If the remaining #BernieOrBusters want to convince the world that they are something other than “ridiculous” — as the far more grounded Bernie fan Sarah Silverman so aptly characterized them at the DNC last week — the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash on Facebook isn’t exactly helping.
Bernie himself has bowed to political realities, endorsing Hillary and lending his support for her fight against Trump. Not so Bernie’s Dank Memers. The anti-Trump memes there are surprisingly few and far between. Far more common are memes supporting the Green party’s Jill Stein. And far more common than those are memes attacking Hillary and her supporters with all the subtlety of a channer who’s just mastered MSPaint.
While the anti-Hillary sentiment isn’t that much of a surprise, what is surprising, even a little shocking, is how utterly backwards many of the memes are, echoing classic misogynistic tropes and tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories, and in a few cases, even more bizarrely, repurposing antisemitic propaganda popular amongst GamerGaters and Internet Nazis.
Why would the supporters of a Jewish socialist repeatedly post pictures of Hillary Clinton as the “Happy Merchant?” You’ll have to ask them.
Let’s take a look at some of the more, well, colorful memes.
There’s this lovely reworking of an old sexist joke:
And this slightly more original offering.
Here’s Hillary as a beauty pageant winner.
And as a porn star:
Here’s a meme inspired, I guess, by Pokemon Go?
This one manages to add transphobia to the mix:
This meme links Hillary with a woman who was famously not convicted of murdering her daughter. At least in a court of law; in the court of public opinion she was considered guilty, guilty, guilty. Apparently in the mind of the mememaker, Hillary not being indicted for deleting emails is the literal equivalent of Casey Anthony getting away with murder?
There are memes that echo Trump’s, er, “critique” of Hillary:
This one, while directed at disgraced DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, offers an apologia of sorts for Melania Trump’s plagiarism.
And here’s one promoting a hashtag that originated with far-right attack dog — and fervent Trump fan — Mike Cernovich.
And no, I have no idea what’s really going on with her tongue.
There are some memes that reek of conspiracy theory, though it’s a little hard to tell how many Bernie fans take these seriously.
There are a surprising number of memes depicting Hillary as a reptilian space alien. I’m going to assume they’re all meant as jokes, because it’s too depressing to contemplate otherwise.
Naturally, there are more than a few memes attacking Sarah Silverman for her “ridiculous” remark, with many of the mememakers assuming she was paid to make it.
But it’s the “Happy Merchant” memes that truly baffle.
Here’s a typical “Happy Merchant” meme, using the now-infamous cartoon that originally appeared in a neo-Nazi newsletter.
And here’s Hillary in the same role, from the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash:
The most depressing thing? This isn’t just some random Facebook page. The Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash page has more than 438,000 members. I can only hope most of them are less backwards than those posting memes on the page today.
H/T — r/againstmensrights
@invivoMark
David has covered some of the shit Hillary supporters have said about Bernie (or at least I remember that because I’m trying to find the link to it), including the gross memes, it’s just since Hillary has the nomination, this has been happening more to her now.
Also, because I’m not done with this…
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/Nononono.gif
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/nnnn.gif
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/dracula.gif
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/krvs.gif
Now that all reality-based Sanders supporters know that the Sanders campaign is over, the fan spaces online are dominated by the worst of the worst bernsters. Most people have moved on to focusing on the general election, while the delusional trolls are still trying to win the primary. It’s no surprise that the memes also become more delusional.
I actually found a really neat article on “brocialism”
https://medium.com/@marcushjohnson/we-should-call-brocialism-what-it-is-white-populism-ad257608ed52#.b47bdn5e3
The takeaways:
-Brocialists see any and all societal ills as being related to economic issues. Therefore they think fixing the economy–and fixing it their way–will result in the other issues being fixed.
-Thus they dislike intersectionality and looking at feminism/racism because they see it as merely a distraction from the class struggle which is of course the only real struggle.
-“This cycle has seen brocialists push back, trying desperately to refocus the Democratic Party on the white working class and their economic needs.”
