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
Bernie said he wouldn’t have stopped Obama’s drone program all the way back in 2015. Can someone tell me how that magically is not *war*?
I’m also a Brit, living with a FPTP voting system, so at least I have some notion of the utter bind that is the two-party system. For me the crucial thing to do is support and vote for the candidate/party who are going to stop the tories (and anyone to their right, obviously), and nationally the only party here that can realistically have a cat’s chance of stopping the tories is currently labour (in some specific locations it’s one of the other parties but where I am it’s labour).
Here we have seen the emergence of a principled, honest socialist politician in the labour party, with an upwelling of socialist support – less than a year old – that the parliamentary labour party is actively working hard to crush, with millionaire funding and backroom connections to the mainstream media and absolutely any dirty trick they can muster.
So some hypothetical person who roughly agrees with me could find themself in the position of having to choose between a tory, a third-party candidate who is absolutely great (a Green party candidate, for example) but who has no chance of winning, and a labour candidate who actively worked to crush socialism. I would be consumed by the desire to kick any such candidate as hard as I could – and I would certainly not want to help them get a well-paid position which they would use to jeer at socialism and crow their victory over it.
BUT FW little IW, if I were in that position I would still swallow my anger and vote labour – even for a labour party candidate I loathed – because I know the only alternative in reality is another tory victory, and another tory victory means even more suffering for the most disadvantaged both here and abroad.
I’m lucky in one sense, because the labour MP in my location is one of the good ones – but I’m looking across the pond, and reminding myself that even the worst of labour is better for the disadvantaged than the tories are.
Sanders and his support have dragged/are dragging the Democrats and the whole Overton window leftward, as Corbyn and his support are dragging the labour party and the whole discourse of politics leftward in the UK. How far and how lastingly is not yet known, but no matter what happens, that is valuable in itself.
I’m afraid I don’t have time to read the comment thread now (I have to get to work), but I promise to do so later.
In the meanwhile,
I support Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders has conceded the race and now supports Hillary Clinton. Therefore, by the transitive property, I now support Hillary Clinton. Enough said.
In truth, I really do respect Hillary, and I think she’s getting rather unfairly portrayed in the media, especially about the email thing.
I’m not sure I really understand the ‘inches’ meme. I’m guessing that it’s supposed to refer to penis size, and that they’re trying to imply that Hillary was AMAB, but do people still actually measure self worth by the size of their junk? I always thought that was a joke…
Apologies if it’s already been addressed above.
Oh, don’t worry @Axe, I’m a disabled latina, I’m used to being ignored. The only reason anyone listens to me at first blush is because I’m white passing. =__=
Most of the Bernie or Busters don’t like what WWTH and I have to say because it makes them realize they’re being willfully blind at worst and just foolish at the best. And not to mention EXTREMELY ignorant of how the system works at all.
@Alan
Florida though. If 2000 was any indication, they might vote for Dubya this time.
At any rate, if Trump doesn’t win, there’ll be talk of “voter fraud” all over the place. Conspiracy theories, wild accusations, you name it. Not to mention Andrew Anglin (and a lot of other shitty people coincidentally named Andrew) calling for armed riots and whatnot.
… there’s no way to win, is there ?
Boobury,
I doubt you’ll even get a response. The Bernie or busters have assured us that they’ve thought things through, have their reasons, and those reasons are totally rational. But going back and looking at their posts, they’re all about feelings. Hillary Clinton is bad and her supporters are kind of mean.
I may have been emotional too, but at least I laid out some pragmatic reasons why she’s the only one to vote for. So have other posters. They’ve been ignored.
I’m not seeing any clear explanation as to what would be so different about a Clinton presidency as opposed to what Sanders would do or what Obama did do. I’m not seeing any clear explanation as to why a Clinton and Trump presidency would be interchangeable and I’m not seeing any reason that it would improve the country to vote third party or not vote at all. It’s all about Hillary Clinton is bad and voting for her would feel bad. Real world effects of a Trump presidency be damned. They wouldn’t want to not be 100% happy about their vote.
I’m certainly not seeing evidence anywhere about what the game plan for the off presidential years are. What they’ll do to improve the party for the next time.
That’s what’s been so frustrating about this thread.
@ sinkable
The 2000 election was messy; but (apart from maybe the odd punch-up at counting stations) it didn’t turn violent. Both parties were willing to leave it to the courts to decide, and the loser accepted the result however disappointed he may have been.
Neither Al Gore, or in fairness George Bush, was whipping up their followers to resort to violent insurrection if the result didn’t go their way.
(It’s interesting though over here that some of my military buddies are now seriously considering what will happen if Trump wins. There are some worried people in NATO at the moment.)
And to expand more on the whole presidency not being a monarchy thing, there’s also the legislative branch.
Obama actually accomplished quite a lot while in office. Much of it during the brief time the Democrats had a huge majority in the house and Senate. Then 2010 happened. People didn’t vote because they weren’t feeling it. A Republican party who pledged as soon as Obama took office that they’d obstruct everything got into power and did exactly that.
So now, the same peoplewho very well may have been the ones who stayed home during the midterm elections have the nerve to say that they won’t vote for Clinton because Obama didn’t usher in a progressive utopia all by himself? Even though how Bernie would be able to create a progressive utopia all by himself isn’t clear.
Actually, the Bernie or busters are just like the current GOP Congress. Didn’t get how exactly who you want in the White House? Burn it all down! No matter what damage it will do.
