Response to “Pepe the Frog, Irony and Hate Speech”

Are the hateful memes being spread by the Alt-right really just ironic statements intended to defend free speech? If you find Dr. Mark Inman’s arguments convincing, here are some things you should consider.

• How much of an asshole would you have to be to pick groups who are already marginalized, attacked, and literally enslaved as the targets of your ironic speech?
• How ironic is that speech really when the group creating these memes is the same group perpetrating the attacks?
• How ironic is that speech really when it targets any groups except one’s own? Memes targeting white nationalists do not count, because most of these people do not see themselves as white nationalists. They see themselves the way Dr. Inman sees them.
• How ironic is it really when those creating these memes are actually supporting Donald Trump to be president, a man who has openly attacked Mexicans, Muslims, African Americans, women, and the disabled, amongst others? How can these memes be about protecting First Amendment rights when Trump has said he will ban Muslims from entering the country? The First Amendment protects free speech and freedom of religion.
• One of the most prominent members of the alt-right movement is Milo Yiannopoulos, a person largely responsible for the attacks on Leslie Jones (whose only crime was being a successful black woman). He started a scholarship fund exclusively for white males as a way to correct what he perceived as a racial imbalance. When you’re used to preferential treatment, equal treatment feels like discrimination. We saw this recently in the second Presidential debate when Donald Trump complained Hillary was getting more speaking time than he was when in fact the opposite was true.
• “Of course some of the authors of these racist memes are racist, but they aren’t all racist, so it’s okay.” (It’s not okay.)
• I spent just a few minutes on the Alt-Right and The Donald subreddits, the sources of a sizable proportion of these memes. Here are some of the top threads I encountered:

• If ironic speech is so similar to hate speech as to be indistinguishable, is there a difference there even worth considering? How constructive can this speech be?
• AFAIK, no one is proposing that we stop people from creating racist memes, but you should not be surprised when those who choose to do so are shunned by politicians trying to impact a positive change, or by society at large.
• How unsurprising is it that the author of Pepe the Frog, Irony and Hate Speech is a white male?