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
This differs little in my mind from David Duke’s run for governor of Louisiana in 1991. His Democratic opponent, Edwin Edwards, was (unlike Hillary) provably corrupt. Democrats and Republicans held their noses and voted for him; there were bumper stickers that read “Vote for the Crook — It’s Important.” Do with that what you will.
Oh really?
You do know I can scroll up and see what you wrote, right? That kinda makes it harder to gaslight.
How generous of you to not hold voting for Clinton against me. That’s so kind. Thanks ever so for your permission!
/s
I’m not implying it. I’m stating it out right. If you cared about women, POC and LGBTQI people, you would not sit back and let a literal fascist win the election. You can say you care all you like, your actions matter more.
Take several seats, bro. I’m not in anyway saying the foreign policy of Democrats is perfect. But how is having Trump in the white house – a man who, let me reiterate thinks Mexicans are rapists and murderers and thinks Muslims should be banned – going to help any of those people? At least Clinton doesn’t think that Putin invading Ukraine is funny and cool.
Stop using marginalized people in other countries as a shield. Stop using them as a way to try and silence people who are speaking in defense of marginalized people here. I have a really hard time believing you give a rat’s ass about oppressed people elsewhere if you can be so cavalier about the lives of oppressed people here. What’s next? Are you going to tell us that we should stop objecting to street harassment because women in “third world” countries have it so much worse?
I fail to see how letting someone who would nominate an anti-abortion justice to the Supreme court where they’ll serve for decades is respecting me? Please explain. Because in my book, respect is a whole lot more than refraining from name calling or swearing.
Please also explain why this is the election you’re deciding to not vote/vote third party instead of previous elections when there’s no appreciable difference policywise between Clinton and Obama.
You know what? I actually have been pretty respectful. I didn’t call you names either. Nothing like that. I’ll be a whole lot less nice if Trump wins the election because liberals didn’t get off their asses and vote for the only one standing in his way. Trust me, I will have no problem holding those people personally accountable and I will not use nice language while doing it.
I’m not going to prioritize your feelings over the lives of marginalized people and if you think you can guilt trip me into doing so, you obviously haven’t been here long and don’t know me yet.
@Axecalibur:
I absolutely do not mean to be defending anyone who makes racist or sexist or transphobic memes or jokes, no matter their political stripe. I only intended to point out that assholes exist in every group, and are not necessarily representative of the opinions of that entire group. (Sometimes they are, of course. MRAs are assholes, full stop.)
I also do not mean to imply that rational people cannot support Clinton (I certainly think a lot of rational people do), and I absolutely do not mean to say that I am more rational or level-headed than anyone here. I think that rational people can disagree, and I didn’t mean to imply anything more. I guess I didn’t make my case clearly, and for that I apologize.
@kupo:
I think that I misinterpreted your comment, and I apologize for my response to it. I suspect you’re a very rational person and I suspect your opinions are very well-informed, and I never meant to imply otherwise.
@Rabid Rabbit:
I’m in kind of a shitty spot here. I’m willing to explain my political position (as it stands for now), but I feel like that would be derailing the conversation. And I am definitely not up for an argument. If people are genuinely curious, maybe I will post some details.
But I think that misses my point. I don’t care if anyone here thinks that *I’m* rational and level-headed. I only mean to say that some people who *are* have not rallied around Clinton. And no, they’re not all white cis het men.
invivoMark, Men’s Rice Activist: The problem is that you (defined here as “literally every anti-Clinton progressive I’ve encountered on the Internet”) are not putting forward a viable alternative to lesser-evilism. (And note, by using that particular phrase, yes, you’re saying that voting for Clinton is supporting an evil individual. So don’t get upset when people point that out.)
Note that I said ‘viable’. That means that it has to actually achieve something. Voting for Jill Stein, or any other protest vote, or even failing to turn out to vote at all, is empowering the Trump campaign, at least in any state where it’s likely to make a difference at all.
So anti-Clintonism, at this point, is a choice between the futile (if you’re not in a swing state) or the potentially disastrous (if you are). There is no situation in which a large turn-out for Stein, or a large stay-home movement, has any actual positive influence. And at that point? It’s just adding a third flavor of lesser evilism to the mix.
