IF YOU are one who enjoys reading the comments on Facebook posts, chances are you have come across a headbanging purple bird.
The meaning of the purple bird is very confusing with the meme going from innocent sticker to a right-wing symbol used by fascists and Neo-Nazis.
Originating from Florida artist and Adobe creative resident Syd Weller, the “Trash Dove” is part of a sticker set featuring a large-eyed purple pigeon in various situations — most notably the bird vigorously thrashing its head up and down.
The sticker suddenly went viral after being featured alongside a dancing cat on a Facebook page with millions of followers.
After going viral, Trash Dove became the focus of dozens of memes and fan art, which includes porn based on the purple pigeon.
But now the symbol has moved past light trolling and is considered to be an alt-right meme used to spread neo-Nazi propaganda.
A campaign dubbed “Operation Nazi Bird” from 4chan’s /pol/ message board — the epicentre of far-right extremist activity — was responsible for the shift.
The campaign called for the alt-right to use the bird to clog up the comment section of prominent leftist Facebook pages.
Users are also being encouraged to start photoshopping Trash Dove into images of
Nazi propaganda, with users quick to comply.
Nazi propaganda, with users quick to comply.
Is the Trash Dove meme a symbol for Neo-Nazis?Source:Supplied
While not everyone associates the meme with Nazi propaganda, it’s apparent some people have been taking the bait.
People are starting to get upset over this meme.Source:Supplied
So in closing, Trash Dove started as a simple Facebook sticker, before far-right trolls on 4chan attempted to make it a neo-Nazi symbol. Where it will go to now is anyone’s guess.
Trash Doves began their lives as Facebook stickers designed by Florida artist, Syd Weller, to help us all express our emotions through the medium of a purple pigeon stuck in a donut.
The people of Thailand loved Trash Dove, and the sticker pack soon became a global sensation.
But rather than recognise the stickers as shallow, mindless entertainment, some people have decided to use Trash Dove as a vessel for their alt-politics.
As with most dark political plots, it all started on 4Chan when reams of pallid Twitter trolls with Neo-Nazi ideologies decided to appropriate Trash Dove for their own evil means.
In a plot to mess with online liberal commentators, trolls have been moulding Trash Dove’s image into Nazi symbolism, dying the eagle emblem of Nazi Germany purple and combining it with Pepe…
You know, to make it their own.
The trolls have been playing with Trash Dove to freak out anti-Fascists in the most playground tactics we’ve seen since conkers were allowed on school grounds.
In doing so, however – in the name of online banter – Neo-Nazis have actually shared Trash Dove so many times they managed to appropriate the purple pigeon and turn it into a symbol of fascism.
Of course, some liberals have responded by encouraging people to stop using Trash Dove, for fear of spreading white supremacy. Groups have even threatened to block users if they spread the ‘white nationalist’ symbol.
This is the lowest, lamest, saddest example of a simple Facebook sticker being used as a symbol in a futile online culture war.
With the alt-right 4Chan white supremacist trolls constantly agitating and antagonising, it seems nothing – not even humanity’s universal hatred of Trash Dove – is pure and sacred and free from the shackles of politics anymore.