This. This kind of bs make me so fucking angry out of my skull. Sorry but, Jesus Christ. White racist misogynists are voting for him. White racist misogynists are who he will govern for. No, no one will “wake up” because the cold water would barely kiss their white buttcheeks.
Even IF WWIII starts, considering the American military power, who will suffer most STILL won’t be his voters-who are kind fond of wars.
For some, white american citizens, mostly, it’s like choosing between white or brown bread. For other people, it’s like choosing between moldy old bread and poison. And lot’s of the concerned (most, even) can’t even vote.
America has the power, but also the responsibility. Think well.
I’ll shut up now.
Yikes! I scrolled through quickly and initially thought those were memes from Trump fans! (I was confused by the 9″ vs 1.8″ one on that account)
@Fabe
Throwing women, minorities, the disabled and LGBTQ+ people under the bus is not okay and there are exactly 0 historical instances where burning things to the ground led to more liberal policies not less.
@invivoMark
I’m sorry people have been nasty to you, it’s never a good form no matter what your affiliation. But I have to admit I understand some of the impulse behind it, even if understanding doesn’t excuse it.
Despite who is actually on the ballot, the reality is that one of two people is going to be the next president of the United States: Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. There are lot of reasons that this doesn’t seem fair, but there’s nothing we can do to rectify it right now. Binary choices like this make it seem like not supporting one side automatically makes you a supporter of the other side. And when the other side wants to demonize you for the way you were born, it’s really difficult to see nuances and shades of grey in other people’s positions.
I think IP makes a solid point: the sensible, mature adults inside the Democrat Party have all rallied around Clinton, regardless of whom they supported in the primaries. The only people left are those for whom maturity and reason were never factors to begin with.
@Kereea
That article is great, thank you for sharing. I have seen this attitude in action quite a bit lately and it’s nice to have a label for it.
There’s a considerable amount of antisemitism on certain parts of the far left, particularly related to some of the anarchists involved in the anti-globalization and anti-war protests in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s (obviously not everyone in the anti-globalization or anti-war movements and not “mainstream” socialists/Marxists/anarchists). A number of people on the far right, including Alex Jones, opposed the Iraq war and influenced people on the far left who had less ideological or theoretical grounding. There was also influence from some left wing Palestinian groups with antisemitic tendencies (of course, pro-Palestinian doesn’t equate to antisemitic) and various Leftists got into conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. For example, the magazine CounterPunch has an eclectic mix of left wing and right wing positions, including opposition to gun control and regulations against hate speech.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if a small number of Bernie’s supporters weren’t at least somewhat influenced by all this.
@EJ: Stop it.
Inviviomark,
Sorry, but you’re kind of making the point of those who complain about Bernie bros and brocialist. You’re calling voting for the candidate who would never nominate someone to the Supreme Court who would roll back reproductive rights evil? I guess that’s really easy to say when it’s not your bodily autonomy at stake. It’s an evil to vote for the candidate who would not sign draconian immigration laws? The candidate who did not say that Mexicans are rapists and Muslims should be banned? Really? I guess that’s easy to say if you don’t have to worry about deported, if you will never have to carry around papers because you are perceived as an immigrant.
I share concerns that Clinton is too cozy with Wall Street, but economic oppression is not the only oppression that exists and not the only one that matters.
You know what hurts my feelings? That the only oppression that Bernie or busters give any kind of shit about just so happens to be the one that affects white cishet men. That the bodies and the lives of the rest of us matter less than passing an anti-establishment purity test. That anyone could ever think that when we’re up against a probable rapist who spews literal Nazi rhetoric, that it could possibly be okay to take your ball and go home. That’s not taking a stand. That’s throwing those who aren’t privileged enough to withstand having a fascist in the White House to the fucking wolves. Please pick some other election to longer vote for the “lesser of two evils.”
@Fabe and everyone else going lol trump should win.
