In the letter, Democrat senator Mark Warner argues that Valve’s content moderation doesn’t meet industry standards, and says he wants Valve to “crack down on the rampant proliferation of hate-based content”.
The exact hateful stuff he’s talking about was highlighted in that report by the Anti-Defamation League last week. Its many findings include swastikas in profile pictures, antisemitic images such as the “happy merchant”, and instances of Pepe the frog, a meme appropriated by the far right that - let’s be honest - has never washed the stink off. Steam is “inundated with hate” as a result of these findings, say the anti-discrimination group.
While the simmering bubbles of fascism won’t be news to the average Steam user (or average internet user, to be frank) that doesn’t mean we ought to get complacent about them. It’s proof, says senator Warner, that Valve is lacking good moderation.
I feel like you had to be there. Frankly, the pepe symbol was co-opted so whether you like it or not, you should be cognizant of its history and how people choose to use it.
Every point the other user is making - the iron cross, the swastika, the SS, people know even if they weren’t there because of how apparent the symbols were and why they were used.
Then there are dog whistles when it became wrong to hold hateful beliefs and people started using combinations of the numbers 1488 or two H’s simultaneously. Pepe was co-opted and used as 4chans alt right mascot and spread out beyond it, into internet campaigns for fascism (not just pro-Trump). That’s the thing about co-opting symbols, fascism doesn’t care what they stand for, if they like it, it’s very difficult to keep it safe. A prime example of this is the fictional, known cop-killer Frank Castle, The Punisher, being co-opted by cops and white supremacists. His logo should instill fear into the fascists heart, instead his logo has been the conservatives wet dream since the 1980’s, and was seen in 2017 during Charlottesville.
Pepe’s usage dying down because people were getting sued doesn’t mean that it suddenly stopped being used by shitty people, it just means it’s swept under the rug with all their other dog whistles. Post 2016 Pepe was abducted and reused just like every other hate symbol. Fascists are never creative enough to make something of their own so almost every single symbol that’s currently tied to the ideology has been stolen.
I would say that you are right that post 2016 Sad Pepe isn’t 100% alt-right, but to be honest these style of memes do not last very long. Each generation of meme lasts about 3 to 5 years and they only really last in that generation of people who enjoyed them. That is to say, kids on the Internet now don’t know Pepe’s history. Would they use him? Maybe, except definitely not because they don’t use memes like that, Gen Z and Gen A do not use TopText BottomText memes, character memes, old RageFu memes.
Memes of today have variations of GigaChad and the anti-NPC (they don’t know I’m ____, or crying behind the mask) which are developed RageFu characters. Pretty much only Sad Pepe exists in this sphere and isn’t entirely co-opted, but even then, Sad Pepe is also commonly used on boomer Facebook for posts when men hate their wives.
I agree that it sucks to lose something to fascism. Pepe didn’t deserve it. But like all memes, his history ran its course and he won’t be used in many new ways anymore. The people who are still using him are using him for specific reasons beyond just nostalgic meme. But who knows, memes cycle. Maybe he will be brought back with a new vigor for anti-Nazi memes created by leftists. Until then though, all you need to do is just look up various events and “Pepe” and you’ll see a whole new side of Pepe that maybe you hadn’t realized. Pepe and Elon, Pepe and Trump, Pepe and Putin… Okay I went to Google that last one myself out of curiosity and literally an Iron Cross Pepe sniping Hillary Clinton. I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS UP.
I suggest, “was Pepe meme at Charlottesville 2017” and going to images. Another good choice would be “was Pepe meme at January 6th”.
Pepe was not present in 2017, but it shows you the type of memes he’s used in. Pepe however, was present in D.C. on January 6th. Sorry for the BuzzFeed article but it had the image.
You can defend Pepe all you like, I know that in his heart he is not a hate symbol. But Pepe is being used as one, so you need to be critical of when you see him and why. It might be completely innocent, but you must know that the chances of that are low. At least now hopefully you aware of his history and why others are skeptical and critical of his usage. Other meme characters don’t get dressed up to play political hitman. Other meme characters aren’t as heavily used by conservatives
I have to ask, do you use Discord? Because I see Pepes and Peepos all over the place there and they aren’t especially likely to be associated with right-wingers at this point as far as I can tell.
I know what you mean, like Twitch emoji Pepe’s.
I think because of the time that has passed, there’s a demographic that uses him without knowing and I think the stickers definitely are part of that. However I don’t think that removes culpability, it’s just how different generations interact with different words, or in this case meme.
And really I think what it comes down to is when meme becomes tied to identity. Sad Pepe is relatable, feel a connection to the character, see what other memes he can do, before you know it your discord emoji Pepe is a pipeline to normalizing political extremism.
Like how some subcultures create a pipeline to fascism, like cottagecore and tradlife. It’s not necessarily that all Pepe, all tradlife, brings you into the path towards fascist ideology, but that many of those with fascist ideology are drawn towards Pepe and tradlife, which then make engaging with content surrounding those subjects suspicious.
Pepe in abundance is just something to be wary of. I don’t think it’s wrong to use him on discord or twitch chat, but I am more suspicious of people who identify with him heavily and I keep an eye out for the type of memes and rhetoric that they use. Chances are high that it’s innocuous, but given his history I’d say it’s better to be aware than to think nothing of it.
Last thing, for me it’s mostly just odd because when I look up Pepe memes, so many of them are terrible. Not just bad memes I mean, like hateful and awful. Sad Pepe is pretty much the exception here, as in normal meme I still see him and it’s used pretty in-line with what you would expect from normal memes.
Tl;Dr - sad Pepe or Pepe emojis on twitch/discord = probably okay. Identifying with Pepe or making Pepe memes = maybe I’ll be keeping a closer eye on what exactly you’re trying to say