@6 Think about how you would feel if your creation, something you spent literally years working on and developing, was appropriated by a bunch of cretinous internet nazis. Also, words, symbols and metaphors are the currency of ideology.
@7: Meh, it's tantamount to saying that white nationalists "appropriated" emoticons, or text- speak, or "liking" stuff on Facebook. It's not that the alt right took any particular shine to Pepe, it's that Pepe is such a ubiquitous meme that he's been used by practically every group there is.
Some out-of-touch old fuddy-duddies saw Pepe first when being trolled by white nationalists and jumped to the conclusion that Pepe was a racist meme. Sure, you could whine that the alt-right is appropriating Pepe, but you could just as easily roll your eyes at the doofuses who made that assumption because they couldn't be bothered to Google and find out more about Pepe.
Is there ANYONE on the Stranger staff that are under fourty years old? This is painful.
Some out-of-touch old fuddy-duddies saw Pepe first when being trolled by white nationalists and jumped to the conclusion that Pepe was a racist meme. Sure, you could whine that the alt-right is appropriating Pepe, but you could just as easily roll your eyes at the doofuses who made that assumption because they couldn't be bothered to Google and find out more about Pepe.