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Anti-Defamation League Declares Pepe the Frog a Hate Symbol (time.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the offensive-language dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TIME: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has declared a popular internet meme depicting a cartoon frog to be a hate symbol. Pepe the Frog's beginnings were unoffensive: he is the creation of comic book creator Matt Furie, who featured the frog as a character in the series Boy's Club beginning in 2005. The character subsequently became a beloved meme, often called the "sad frog meme" and shared with a speech bubble reading "Feels good man" or "Feels bad man." But recently, as the Daily Beast reported in May, the character has been co-opted by a faction of Internet denizens who decided to reclaim it from the mainstream, and began sharing it in anti-Semitic contexts. "Images of the frog, variously portrayed with a Hitler-like mustache, wearing a yarmulke or a Klan hood, have proliferated in recent weeks in hateful messages aimed at Jewish and other users on Twitter," the ADL wrote in a statement. "Once again, racists and haters have taken a popular Internet meme and twisted it for their own purposes of spreading bigotry and harassing users," wrote ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt.

5 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Who said what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who the fuck is the ADL? Why the fuck do I give a shit?

    -- Internet

    1. Re:Who said what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Internet hate has been growing for a long time now.

      At basically the same rate non-techies have started adopting the internet in their every day lives I suspect.
      The internet was a nice place before all the normals started using it.

    2. Re:Who said what? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As opposed to getting in line and do what the outraged, loudmouthed minority says?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Who said what? by Maritz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm no ADL fan, but this is from their website:

      "However, because so many Pepe the Frog memes are not bigoted in nature, it is important to examine use of the meme only in context. The mere fact of posting a Pepe meme does not mean that someone is racist or white supremacist. However, if the meme itself is racist or anti-Semitic in nature, or if it appears in a context containing bigoted or offensive language or symbols, then it may have been used for hateful purposes."

      Kinda makes you look stupid going off on that rant, to be honest.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  2. Star of David used by Neo Nazis... by hsthompson69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and then we can declare that a hate symbol too?

    What about the rainbow flag? If sharia enforcing islamists start using rainbow colors, can we declare that a hate symbol?

    What about the word "HATE"? Can we declare that a hate symbol, and ban it?

    WTF, guys, seriously?