Let me show you what the problem is in one link:
http://www.ilgp.org/candidates
I can almost count, on two hands, the total list of Green Party ‘party approved’ candidates in the entire state of Illinois ballot. All 118 seats in the Illinois House of Representatives and 40 of the 59 seats in the Illinois State Senate are up for election this year. But the Greens have only bothered to get on the ballot for the federal elections (President and Senate) and a lone Congressional district. They aren’t even trying to get into the state house.
Now, Illinois is admittedly a very harsh state for third-party candidates, but that fact doesn’t change the very real point that outsider movements have no real ability to change things. The problem is that the revolutionaries have no attention span, no staying power.
Compare the efforts of the Greens to the Tea Party. They started as a loose assortment of anti-Clintonista conservatives in the 90s; they gelled as a formal group in the wake of the Obama ’08 election. During that 10- to 15-year gap, they took over local elections in every Republican-dominated territory they could. School boards, county sheriffs, all of ’em. It didn’t really matter what the position was–they pushed for one of their candidates to be on the ballot, with an “(R)” next to their name. And over time, they got to the point where, despite being a minority group (they never actually poll much over 20-25%, even in their strongholds), they could dominate the discussion by forcing rank-and-file GOPers to choose between them or the Democrat.
The Greens and BernieBusters and other progressive revolutionaries, though, want to win it all in one fell swoop. Just get the Presidency, and everything else will fall into line. It’s little better than saying you’ll skip the bus and take a unicorn to work. It doesn’t matter if the bus runs late, is crowded and smells like a urinal, it’s still better than the damn non-existent unicorn.
Some people supported Sanders simply because he was anti-establishment. A few probably switched over to Trump because they don’t care about left vs right as long as someone sticks it to the establishment.
Who said that all Bernie supporters were like this? Oh, right. Nobody said it.
So why did you feel the need to roll up in here and point out that there are assholes in every group? Why did you feel the need to make the thread all about you and your hurt fee fees?
Look, you have every right to vote or not vote for whoever you want. But I have every right to explain how failing to stop Trump will harm me and people that I am also concerned about. Other people have the right to do the same.
And did you really just #notyourshield?
I’m sure the Bernie or busters are not 100% comprised of cishet white men. But it is mostly cishet white men from what I’ve seen. There’s a reason for that.
I am going to stop posting in this thread. I am not a skilled enough communicator to effectively convey my opinions or hold a productive discussion.
Y’all win. I’m going to bed.
As a Bernie supporter myself, I have to say that I’m really shocked by some of these.
Freemage,
Thank you. I was just about to make that point. Real change, whether it’s giving a leftist party a shot at winning elections or whether it’s pushing the Democratic party to the left takes real work. It happens at the local level first and it takes years if not decades. Nailing yourself to the cross every four years and complaining about lesser evils in the presidential election accomplishes nothing whatsoever. That’s not what people want to hear though.
Now, I don’t know InvivoMark well enough to know how much activism he does or does not do. But just speaking generally, most people who whine about the candidates during the presidential cycle are not the doing the all year every year work it takes to change the system. I’m not doing enough myself, so I’m not trying to get self righteous here. But since I don’t attend every meeting of the local party chapter and don’t seek out state wide candidates who are in my estimation Perfect Progressives to passionately volunteer for, I have no right to declare myself too good for the candidates that do get the Democratic nominations.
And we have a sad sack flounce. Oh well. I’m just going to leave this here
and say that I don’t have the luxury of flouncing away from my uterus and the risk that it will be invaded by the party of “small government.” People in my and other demographics targeted by Trump and his ilk don’t have the luxury of going to bed and waking up safer from that threat.
Please forgive me for being TL; DR
I used to read this blog everyday, though I’m extremely introverted so I never commented. I feel compelled to today.
I stopped reading this blog several months ago because there were increasing references to Trump, and he turned my stomach so much that I needed to get away for a while. (Nothing against Futrelle or anyone else here, but I struggle with depression.) I fully intended to return, but in the meantime my husband follows and tells me about posts he knows I’d want to read.
Today he told me to check out this post.
What I saw has both appalled and saddened me. In the post, and in the comment section.
My husband and I are among the Bernie Sanders supporters who won’t vote for Hillary Clinton in November. It’s got nothing to do with her being a woman. I’ve wished all my life that we could elect a woman president, but the president isn’t a mascot. We believe she’ll continue to lead our country down a terrible road–and cause more death and suffering in the world–if elected. So now, with freshly-broken hearts, we’re doing everything we can to give Jill Stein a chance.
