We don’t expect much out of The Mary Sue, an SJW pop-culture site that pretends to matter. It’s so relevant, in fact, that a story from the end of August about supposedly neo-Nazi-themed children’s books didn’t even get noticed by some of the people mentioned in it until a couple of days ago.
The book featured in the article is actually about a frog named Pepe. Pepe is a symbol of the alt-right and called a “hate symbol” by the Anti-Defamation League. But “neo-Nazi”? The book is about “Pepe and his caterpillar friend Pede battling ‘Alkah’ the alligator.” According to the author, Alkah has an army of “pink creatures covered in mud that look similar to women in burqas.” I guess it’s now considered “neo-Nazi” to make Muslims the villains in a children’s story.
However, the book, The Adventures of Pepe and Pede, was originally self published. The Mary Sue proceeded to have some fun with it.
Looking through their catalogue, it’s almost tempting to reverse my feelings on book burning. We’ve got Go the F**k to Jail: An Adult Coloring Book of the Clinton Scandals, The Social Justice Warrior Handbook with a cover pull-quote from Ann Coulter, and my personal favorite from the garbage heap: Thump: The First Bundred Days, about the “winningest of bunnies” fighting all those “traitors and crooks and old establishment guard / And rabid media watchdogs unchained from their yard!”
Of course, there’s no mention that none of these books are actually neo-Nazi. The fact is that they simply posit a political position the author disagrees with. Still, because they’re all pro-Trump in some way, shape, or form, they, of course, should be lumped in with neo-Nazis.
There’s just one problem with using Thump for that. Its author is an Asian American:
TheMarySue called me Nazi: sure about that? @douglasernst @DoctorDooomile @DiversityAndCmx @MindOfMicahC @nerkish https://t.co/rCyXeFmtNR pic.twitter.com/BOZmb6MS39
— Donald Thump (@POTUSThump) September 12, 2017
Whoops.
Even if the author, Timothy Lim, wanted to hang with white supremacists, they wouldn’t have him.
Meanwhile, The Mary Sue is doing everything it can to help Trump get a second term as president. After all, one thing people really love is being called racists and neo-Nazis for disagreeing with someone’s political positions. There’s no way that will backfire, right?
Only it did.
And it will.
Say what you want about Trump, but to label all his supporters as racists, misogynists, homophobes, transphobes, and every other kind of evil you can think of won’t demonize them in the minds of your average voter. After all, the middle-of-the-road voters who actually decide elections are watching friends they’ve known for years be slandered simply because they pressed the wrong place on the voting machine. They see it and they internalize it. No one wants to support a bigot, but those middle-of-the-road voters see who the bigots are…and it’s not their Trump-supporting friends.
So please: keep it up. I look forward to the tearful expression you’re all bound to have come November 2020.
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