Remove :ree: emoji from the Discord server

Before you start reading my 2000-year long rant: This is no attack towards anyone here on PokéFarm Q. All I want is a fair and civilized discussion. I know this might be a sensitive topic, but let's all get along and come up with a good solution!

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The "REEEEEEE" meme has a specific emoji on the PokéFarm Q Discord server. This emoji is used quite often in the server to express anger or discomfort. While I'm all in for using fun, meme-y emojis, I can't stand seeing this meme being used in a community that enforces respect for all sorts of people. Which is why I would love to have this emoji removed, or replaced with a variant that is less offensive. Origin of the "REEEEEEE"/Pepe meme "REEEEEEE" is a meme that originated on the website 4chan. For those who don't know what 4chan is: 4chan is a forum in which everyone can post anonymously. 4chan is special because it has very little rules. It has a lot of content (mature, hatemongering, racism) that you'd normally not see on regular forums that are more supervised. This is how a lot of controversies were born on the 4chan, which also affected the rest of the Internet. What has this to do with "REEEEEEE", though? Well, everything. The cartoon frog - we all know them as Pepe the Frog - has been popularized on the very same forum website. Pepe has been used as a far-right symbol for years. Unfortunately, while it started out as innocent humor, Pepe has been used for hate-mongering. (The creator of Pepe, Matt Furie, didn't mean it to become such a symbol, though.) It's been used to promote Nazism/anti-semitism, white supremacy and ableism. It's also been used along with slang "kek" and "REEEEEEE"; these are all used by far-right movements on the Internet. Furthermore... The "REEEEEEE" meme is often associated with another meme, called "Autistic Screeching". People who use this meme often use it against people who are offended in some way. They think being offended, discomforted or just angry is 'autistic'. The same problem arises with the popular word "triggered": people see others who are angry/offended as "triggered", while that's the wrong definition of a trigger. Why remove it? Pepe the Frog simply doesn't fit in our community. The meme stigmatizes people with autism and mental illnesses, has been used to promote racism and fascism. The very background of Pepe is extremely distasteful. It's become synonymous with other hate symbols. Instead, there are a lot of other memes to use to express anger/discomfort and are not ableist! And as a community with a lot of people from all ages and origins, we can all teach each other how to avoid wrong, stigmatized language and toxic meme culture. Aren't you a little too offended? Maybe so! But as someone who has to constantly deal with ableism, both intentional and unintentional, it's tiring to see no end to it. I want to make our community a better place for everyone in a respectful manner. I joined PokéFarm because that's a community I tried to seek. But I'm autistic and I don't take offense to it! Good for you, really! I'm glad you take no offense to the meme. But unfortunately, this can't be said about a lot of other people. The meme has been used specifically to mock a group of people. A bit of empathy for these people wouldn't hurt, wouldn't you agree? Last but not least... I'd love to hear your opinions on this! I've talked with other people about this topic before posting this. Most of them share the same sentiment. It's not something that I've come to blurt out randomly. Which is why I want others to post their take on this suggestion. TL;DR: The :ree: emoji on our Discord server should be removed/changed because its use is very discomforting for autistic people, people who suffer from mental illnesses and minorities. It doesn't fit in our community, which promotes respect and safety.

I appreciate the detail you've put into this. I'll get the mod team to discuss this.

Thank you, it means a lot! I'd love to be kept updated! c:

Would you mind slapping a quick "Yes/No" poll on your thread so we can get a quick overview of whether people think it should be kept or removed?

Done so. Please vote!

Could you post the emoji image? I'm not on the discord server yet and I'm curious.

It's practically this image, but resized to emoji dimensions of course.

I'm not in the server, but I support this regardless. I didn't know the meme was toxic (not that I ever used it anywhere), but it's best to remove it as a whole as it is very toxic and shouldn't be ok to be used anywhere if I'm being honest. Hoping this gets approved and dealt with. >.<

I definitely support removing the emoji. I'm sure there are more... Appropriate options for expressive emojis to replace it with. Even if it's used with innocent intentions, there will be people aware of its history and meaning that could take offence to it.

I do not support this. Symbols have been around for years, just because some idiots decided to use this as a symbol for hate doesn't mean it's inherently bad. As you said people have been using it as a way of expressing anger and discomfort not any kind of hate. What you are trying to do is a way of censoring people simply because you view it as a hate symbol while I on the other hand do not. Take PewDiePie for instance. People say he's raciest and he's a symbol for Nazism but he's really not, he's just a dude trying to live his life making memes and playing video games. If you go around censoring everything you view as hate then you are a problem as well.