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{{Short description|Antisemitic caricature}}
{{Short description|Antisemitic caricature}}
{{Infobox character
{{Infobox character
|name = Happy Merchant
| name = Happy Merchant
|image = [[File:The Happy Merchant.jpg]]
| image = [[File:The Happy Merchant.jpg]]
|caption = Edited caricature illustration of a stereotypical Jewish man by "A. Wyatt Mann".
| caption = Edited caricature illustration of a stereotypical Jewish man as drawn by "A. Wyatt Mann".
| first = 1940
| first = Artwork by [[Nick Bougas|A. Wyatt Mann]]
| designer = [[Philipp Rupprecht]]
}}
}}


The '''Happy Merchant''' is a common name for an image that depicts an [[Anti-Jewish]] caricature of a Jewish man. The Happy Merchant is common on websites such as [[4chan]] or [[Reddit]] where it is frequently used in a hateful or disparaging context.
The '''Happy Merchant''' is a common name for an image that depicts an [[anti-Jewish]] caricature of a Jewish man. The Happy Merchant is common on websites such as [[4chan]] or [[Reddit]] where it is frequently used in a hateful or disparaging context.


== History ==
== History ==
The image was created by [[Germans|German]] cartoonist [[Philipp Rupprecht]] during the [[Nazi era]], its first known appearance bearing the caption "The Reich is Aryan" in a collection of Rupprecht's cartoons published on [[Adolf Hitler]]'s birthday in 1940 although it's believed to predate this.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 29, 2022|title=Sold at Auction: Fips, Philipp Rupprecht. Das Reich ist Arisch.|url=https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/philipp-rupprecht-das-reich-ist-arisch-110-c-2174fc18ab|access-date=March 3, 2024|website=Invaluable}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=January 29, 2022 |title=Philipp Rupprecht. Das Reich ist Arisch. - Auktionen & Preisarchiv
The image was first created by a cartoonist called A. Wyatt Mann (a [[wordplay|play]] on "A white man"), a pseudonym of [[Nick Bougas]].<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Malice |first1=Michael |author1-link=Michael Malice |title=The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics |date=May 19, 2019|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-250-15467-5 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6FuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |language=en |quote=Under the pen name of 'A. Wyatt Mann,' artist Nick Bougas has drawn many explicitly racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic cartoons where there isn't even a pretense of humor.}}</ref><ref name="wired">{{Cite news|last=Ellis|first=Emma Grey|date=June 19, 2017|title=The Alt-Right Found Its Favorite Cartoonist—and Almost Ruined His Life|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|url=https://www.wired.com/story/ben-garrison-alt-right-cartoonist/|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=May 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702204611/https://www.wired.com/story/ben-garrison-alt-right-cartoonist/|archive-date=July 2, 2018|quote=But internet anti-Semites (or at least people fishing for a reaction) started splicing Garrison's work together with the work of Nick Bougas, aka A. Wyatt Man, a director and illustrator responsible for one of the web's most enduring anti-Semitic images.}}</ref> The image was part of a cartoon that also included a racist caricature of a black man and used these images to say: "Let's face it! A world without Jews and Blacks would be like a world without rats and cockroaches." The cartoon was first released in print, but appeared online in February 2001.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=The Surprisingly Mainstream History Of The Internet's Favorite Anti-Semitic Image|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/the-surprisingly-mainstream-history-of-the-internets-favorit|url-status=live|access-date=July 30, 2021|website=BuzzFeed News|date=February 5, 2015 |page=11|language=en|archive-date=February 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228063743/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/the-surprisingly-mainstream-history-of-the-internets-favorit}}</ref>
|url=https://www.lotsearch.de/lot/philipp-rupprecht-das-reich-ist-arisch-55882039?searchID=6804283|access-date=March 3, 2024|website=LotSearch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 29, 2022 |title=Philipp Rupprecht |url=https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Das-Reich-ist-Arisch/F46D0BEB65915F56B92342FCC8910C9C |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=MutualArt {{!}} Das Reich ist Arisch (1940) {{!}} MutualArt}}</ref> Decades later Rupprecht's image was apparently reproduced in a cartoon signed "A. Wyatt Mann", a [[wordplay|play]] on "A white man" and pseudonym of [[Nick Bougas]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Malice |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6FuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT39 |title=The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics |date=May 19, 2019 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-250-15467-5 |page=40 |language=en |quote=Under the pen name of 'A. Wyatt Mann,' artist Nick Bougas has drawn many explicitly racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic cartoons where there isn't even a pretense of humor. |author1-link=Michael Malice}}</ref><ref name="wired">{{Cite news |last=Ellis |first=Emma Grey |date=June 19, 2017 |title=The Alt-Right Found Its Favorite Cartoonist—and Almost Ruined His Life |url=https://www.wired.com/story/ben-garrison-alt-right-cartoonist/ |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702204611/https://www.wired.com/story/ben-garrison-alt-right-cartoonist/ |archive-date=July 2, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |quote=But internet anti-Semites (or at least people fishing for a reaction) started splicing Garrison's work together with the work of Nick Bougas, aka A. Wyatt Man, a director and illustrator responsible for one of the web's most enduring anti-Semitic images.}}</ref> that also includes a racist caricature of a black man and is captioned: "Let's face it! A world without Jews and Blacks would be like a world without rats and cockroaches." Bougas' cartoon was first released in print but appeared online in February 2001.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=The Surprisingly Mainstream History Of The Internet's Favorite Anti-Semitic Image|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/the-surprisingly-mainstream-history-of-the-internets-favorit|url-status=live|access-date=July 30, 2021|website=BuzzFeed News|date=February 5, 2015 |page=11|language=en|archive-date=February 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228063743/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/the-surprisingly-mainstream-history-of-the-internets-favorit}}</ref>


