I love memes. Ever since gaining access to the internet in 2007, I’ve found the internet jokes and images to be the most entertaining items online. It was something only a small online community of web surfers understood.  

But now memes are mainstream. You see them shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where millions of people share content, including memes.

In this strange political election however, a once innocent meme has managed to elevate itself to a new level of infamy; Pepe the Frog. Pepe originated from the comic series “Boy’s Club” by Matt Furie. It quickly became an internet icon being remade depicting Pepe with different emotions.

The Anti-Defamation League has classified Pepe the Frog as a hate symbol. It had been extensively used by the “Alt-Right” movement,  who mostly are made up of white nationalists and anti-semites and are typically found online residing in online boards as 4chan.

Even Donald Trump Jr. posted a photo of a Pepe meme on his Instagram page.

As a long-time internet denizen who has observed this phenomena, I found it to be the most ridiculous thing. Pepe the Frog, a beloved internet meme, had become a hate symbol? I just couldn’t believe it and now I fear that if I use a Pepe meme, I would be seen as a racist.

I suppose the meme’s politicising was inevitable. With the Alt-Right born out of forums like 4chan, it was only a matter of time for memes to be used for political reasons.

Edits were made of Pepe in Ku Klux Klan outfits, having a Hitler moustache or even donning a Trump hairdo. The easy circulation of internet memes turned into an easy route to make a hate symbol for anyone to use.

The Alt-Right’s use of Pepe made it seem as if the whole movement was a joke at first. I had seen early Alt-Right posts on several websites, remained on the side of “this is all a joke.”

The line between a “joke” and a more serious motive has become blurry. The internet trolls have evolved into using memes as a way to elicit a response, baiting the easily angered and confusing the skeptics. I really wasn’t sure if they meant to cause such trouble. But surely in this day and age, no one should assume anything.

The Alt-Right really is bigoted and their use of Pepe has corrupted the original meaning of one of my favorite memes, which was only meant for fun at first.

I don’t think using Pepe inherently makes you a racist or in support of the Alt-Right. Even the Anti-Defamation League acknowledges that most usages of Pepe are “not bigoted in nature.”

Memes, just like words, are inherently not racist. It all lies within the intent of the user in how they craft their communication.

Whether it be through memes, songs, words or jokes, any message can be used to hurt other people if crafted for that purpose. Word meanings change over time and Pepe was not obviously not an exception.

My only hope, as well as creator Furie, after the election is for the innocent, harmless Pepe to return to its original, rarest meaning — a frog having a bad day.