Recently, Hillary Clinton’s website has added an entire section dedicated to calling out Donald Trump’s campaign for associating with white supremacy. Why is this? Well, it’s because he retweeted an image of Pepe the frog, a popular meme. In Clinton’s mind, it seems as if retweeting Pepe makes you a white supremacist. Ah, yes! Guilt by association!
Pepe’s first appearance was in a 2005 comic named Boy’s Club, then exploded in 2008 when fans of the comic started uploading images of the cartoon frog online. Pepe soon became popular on many sites, such as 4chan, an anonymous image board. Then, on May 26, 2016, the Daily Beast published an article entitled, “How Pepe the Frog Became a Nazi Trump Supporter and Alt-Right Symbol.” Clinton’s website declares, “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.” So, now, because the alt-right has used this meme for anti-semitic and racist purposes, Pepe has been declared a hate symbol.
Could this be an overreaction? Clinton believes that Pepe has been entirely co-opted by the alt-right. What Clinton appears to be unaware of is that on 4chan, 8chan, and other such forums, people will use various images to promote their racist agenda. It doesn’t mean that those memes communicate a racist or anti-semitic connotation to those outside those contexts. If she is aware of this, then it’s a sweeping generalization unjustified by context. Consider that the Anti-Defamation League, who include Pepe as a hate symbol, acknowledge that most of the time he is not used in a hateful context. Pepe is often used outside of alt-right groups and forums. For example, Tumblr, which was one of the places where he became famous, still mainly uses Pepe in a neutral context.
We should note that an image is not anti-semitic just because it is used by racists to perpetuate anti-semitism and white supremacy. Indeed, much of the posting involving Pepe in anti-semitic contexts are spread by trolls who take delight in stirring up trouble. So, some may believe that all this is evidence of racism, but it really is not. For example, anime is not anti-semitic, but people still edit anime girls and put them in Nazi uniforms.
What’s disturbing to me about Clinton’s campaign is that, with some research, they should have known that they were misrepresenting Trump. While I may disagree with Trump, it seems unethical to misrepresent someone to hurt their election. Clinton is making it seem like Trump is anti-semitic because he retweeted an innocent picture of a frog. It’s unlikely that Trump even knew that Pepe was sometimes associated with anti-semitism. Surely, Clinton’s campaign knew that Pepe is not an anti-semite. Pepe is a frog. By: Ava Krueger, Editor
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