^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

National Flag of Kekistan (U.S.)

image by Pete Loeser, 29 August 2017

Introduction

See also:

Introduction

“Kekistan”

In the “Times Literary Supplement” of 6th July 2018, no. 6014, p.3, appears (without an explanation) a photograph of a pro-Trump demonstrator in Washington, carrying the “National flag of Kekistan”. This seems to have been based on the German Reichskriegsflagge of 1935; but with a green rather than a red field, and the emblems changed. In the centre, instead of the swastika, is a sort of cross, the central part formed of three vertical bars, and the “arms’ of a K, each in a different orientation, all in black. In the upper hoist, where the Iron Cross would have been, is an indistinctly seen emblem, apparently of four white heart shapes, outlined in black, each in a different orientation.
Kenneth Fraser, 31 July 2018

The fictitious nation of "Kekistan" has a fictitious flag. It does mimic the German Nazi War Flag, with the Kek logo replacing the swastika and the green replacing the German red. It also has a 4chan logo is emblazoned in the upper left-hand corner. Alt-righters have become particularly fond of this fictitious flag because of the way the its very appearance bothers those able to recognize its Nazi-like design. However, since this flag is widely used among unaffiliated individuals and other American white supremacists it should not be affiliated any particular group. It tends to appear at a variety of demonstrations and I suspect is being carried by one of the many "semi-professional" demonstrators who travel from demonstration to demonstration.
Pete Loeser, 1 August 2018

"Kek" is a translation of the acronym "LOL" (laugh out loud) when reading text written by members of the Horde faction as an Alliance player in the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft (WoW). Since this MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) allows to chat while playing, when Horde players type "LOL", appears to the Alliance as "KEK". “Kek” is also associated with the unrelated Turkish snack food Topkek produced by ETI, which is often discussed on the /s4s/ (Shit 4chan Says) imageboard website 4chan (official website: https://www.4chan.org).

The term has its origins in the Korean language, as the onomatopoeia ㅋㅋㅋ, in which ㅋ stands for the "k" sounds, like in raspy, stifled laughter. In the real-time strategy game Starcraft, because the game originally did not support the Korean language, the onomatopoeia was written as "Kekeke" which can be translated to "Hahaha" in English.

In the online multiplayer role-playing game WoW, released on November 23rd, 2004, players can choose to play on either the Alliance or Horde factions, which are considered enemies within the game's universe. Players of separate factions are unable to communicate with one-another, as their typed text is run through an in-game translator. For players of the Horde faction, typing the letters "LOL" results in members of the Alliance faction reading "KEK".

On March 22nd, 2005, Urban Dictionary user drat submitted an entry for the word “kek,” defining it as “'lol' in Orcish.” On June 19th, 2007, Yahoo Answers member Mr. Questionair submitted a question about cross-faction communication, to which user ArcadianStormcrow replied that when Horde players speak the word “lol,” it shows up as “kek” for Alliance players. On April 4th, 2008, a thread was submitted to the Gamespot Forums which included mentions of “kek” and “lol” among other faction translations. On June 24th, 2009, Wow Insider published an article on communicating with enemies, noting that saying “kek” as an Alliance player will not translate as “lol” to a Horde player. On February 16th, 2010, Wowhead Forums member sistereinstein submitted a thread asking if “kek” was a new slang term for “LOL.” On September 2nd, 2011, an entry for “kek” was submitted to the slang website Internet Slang, defining it as “LOL in WOW.”"
Sources: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/kek,
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/6759237047,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOL#related and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog#Kekistan

"Kekistan is a fictional country created by 4chan members that has become a political meme and online movement. According to Ian Miles Cheong, writing in Heat Street, the name is a portmanteau of "kek" and the suffix "-stan", which is Persian for "place of" and the end of several names of actual Central Asian countries and regions, and Kekistanis identify themselves as "shitposters" persecuted by excessive political correctness. Self-identified Kekistanis have created a fictional history around the meme, including the invasion and overthrow of other fictional countries such as "Normistan" and "Cuckistan". Kekistanis have also adopted Internet personality Gordon Hurd (in his "Big Man Tyrone" persona) as their president and the 1986 Italo disco record "Shadilay" as a national anthem. The record gained attention from the group in September 2016 because of the name of the group (P.E.P.E) and art on the record depicting a frog holding a magic wand.

Since late 2016, the satirical ethnicity has been used by U.S.-based alt-right protesters opposed to what they view as political correctness. These Kekistanis decry the "oppression" of their people and troll counterprotesters by waving the "national flag of Kekistan" (modeled after the Nazi War Flag, with the red replaced by green, the Iron Cross replaced by the logo for 4chan, and the swastika replaced by a rubric for KEK). This flag was prominently displayed at the 2017 Berkeley protest for free speech in mid-April, and the Unite the Right rally in August 2017.

Meanwhile, the site Kekistan.com was launched (currently down, available only through here:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://kekistan.com/ ), including a “Kek manifesto”.

A green anthropomorphic frog with a humanoid body, Pepe originated in a comic by Matt Furie called Boy's Club, in 2005.

The Cult of Kek, also known as the Church of Kek, is a satirical religion based around the worship of the ancient Egyptian deity Kek (also spelled Kuk or Keku), an androgynous God of darkness and chaos who is often depicted as a frog or frog-headed man in male form or a snake-headed woman in female form. This first appeared on November 27th, 2015, when a 4chan user submitted a post about the Egyptian deity to the /his/ (History) board on 4chan, featuring a depiction of the god as a frog-headed man. There is also a website for the "Sovereign Order of Kekistan", which according to themselves, is "a partially recognised fraternal state based in Central Europe and North Africa"(official website: http://kekrepublic.com/)".
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog#Kekistan and
https://micronations.wiki/wiki/Republic_of_Kekistan
Esteban Rivera, 1 August 2018