4CHAN Has Made CLOWNS Racist?! Or Maybe The Media LIES
4CHAN Has Made CLOWNS Racist?! Or Maybe Media Is LYING. Right Wing Watch is claiming that clowns are now a symbol of the "far right." But what these activists fail to understand is that everyone uses memes and simply because ONE person made a claim on the internet does not make it true.But the far left activists don't seem to understand this likely because they are in a bubble. They claim Honk Honk, or Clown Pepe, is a new "far right" symbol. "Journalists" in the same bubble see these stories then go on to accuse random twitter users of being secretly "far right"This is not social justice, this is mania. They are obsessed with everything being a "dog whistle" instead of realizing some things are just meant to be silly. Some things are just memes or part of meme culture. But so long as the regressive left claims memes are far right, the far right will own them.
Support the show (http://timcast.com/donate)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
According to Right Wing Watch, white nationalists have adopted the clown as their latest symbol of racism.
Anyone using the clown symbol is clearly a white nationalist, or they'd have you believe.
But now we can expect media to start regurgitating these talking points, claiming that anybody using the clown symbol is a secret white nationalist or racist, because they don't seem to realize that memes are used by everyone, and sometimes everyone includes racists.
But what these activist organizations and journalists do is look at what white nationalists are doing and then claim it's unique to them.
Just like the OK hand gesture.
Originally a symbol used by Trump supporters, 4chan staged a hoax, the media wrote about it, and there you go.
Now it means white power.
Today, let's take a look at what's going on with the media trying to convince people that clowns are racist, and we'll look at the genesis of a far-right symbol that actually was created by the media, and not the far-right.
But before we get started, make sure you subscribe to our new YouTube channel, youtube.com slash subverse videos.
The goal of this channel is to produce straightforward news, Our first story from Right Wing Watch.
White nationalists adopt clowns as their next racist symbol.
Yes, seriously.
to the best of our abilities.
We are also working on some entertainment content, which will be coming soon.
Now, if you want to support this video, just share it on social media to help spread the
message.
Our first story from Right Wing Watch, white nationalists adopt clowns as their next racist
symbol.
Yes, seriously.
And we can see this image of a Pepe the Frog with a clown wig and a nose, and it says,
Honk honk.
The story says online personalities in far-right and white nationalist online circles are attempting to attribute racism and antisemitism to an image of cartoon character Pepe the Frog depicted poorly drawn and as a clown.
And that effort has gained notable traction in recent months.
Far-right proponents want the broader internet to believe the character directly represents their worldview.
But the situation in whole represents an attitude shift in far-right circles online, and a slow inching toward even more radical elements of the movement.
Yes, clowns.
Even more radical.
Right Wing Watch does give a brief summary of Honk Honk, but Know Your Meme is the source, if you'd like to know your meme.
They say Clown Pepe, also known as Honk Honk, is a depiction of Pepe the Frog wearing a rainbow wig and a red clown nose, which is often accompanied by jokes with corny or cringeworthy punchlines.
In February 2019, racist and anti-semitic variations of the character named Honkler began appearing on 4chan's poll board.
The exact origin of the clown theme Pepe illustration is unclear.
On July 17th, 2018, the image was uploaded as the Pepo Clown Twitch emote to the FrankerFaceZ database.
This is just a meme.
Celebrities have used Pepe.
It's not overtly racist.
If you watch pro gaming, you might see people in the audience waving around Pepe memes or signs or something.
Now, the media will have you convinced that it's a symbol of white supremacy, the green frog.
And here we have basically the same thing.
It's just a cartoon character in a wig.
Yes, there are racist versions of it, because racists make memes too.
But now we can see the beginning of how a cartoon can become racist, according to Right Wing Watch.
They say on 4chan there's an abundance of memes depicting the character lynching black people.
Operating gas chambers, deploying racial slurs.
On February 11th, users on 4chan's politically incorrect forum board launched Operation Honk, a campaign with the mission of spreading the character across the internet, and boosting its popularity, and then returning the character back to 4chan, where it could be associated with racism.
