
fr...](https://www.hillaryclinton.com/feed/donald-trump-pepe-the-frog-and-
white-supremacists-an-explainer/)

and: [http://i.imgur.com/Pe27DXI.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/Pe27DXI.jpg)

My best explanation for Pepe is sort of a collective Baader Meinhof where
10,000 trolls spending a million hours posting Pepe memes eventually piece
together a semi-coherent mythology via a vast trawl through frog symbological
history.

It is sort of painfully funny that serious organizations like SPLC and the
Clinton campaign have seemingly fallen for an intentional trolling effort. [1]

[1] [http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/14/heres-how-two-twitter-
pran...](http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/14/heres-how-two-twitter-pranksters-
convinced-the-world-that-pepe-the-frog-meme-is-just-a-front-for-white-
nationalism/)

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SocksCanClose
The weird confluence of Donald Trump, Egyptology, Numerology, and Korean
gaming culture. This is too weird to not post. Say what you will about the
alt-right and 2016, this is a brilliant exposition on a curious eddy in the
current of the national mood. Where it goes is nearly incredible.

~~~
rspeer
This is not incredible or brilliant. This is a teenager trying to sound
important.

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rngesus
Quality meme, top kek. I'm doing this right, yes?

~~~
SocksCanClose
Good question. Some might say yes -- but would then be accused of all sorts of
heresy.

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fjejfjrjdjc
What a bullshit article. The author clearly has no idea what the hell they're
talking about.

Pepe the frog belongs to the cancer that is /pol/ no more so than pictures
with captions using Impact font superimposed over them. The only reason pepe
is associated with /pol/ and Trump is because they both originated on 4chan as
memes. The Trump versions of pepe comics are only a minority fraction of the
many different permutations of the meme, ranging from "smug pepe" to "rare
pepes."

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GFK_of_xmaspast
Pepe the Frog is a Matt Furie creation and it's a real shame what's happened
to it.

~~~
mikekchar
Although Matt Furie himself seems to be neutral/amused by it:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/its-
not-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/its-not-easy-
being-green/499892/)

He seems to have a really refreshing point of view. My impression is that he
seems to feel that the things people do with the character are reflections on
society at large and he's interested to watch them.

From the article:

Serwer: How do you feel about the way it’s been adopted by the so-called alt-
right?

Furie: My feelings are pretty neutral, this isn’t the first time that Pepe has
been used in a negative, weird context. I think it’s just a reflection of the
world at large. The internet is basically encompassing some kind of mass
consciousness, and Pepe, with his face, he’s got these large, expressive eyes
with puffy eyelids and big rounded lips, I just think that people reinvent him
in all these different ways, it’s kind of a blank slate. It’s just out of my
control, what people are doing with it, and my thoughts on it, are more of
amusement.

~~~
whoopdedo
It'll be interesting to watch the evolution of this meme as it grows. As Matt
says, it started as a blank slate. Pepe was not exclusively used by /pol/ and
the alt-right. But now I wonder if the attention being drawn to it now might
fixate the meme to the political implications. Will Pepe continue to be the
blank slate it once was? If it does then it shows how internet memes are
inherently uncontrollable. But on the other hand, this accidental relationship
with a particular ideology could cause Pepe to fall out of favor with people
who want to avoid that association. That would demonstrate how the influence
of mainstream media can direct and distort public opinion.

I suppose the third alternative is that for a short time Pepe will be stuck
with the right-wing implications. Then later on will see a revival after the
memory of today's events fades. Mainstream media will win the battle, but the
anonymous masses win the war.

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stephenr
TLDR: Internet shit bags make something out of nothing to
defend/explain/support their love and devotion for an orange hitler.

Next up: Americans write September 11 as 9/11 so the twin towers was an inside
job by the police and fire department.

Give me a fucking break.

~~~
angersock
Kek fuel can't melt steel memes.

