Pepe the Frog: The Roots of a Symbol

Opinion: This frog is the banner of the forgotten young male, with no place in the world.

Much shallow commentary has centered around the political image of Pepe the Frog. Invented by ostensibly liberal comedian Matt Furie, Pepe has spread as an uncontrollable meme, a unit of cultural information, in the most organic of ways. Leaping away from the intentions of its creator, it has now become an amphibian symbol, a trickster who spreads ink and squirms when firmly grasped. Pepe has no stable character, ranging from an outright white nationalist to a troll who relishes in ambiguity and unsafe humor.

The politics of the frog emerged from the primordial ooze of Internet forums, places like 4chan and now Twitter, inhabited by alienated young men with dark, surreal senses of humor, and an almost nihilistic resentment of the modern world. Often, they are formerly apolitical people who have turned hard to the right since the mid-2010s, becoming embroiled in online culture wars against feminism, diversity and political correctness. They never supported George W. Bush, nor care for conservative causes. Rather, the decay of the identity-obsessed left has made them seek an online culture that relishes in the most absurd versions of left identity-centric arguments.

The comedian Sam Hyde embodies the spirit of Pepe in all its dark and comical allure. A liberal arts graduate who has turned his ire hard against the ironic comedic culture that young leftists typically enjoy, Hyde straddles the line between nihilism and reactionary politics, and has successfully obliterated the pretense of the TED Talk, the Adult Swim ten-minute skit show, the daily Vlog, and liberal arts hipster culture. Hyde points out the decadence of those who critique decadence – he watches the usual purveyors of his craft, those self-assured twenty-something white New England democratic socialists, and veers hard to the right.