Both Jim Ridolfo's rhetorical velocity theory and Richard Dawkins' meme theory can be used to analyze the creation, rise to popularity, eventual public backlash, and the attempted reclamation of the Pepe the Frog meme. By analyzing how rhetorical velocity can be used as you compose a text-- for example, considering the medium in which it how it might be shared and how it might be edited or recomposed to fit a different context-- it is possible to anticipate how a meme might be created, spread, and recomposed at an exponential rate by third parties. In the case of Pepe the Frog, creator Matt Furie was aware when the meme first started to spread but did not consider that it might one day be appropriated as a hate symbol. Because of the permanent manner in which memes and other digital media is spread, remixed, and archived for future study, it is impossible for Furie to reclaim the meme in any real way because the damage has already been done, or, to use Dawkins' metaphor, the virus has already been spread.