YAY I LOVE BEING KILLED TO MAKE A POINT BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK SOMEHOW HILLARY IS MORE EVIL THAN TRUMP, LOL.
No, seriously, I’m a disabled latina woman with family that is fully Mexican. A LOT of Mexicans.
So fuck you and fuck that.
No love,
Me
Also, have a trans cousin and a gender fluid child, so they’d be dead too. =__= I fail to see how burning down the house to spite our parents is a good way to get things passed so FUCK THAT.
thank you, wwth:cb
you stated what choosing to stay home means very well.
I dislike Clinton. Still, about 99% of the criticism people have against her aren’t actually reality based. It’s a combination of misogyny and hatred of the establishment, just very very thinly veiled as concern about the fact she is mostly a centrist.
Anyone who think Clinton is evil or would be a worse president than Obama is delusional. Some anvil need to be dropped, and the anvil here is “wake up, Clinton isn’t actually a witch and it’s very far from certain that Bernie would have been really hard on Wall Street”.
Heck, if you really can’t in good faith vote for her, leave the Presidential vote blank and vote the down-ticket stuff that’s important to you.
@WWTH: This is exactly the shit I hate seeing.
I never, ever said that voting for Clinton is “evil.” I didn’t say anything that could reasonably imply anything of the sort. What I said – and I very honestly believe this – is that I totally respect people who plan to do so. I completely understand. I don’t hold it against you. I support you and all the reasons you support Clinton.
Can I be any more clear about that?
And don’t you dare imply that I don’t give a shit about oppression of non-white, non-cis, or non-male people. I could very easily turn that around on you and say that you don’t give a shit about Syrian or Yemeni or Hondurans or Haitians or Libyans. But you know what? I’m not saying that. Because I honestly think you do care about them. And I won’t hold your concern about them hostage contingent on you withdrawing your support of Clinton.
I’m willing to respect you. I’m pleading for that respect in return.
This makes me sick to my stomach that there are people in this thread supporting voting Trump or at the very least laughing at the idea of him getting elected. What, does it have to be someone close to you getting threatened before you listen? Like all the assholes who don’t think about how misogyny is a bad thing until they consider the possibility it could happen to their own daughter/sister/mother?
WWTH: Always on point.
@invivoMark
You left out this part:
I guess we’re not being level-headed and rational enough with our carefully considered opinions about our goddam lives.
@kupo:
Please don’t tell me that I don’t care about your life, or about anyone else’s.
@Everyone else:
Please stop telling me what I care about and what my opinions are if I haven’t stated or implied them.
@invivoMark
No. You’re a welcome and valuable member of this community. Nobody here hates you. I don’t anyway
How the fuck ever. You don’t get to say that ‘some feminists are assholes too’ when someone brings up Berniebro bullshit. You don’t get to assume that those who vote for Clinton are only doing so out of fear. You definitely don’t get to then say that you are rational in comparison. You don’t get to guilt us into not addressing your nonsense, cos other people were jerks to you. You don’t get to do all that and say we’re the bad guys
Most of all, you don’t get to do that and not realize it. Cos I don’t think you realize that’s what you did. But you did. Stop doing it, please
@invivoMark
I didn’t say a damn thing about what you feel. I talked about my life and how I feel.
@invivoMark:
So tell us.
What are your reasons for not voting for her, and why is the threat of Trump not great enough for you to consider holding your nose and voting for her anyway?
Seriously. You haven’t explained your position. You have not given us any evidence for us to consider that you are one of those “rational, intelligent, level-headed people with carefully-considered opinions,” because you haven’t given us your opinions, so we can’t evaluate their merit. All you’ve done is go “Wah! Stop being mean!” while asking us to take on faith that you’ve thought everything through, and that you care about people.
There are a lot of intelligent, level-headed people here with carefully-considered opinions who are willing to debate things in a reasonable, respectful way. Give us a reason to.
@invivoMark:
I was respectful and civil to you, but now MY feelings are hurt because you’re overlooking me in favor of nursing your own sense of hurt.