Is Pepe the Frog the Symbol of White Nationalism?

Recently Hillary Clinton’s campaign has labelled the infamous ‘Pepe the Frog’ meme persona as being a symbol of white nationalism. Elizabeth Chan, a senior strategist from Hillary’s camp is the one who has come up with the bizarre claim.  And this claim is, quite frankly, hilarious. Could the Hillary campaign honestly sink any lower? Perhaps not - although I am not going to hold my breath. What makes the claim so absurd is that Hillary’s camp is attempting to villainise an Internet meme. The origins of the meme come from as early as 2005, long before any association with the Alt-Right. It needs to be understood that whilst Pepe memes have been used by the Alt Right and people leaning towards far-Right tendencies, the concept of Pepe the Frog remains to be the same. Like all memes, Pepe is a tool used for parody and nothing more.

The expression of most Trump supporters as they observe Hillary's crumbling campaign.

Images of Pepe the Frog have been used all over the Internet, and it is only since the popularisation of the Alt-Right, conservative and libertarian movements that Pepe has become politicised. Prior to this, Pepe has only been used by teenagers referencing teenage topics; relationships, music, films and the like. This only reinforces the fact that Hillary’s camp is desperate. Instead of using higher brow ideas to attack Trump’s campaign, they are instead pointing at a anthropomorphic frog and crying ‘racism’. The Democrats' attempt at undermining Trump and his supporters has become laughable. Albeit, the subject of some Pepe memes is quite perverse, and in some cases obscene.  But this is the whole point of Internet memes. They should be used to criticise popular culture in a mischievous manner. The Pepe memes do this brilliantly.

This could may well be how the Left react in November.

But should the Clinton camp be offended by politicised memes? Indeed, we all have the freedom to be offended, and also to endorse what we please. If the memes do condone genuine racial hatred or anti-Semitism, then perhaps. But even so, one should not take such things seriously. If somebody is offended by the cartoon of a naughty green frog, they really should not be making public statements, let alone to be participating in politics. They should retreat back to their safe spaces, where their fragile little minds can be comforted by other precious snow flakes. But they still have every right to do this. And by doing this, the meme makers, and the Trump campaign will be able to claim the moral high ground. The fact that even the likes of Pepe the Frog is now able to chip away at Clinton’s campaign just about sums up how feeble her attempt at gaining office is.

Even the Trump camp have shared images of our little green friend.

 Regarding the amount of publicity and scrutiny that the Pepe the Frog memes have had, it should be a given that they must stand for something. Is Pepe some kind of mascot for the far right? Not really. Pepe has been used for some some white nationalist themed humour, but that is irrelevant. For years Pepe has been the face of alternative, immature parody. The very concept of Pepe should not belong to any political movement. Pepe is the face of mischief, toilet humour, the downright ridiculous and nothing more. The Clinton camp’s most recent attack has only shown us, once again, that they are running out of reputable ideas.

A tenacious force indeed.