The Operation Honkler post, cited by KnowYourMeme, reads, They will adopt our child and post Honkler on social media under mainstream memes already in circulation.
There will come a time when we must take him back.
Whether of the Honk or not, we must perpetuate this meme to show the world our ideas.
The sentiment of the Honkler meme has also appeared in written format on venues where images won't fit.
A clown emoji and a globe emoji together has been used to convey the phrase, clown world, where the phrase isn't written out fully.
Such references can be found in numerous Twitter profiles, including that of rebel media personality Martina Marcotta,
whose salon reported in 2017 as having ties to the far-right.
Honk honk memes were also used by Microchip, a pseudonym used by a far-right troll who made waves propagandizing
in favor of Donald Trump during the 2016 election to replace slurs and
curse words in his posts on Gab.
First, let's point this out. He actually says they're trying to trick people into thinking
the clowns are racist.
That they want to convince people to use the meme, then later make racist versions so they can claim everyone was racist the whole time.
In fact, one of the people cited on this article doesn't actually appear to have anything to do with politics.
I have no idea what this account is.
It looks like someone who may be Korean, and there's a clown, and they've got a wolf, a clown, and a world, and an end.
And when you scroll down, it just looks like some kind of... I don't know, K-pop, maybe?
Maybe it's just K-pop?
Perhaps!
These are all symbols of white supremacy, too, and I'm just confused, and I don't understand the secret dog whistle of white nationalist K-pop.
Or, it's possible the clown in the world symbol doesn't mean what they're claiming it means, and it's just a meme used by a very small group of people to trick the media into writing about it.
But of course, that wouldn't stop Right Wing Watch because there's money to be made.
This is a non-profit that makes money through donations.
So of course, the only way the non-profit can survive is by convincing you there is something going on, a threat that you need to know about.
Have you seen a clown in a globe on Twitter?
Perhaps you didn't realize it was actually a white nationalist.
You should donate so that we can track down this information for you and make sure you're a prize of all other K-pop endorsing white nationalists listed on our website.
When in reality, I kind of feel like this tiny account with 50 followers who is into K-pop has nothing to do with white nationalism.
Right Wing Watch goes on to talk about how the meme is being adopted by some racists and some white nationalist podcasts.
But listen.
Racists are on the internet too.
And they have websites.
And they have podcasts.
They're going to use the same memes as everyone else.
But over on 4chan, one post tried to shine some insight into why they would write about this, saying, Lurk poll.
Screencap some post and memes.
Write an article about it.
Post link to the article on poll.
Twenty different YouTubers see the thread and make videos on it.
Everyone clicks the article.
He's not an idiot.
He's just using poll to make money.
And yes, I am entirely aware I'm a YouTuber making a video about what's happening.
Because, like clockwork, the system churns And it benefits everybody in some way, and that's why I feel like what we're looking at?
Dominoes falling over that can't be stopped.
Listen, I understand that me bringing this up and calling attention to it is still beneficial to Right-Wing Watch.
Now people are going to hear about them.
But I'm not going to sit back and not talk about it.
There's the challenge.
I don't trust Right-Wing Watch when they write about this because it's nonsense.
It's just a clown meme.
I'm not entirely sure what it actually means because many people will tell you it means something different.
One of the common themes as to what the Honkler meme means is that they've kind of given up on the world because it's so crazy, it's become satirical, and you might as well laugh about it like this, where everyone's screaming, and then when Honkler goes by, everyone's happy and laughing.
It seems to be a kind of nihilistic, because the world is so bad, it might as well be a parody, so instead of being depressed, just laugh about it.
That's what the meme is probably more akin to as opposed to a symbol of racism.
Yet, Right Wing Watch would tell you otherwise.
Now look, again, I don't know exactly what the meme means.
I've scrolled through a bunch of posts on Twitter and threads on 4chan.
I've Google-searched it.
I've read Know Your Meme.
And a lot of people have a different understanding of it.
But for the most part, it's literally just a clown meme.
It's just a clown frog that makes people laugh with nonsense.
Sure, racists are going to use it.