We know that may only end up helping Trump get elected, but we’ve come to believe that Trump’s a conman who’ll be more of an embarrassment than a danger, despite his hateful rhetoric. He won’t be backed by congress, even if he believes the things he’s been saying. We want to strengthen third parties so lesser-evilism won’t work on Americans in the future. (Not trying to change anyone’s vote, just explaining our thinking.)
And before anyone calls us privileged–My husband and I live paycheck-to-paycheck. I suffer from an auto-immune disease and related health problems but haven’t been able to see my specialists in several years because we have to choose where to spend our money.
Also, my husband is a Muslim, brown-skinned immigrant. Terrible thoughts race through my mind when he’s even a few minutes late coming home from work, and I fear for him when he puts on his tunic and heads out to the mosque. I hate that I almost want to ask him to hide his religion, because we live in the South and I don’t know anymore how far we’ve actually come in this country. Please understand that we know what people fear about a Trump presidency. We felt that way, too, not long ago. But we’ve become more afraid of the well-oiled machine of war and oppression that has a perfect spot waiting to be filled by a Clinton-shaped gear.
You can disagree with our stance and say we’re making a terrible mistake, but we’re not sexist Bernie-bros. We are feminists. (Or my husband’s an ally, if you prefer.) But we believe Revolution isn’t just a campaign slogan, and though we still love Bernie for what he’s helped us do, we disagree with him about Hillary.
I also want to say that I grew up in an abusive, dysfunctional family, and I see so much of the same kind of abuse being used against us on a large scale by the party that claims to care. I also see misogyny, covert racism, and contempt. Worse, I see that our mainstream media is also engaging in the gas-lighting and propaganda. I think this is largely responsible for the bad name us “Never Hillary” progressives are getting.
With all that said, the memes shown above are disgusting. Only ill-willed, bigoted people would post such garbage, or people who desperately need attention and–for whatever reason–think they’ve found the best way to get it. It goes against everything Our Revolution’s about, and I highly suspect that these people aren’t really who they want us to think they are. I can only say that my husband and I haven’t met anyone like that in our activities online or out in the world at rallies, protests, and organizing events.
But I know nobody has any reason to even believe I’m really who I say I am. But I had to try. I believe very strongly that we must foster understanding and compassion for each other, regardless of our differences. Please don’t let hateful people convince you that they’re somehow a majority just because they talk the loudest or use the foulest imagery.
(To the mod: If you want to alter/remove something from my comment–besides this part addressed to the mod–please delete the whole thing instead. This was incredibly difficult for me to write, emotionally, and I’ve revealed things I don’t talk to anyone about. I know I’m fairly anonymous here, but my heart is pounding all the same as I’m poised to click the “submit Comment” button, so I ask for your understanding. If you don’t allow my comment to be posted, I’ll go away and not attempt to post again. Thank you.)
@sevenofmine
Sounds plausible to me.
likely is at least a part of it.
I don’t know much about Hillary because I’m a 19 year old cishet white guy in a Southern state, but hell if I’m voting for Trump.
look, I dont like Clinton purely based on her participation in covering up Bill’s rapes. I dont expect the war to suddenly end or anything. but Im voting for her so less people die. Trump will close the borders, and that will result in suffering and death. & thats just ONE fucked up thing Trump will do. & hell, Trump is an actual rapist himself, including of children. I couldnt make up a metaphor as apt as that distinction.
Jill Stein isnt much of a choice even if she could win. but Trump has to lose. It really is that simple. & the we just keep fighting the establishment.
@Freemage
exactly why I keep pointing disgruntled Bernie supporters to exactly what Bernie himself has been saying, and not just for this election, but his WHOLE LIFE:
https://www.facebook.com/NowThisElection/videos/1203754426322712/?pnref=story
@invivoMark
I reserve the right to be rude as fuck to someone willing to throw me under the bus to make a political point. So no, on this you are like Jon Snow, you know nothing.
aside from what someone who is a pure narcissist would do, there’s the rest of the GoP platform itself, which is as damaging a platform as I have ever seen in the last 40 years of being conscious of political platforms in the US.
