From Innocent to Hate Symbol: Meme Culture Reflection

My group decided to focus on the alt-right and the way in which it has influenced and adapted particular memes, specifically Pepe the frog. This was interesting research to me because I faintly knew that Pepe was no longer a popular pop-culture meme because he was prevalent on 4chan but I was unaware of the full extent that the alt-right had taken him over.

What was probably the most interesting pepe as an alt-right hate symbol research research discovery my group made was when we discovered that the fast food chain Wendy's posted a pepe meme on one of their social media accounts after it had been taken over as a hate symbol. Now I do not believe that the company was aware of this when they posted the image, however I think it speaks loudly to how quickly things are able to change in the digital age, particularly in meme culture which seems to develop a new meme every few weeks or so only to leave behind many more in its wake.

It is now more important then ever in an age where fake news and alt-right media are ever present on the internet for one to be highly aware of the context of things seemingly as simple as a meme. If one does not keep up to date with the ever changing meaning behind images they are likely to fall into the same trap that Wendy's did.

I believe this rapid cycle of meme culture is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand it does encourage those who partake in any aspect of the digital culture to stay up to date, not only with memes, but also the context they carry with them, however this rapid cycle can be so rapid at times it is hard to keep up with, especially when the changes turn for the worse as is the case with anything that becomes taken over by the alt-right.