• lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 days ago

      If I’m following correctly…

      Pepe was coopted by the far right in 2016 or so for annoying political shitposts. It was sad because pepe is a great meme and the value of my rare and super-rare foil pepe collection plummeted immediately afterwards.

      Now there are stories and photos going around of people dressed in big inflatable frog suits protesting against ICE in Portland and I guess it’s become the symbol of a movement. Frogs are cool again.

    • Penguin_1024@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 days ago

      Pepé the frog has been used as a Nazi symbol. Several of the protesters in Portland, Oregon are wearing blow up frog costumes. Some of the protesters are elderly and watch MSNBC. Hence, grandmothers have reclaimed the symbol of the frog.

      • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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        3 days ago

        Honestly I don’t even buy that the far right owned pepe in the first place.

        International folks seem to have no idea of that. It seems to be a largely American held belief that somehow pepes are as good as swastikas.

          • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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            2 days ago

            My point being what was never claimed does not need to be reclaimed.

            Hell, the frog poster doesn’t even look like a pepe.

            If you want to use a frog, use a frog. It doesn’t have nazi connotations.

      • M137@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I just thought it was a 4chan thing, while that does include nazi shit, it’s not exclusively only that. Always felt like a mascot for the really bad parts of the Internet.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          2 days ago

          Yes and no. 4Chan isn’t only Nazi stuff, but pepe did become a symbol for extreme far right/MAGA stuff during first Trump election IIRC. It isn’t because it’s 4Chan. It’s because it was explicitly used along with right wing messaging, particularly on 4chan.