I mean… aside from the trampling of women’s rights, minority rights, LGBT rights… etc etc, they even want to make it easier to create a pure xian theocracy in the US, FFS:
http://time.com/4406567/republican-platform-johnson-amendment-churches-political-organizing/
I think I will just leave this here.
http://qz.com/644985/privilege-is-what-allows-sanders-supporters-to-say-theyll-never-vote-for-clinton/
The ‘totally vote my conscious’ stance reminds me of this comic I saw on facebook
^^ perfect.
You’re fucking right I’m sad. I’m sad because I’m being told voting for perpetual war and corruption is a moral imperative. I’m sad because there have been so many mass killings this year, and every other year in history. I’m sad because police culture perpetuates violence and protects the guilty. I’m sad because of discrimination based on race, gender, and orientation. I’m sad because people are killed for their race, their gender, or their orientation. I’m sad because I can’t fucking do anything about that. I’m sad because Chelsea Manning is being tortured in solitary confinement because she tried to commit suicide. I’m sad because I suffer from anxiety and self-doubt, constant depression, and now apparently insomnia. I’m sad because the project I’ve been working on for the last year and a half was wasted because someone else made a careless mistake early on. I’m sad because I’m not sure if my project will continue to be funded. I’m sad because after working my ass off for 7 years in graduate school, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to graduate. I’m sad because the previous sentence is such a miserable and embarrassing sentence to write. I’m sad because I’ve been losing friends one by one as they all move away. I’m sad because I’m not sure any more if I’m a good person. I’m sad because I think there’s a great group of commenters on this website, and you all probably think I’m an irrational asshole now because I can’t keep my fucking mouth shut.
I’m sad as fuck, and I honestly hope that makes you happy, because then at least SOMEONE would be happy on this shitty miserable fucking planet.
You’re wrong about one thing, though. I didn’t flounce. I stopped writing because I realized that writing more would just make you and myself and everyone else here a lot more miserable, and I don’t fucking want other people to be miserable.
But then, I’m writing stuff again, so maybe I’m wrong about that too.
Unfortunately, I can’t seem to make the image macro link I found take or I would attempt to inject a mote of levity into this thread.
@invivoMark
You can’t fix it, but you can do things about it. Step 1 is vote. Even if not for Clinton, there’s downticket races to be won. Do what you can, ya know?
Oof, my nemesis. If it’s just now, it might just be cos you’re upset. You’ll be fine. If it’s been awhile, you have my sympathies <3
I think you’re a person who fucked up. It happens
@kale
OK, I’ve seen those accusations (that she covered it up, I mean) everywhere, but never substantiated. Just as often, I hear that it’s all been debunked and/or that it’s 90s, Republican bullshit. She definitely did deny the accusations (and did so in a pretty disgusting manner), so she gets no sympathy from me on that front. But ‘cover up’ implies being knowingly, maybe even criminally, deceitful, doesn’t it?
Could you, maybe, point to something that proves the allegations? I’m not asking cos I inherently doubt the story, or cos I doubt that you know what you’re talking about. I’m asking as someone who’s too weak a person to go trawling thru the internet for information about ‘Hillary Clinton’ and ‘rape’. I should find out, but I don’t think I can navigate the Breitbart dominated hellscape of Google results
God, it’s exhausting dealing with people who think their hurt feelings and personal moral compasses are more important than marginalized people’s livelihoods.
This is not an abstract thinking exercise. This is not a consideration of hypotheticals. This is not Debate Club. This is millions of actual fucking lives at stake.
As someone who is 1000% fucked if Trump/Pence get in the White House, I almost didn’t make it through this comment thread.
Thanks for posting that comic, Johanna.
For anyone who needs to find a reason or an excuse or just a cover for their intention to vote for Hillary despite fearing or being opposed to some specific proposal or aspect of her history … there are heaps and heaps of items on the Issues page on her website.
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/ You can choose one of those overall themes from the top line if your interest is the environment or education or whatever. Or you can go through the couple of dozen items linked on the page itself (be warned: most of those pages have further links to fact sheets with even more detail.)
If you’re a woman or you know a woman or two, you could just stick to this page – https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/womens-rights-and-opportunity/
If you’re interested in justice/equality issues generally, hit the Justice and equality tab to get the list of a dozen or so relevant items.