But there's another benefit to what they're doing in media by propagating these lies.
If today, you post a picture of bunny ears, right?
You know, you take a photo of your friends and you make the two-finger symbol behind their heads.
Well, what happens in a year when 4chan decides that symbol means something, Right Wing Watch, wanting to get donations or for whatever, paranoia, whatever reason, claims it's a white supremacist symbol, then the media writes about it, and there's you, in a photograph, making that symbol.
They can then retroactively claim, you are secretly a racist this whole time, please, the threat is real, and we uncovered it for you, you must donate to us.
And then, of course, you have the media, which follows suit, because outrage generates traffic.
And I get it.
It's paradoxical.
Me calling that out is, in a sense, going to make people feel like this is silly, they're going to laugh about it, they're going to want to watch, and then it benefits me.
I don't know what the solution is.
I can only try to call out the nonsense and try and bring nuance to the conversation.
But I don't have nearly enough power or reach to stop the narrative from existing, because you have all of these companies that want to convince you the symbols really are racist, and then guess what happens?
Racists use them, don't stop using them, regular people stop using them, and congratulations media, congratulations right-wing watch, you created the symbol!
Not the racists, not regular people, you did!
Let's take a look at the OK gesture to give you an example of how this nonsense persists.
The Wikipedia entry actually talks about the hoax perpetrated by 4chan to push Operation OKKK to trick people into thinking it was a white power hand gesture.
We then see a photo like this, where you have police officers making the OK hand gesture on their legs.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Alabama officers suspended for alleged white power gesture.
However, Note the difference.
They're making the okay hand gesture on their legs, which Wikipedia refers to as the circle game, where once you do this, if someone sees it, you get to punch them.
It was central to an episode of Malcolm in the Middle.
In the late 2010s, the circle game became an online phenomenon.
Unfortunately for these police officers, the narrative changed because the media chased after a prank perpetrated by a relatively small group of people, and thus, these cops are now racist.
If you've ever played the circle game and there's a photo of it, they'll claim you are secretly making a white power hand gesture.
The media created it.
Not the people.
The game has existed for a long time.
Malcolm in the Middle was what?
The 2000s?
But the media changes the narrative just because they want to get the clicks, they want to make the money for whatever reason.
Some of them are activists and they want to create this narrative so they can recruit people to their side and convince them that racists are everywhere.
Hong Kong is a joke.
Hong Kong the meme to many people was just a symbol of the world being satirical, a parody, and that you should be happier instead of being sad about it.
That's not entirely what it means because, again, memes mean different things to different people and it's hard to know exactly what the definition of a meme is, but now you have Right Wing Watch beginning the process of far-right genesis, whatever you want to call it, where they turn a meme or a symbol that's used by many people into a racist symbol.
Do racists use it?
They do.
But racists drink water, too.
I kid you not.
They've even tried claiming that milk is racist.
Because if the right is doing it, clearly, that's the only reason.
But this brings me back to the point I made earlier and my final point on the matter.
When you're in this tiny authoritarian left bubble, you don't see people using memes.
Because people here aren't allowed to engage in anything that could be offensive or hate speech.
So if someone makes a joke, it could be offensive.
They're much more averse to these behaviors.
But even over here on the left libertarian spectrum, where you might find Bernie Sanders, people over here have fun, they make jokes, and they use memes.
But these people can't distinguish it.
They don't understand the difference, or they do, and they're just bad people who want to make money, so they manipulate people and they lie.
All of a sudden, then, they see a bunch of white nationalists drinking milk, and they say, oh my god, the white nationalists are drinking milk, and then the media picks it up, runs wild, and congratulations, milk is racist, even though everyone drinks milk.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Give me your take on the Hong Kong meme.
Is it really racist?
Or do you think I'm right that they're just fanning the flames to get donations?
Comment below.
Keep the conversation going.
You can follow me on Mines at Timcast.
Stay tuned to new videos every day at 4 p.m.
Eastern on this channel.
And I'll have more videos for you on my second channel, YouTube.com slash Timcast News, starting at 6 p.m.