The stereotypical image of a Jew from the cartoon began to spread on various internet communities, where users began to make variations of it.<ref name=":0" />
The stereotypical image of a Jew from the cartoon began to spread on various internet communities, where users began to make variations of it.<ref name=":0" />

Revision as of 00:01, 4 March 2024

Happy Merchant
Edited caricature illustration of a stereotypical Jewish man as drawn by "A. Wyatt Mann".
First appearance1940
Designed byPhilipp Rupprecht

The Happy Merchant is a common name for an image that depicts an anti-Jewish caricature of a Jewish man. The Happy Merchant is common on websites such as 4chan or Reddit where it is frequently used in a hateful or disparaging context.

History

The image was created by German cartoonist Philipp Rupprecht during the Nazi era, its first known appearance bearing the caption "The Reich is Aryan" in a collection of Rupprecht's cartoons published on Adolf Hitler's birthday in 1940 although it's believed to predate this.[1][2][3] Decades later Rupprecht's image was apparently reproduced in a cartoon signed "A. Wyatt Mann", a play on "A white man" and pseudonym of Nick Bougas,[4][5][6] that also includes a racist caricature of a black man and is captioned: "Let's face it! A world without Jews and Blacks would be like a world without rats and cockroaches." Bougas' cartoon was first released in print but appeared online in February 2001.[4]

The stereotypical image of a Jew from the cartoon began to spread on various internet communities, where users began to make variations of it.[4]

The Happy Merchant meme endorses the idea that Jews secretly conspire to conquer the world.[7]

Description

The image is intended as a derogatory depiction, and employs many stereotypes of Jews. These include:

  • A large, hook-shaped nose ("Jewish nose");
  • A yarmulke (Jewish head garment);
  • A malevolent smile, with a slightly hunched back and hands being rubbed together, to indicate greed or scheming;
  • Balding, tightly curled black hair and a tightly curled black beard.[8]

Use

This image is a form of antisemitic propaganda, common on alt-right internet communities such as 4chan, other "chan" websites, and on other message boards.[9] In 2017, Al Jazeera tweeted an image that included the Happy Merchant on its official English-language Twitter account. The tweet was promoting a story about climate change, and insinuated that Jewish people were behind climate change. Al Jazeera later deleted the tweet, explaining that it had been used in a segment covering alt-right antisemitic climate change conspiracy theories.[10]

A 2018 study published by Savvas Zannettou et al. focused on online antisemitism recorded that the Happy Merchant and its variations were "among the most popular memes on both 4chan's /pol/ board and Gab, two major outlets for alt-right expression.[11] The study found that usage of the Happy Merchant on /pol/ remained largely consistent (with a peak during the US airstrike on Syria in April 2017), while usage of the meme on Gab increased after the Charlottesville rally in August 2017.[12] It was also determined that /pol/ influences the spread of Happy Merchant to other web platforms such as Twitter and Reddit.[13]

The same study also found that the Happy Merchant has been incorporated into other common memes on the site, including Pepe the Frog.[14]

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Sold at Auction: Fips, Philipp Rupprecht. Das Reich ist Arisch". Invaluable. January 29, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  2. ^ "Philipp Rupprecht. Das Reich ist Arisch. - Auktionen & Preisarchiv". LotSearch. January 29, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  3. ^ "Philipp Rupprecht". MutualArt | Das Reich ist Arisch (1940) | MutualArt. January 29, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "The Surprisingly Mainstream History Of The Internet's Favorite Anti-Semitic Image". BuzzFeed News. February 5, 2015. p. 11. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  5. ^ Malice, Michael (May 19, 2019). The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-250-15467-5. Under the pen name of 'A. Wyatt Mann,' artist Nick Bougas has drawn many explicitly racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic cartoons where there isn't even a pretense of humor.
  6. ^ Ellis, Emma Grey (June 19, 2017). "The Alt-Right Found Its Favorite Cartoonist—and Almost Ruined His Life". Wired. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2019. But internet anti-Semites (or at least people fishing for a reaction) started splicing Garrison's work together with the work of Nick Bougas, aka A. Wyatt Man, a director and illustrator responsible for one of the web's most enduring anti-Semitic images.
  7. ^ Perry, Marvin., and Frederick M. Schweitzer.Antisemitic Myths: a Historical and Contemporary Anthology. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008.
  8. ^ Savvas 2019, p. 2.
  9. ^ "The Happy Merchant". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  10. ^ Kestenbaum, Sam (May 31, 2017). "Al Jazeera Tweets, Then Deletes, Anti-Semitic 'Greedy Jew' Meme". The Forward. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  11. ^ Zannettou, Savvas, Tristan Caulfield, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini, and Guillermo Suarez-Tangil. "On the Origins of Memes by Fringe Web Communities." arXiv.org, September 22, 2018. https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.12512.
  12. ^ Savvas 2019, p. 9.
  13. ^ Savvas 2019, p. 11.
  14. ^ Savvas 2019, p. 10.

Bibliography

  • Zannettou, Savvas (November 24, 2019). "A Quantitative Approach to Understanding Online Antisemitism". arXiv:1809.01644 [cs.CY].
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