It’s kind of sad that I’m having to explain to grown ups about the 3 branches of US government. But as Joanna said, these posters seem to not care to understand how the system works at all.
I’ve seen polls showing that 91% of Bernie supporters will now vote for Clinton. The others are bitter so let them post their silly memes. Just goes to show who they really are anyways.
Somewhat OT —
Andrew Ti over at “Yo, is this racist?” made this joke petition: https://www.change.org/p/donald-trump-donald-trump-prove-to-the-american-people-that-this-is-normal-and-not-a-weird-sex-thing
I don’t know, it might be a joke, but I do think it’s important enough to sign.
@Alan
Well I only meant to reference how in 2000, some voters in Florida appeared to have, err, interesting views on how to cast a vote. Apparently a large number voted for Pat Buchanan, among other hilarious things.
As for this election… well I can’t disagree there. I’d never seen such a mess before, nor did I want to.
Remember just a year back when Trump announced his candidacy and everyone thought the joke absolutely hilarious ? Good times.
People are making excellent points in this thread so I feel bad to be the one to go Godwin but there is, I think, a valid reason to do so.
It’s probably worth bearing in mind that the Nazis never actually achieved a majority vote. The highest percentage they achieved was in the rather suspect (days after the Riechstagg fire) 1933 election, and that was only 44%. In the last real election they achieved 34%.
The majority of the electorate was anti Nazi. However the vote was split between the social democrats and the communists. Neither side was willing to back down and they spent more time campaigning against each other than the actual Nazis. Obviously they had their differences but I suspect they had much more of a common interest than they had any commonality with Hitler; and of course neither social democrats or communists fared very well under the Nazi regime.
Hyperbole can get in the way of serious politics discourse but in this particaular instance I think it’s worth mentioning again (and again and again) that Trump is an actual literal fascist.
We’ve been here before, wasn’t good, let’s not make the same mistake again.
@Alan – this entire election is a Godwin in all honesty. Trump’s wonderful nicknames include Orange Mussolini and Cinnamon Hitler so I think it’s fair to say that by now Godwin’s law has been tossed out the window.
@Avid Squirrel
If Clinton and Trump will both be horrible, then you can stop Clinton or stop Trump, but not both. One of them will win. Choosing Stein is saying you can’t tell the difference and we’re screwed either way.
You must be nice white people, because there is a massive difference to all those whose families Trump is threatening to deport.
As someone who is Jewish, the fact I keep seeing more and more versions of the “Le Happy Merchant” meme just depresses the hell out of me – the political goings-on in the U.S. doesn’t help either. I can’t bring myself to get involved in the discussion for the sake of my sanity, because so much else is bothering me and that’s hard enough to deal with as is.
I already made the mistake of getting into a bizarre interaction on YouTube and losing all my respect for someone who I liked, adding insult to injury…
So, in conclusion: Vote for Hillary and hold her feet to the fire. And her party’s.
@Fabe
Then don’t wish Trump on us as some kind of punishment for assholes in our country actually taking this walking toupee seriously as a presidential candidate.
WWTH ~
I think you’re right in that I won’t get a good answer. It usually boils down to “Shillary voted for the Iraq war and Bernie the peace loving hippy did not, boooom goes the dynamite.” That view blatantly ignores all the times Sanders did vote for war that nobody ever seems to mention. I don’t think either one is *great* on war tbh, but I also don’t buy that Hillary is some warlord in waiting while Bernie is this peace loving hippy. A lot of the “hawkish” things that people attribute to Hillary seem to be things Bill Clinton or Obama did, too. At least Hillary has apologized for her Iraq war vote while Bernie hasn’t said much that I know of about all his military intervention votes.
I feel similarly to the super predator comment that Clinton made back in the 90s. I think it was a disgusting comment and I am glad that she apologized for it. However, Sanders voted for that freaking crime bill and yet the Bros felt it was fair to slam Hillary with it over and over, ignoring that detail. I get that he spoke out against the bill in the senate but what good is that really if you turn around and vote for it anyway?
I don’t think Hillary is perfect by any means and there are plenty of things to criticize her for! Buuuut it just seems really disingenuous to hold her up as some war monger next to The High Bernie when they both have blood on their hands.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-troubling-history-supporting-us-military-violence-abroad
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/16/blood-traces-bernies-iraq-war-hypocrisy/
ViolinlessHoax
Looking at those pictures makes me sooo uncomfortable. I just can’t imagine posing for a picture with my dad like that under any circumstance. Maybe its a rich people thing? I dunno. *blech*
Honestly, in a democracy, this is how it always should work: vote for the person who’s platform best represents what you stand for, then, once elected, use political pressure to make them follow through.
Unfortunately a parent/child dynamic has infected politics, usually on the right, but people on the left fall into it too: all effort is put into electing a “Savior” and once elected, people sigh with relief and leave them to it. This pattern has infantilized people’s understanding of political processes, to the point many don’t understand how to pressure politicians to follow through.
We are not voting for a nice guy/gal or a perfect Savior. We are voting for the best person/party who can work effectively in the current system.
This is what I find baffling about Trumpolini: the conservative business people should be terrified of him for completely different reasons. But their objections, with some exceptions, appear half hearted at best. I suppose it’s privilege in inaction: they figure as bad as it might get, they’re safe.
Oh and a PS to my long comment – I just posted those articles as receipts for Bernie’s various votes on military intervention, not because I think I think they’re amazing articles.
I’m really wondering why the Never Hillary voters haven’t given any reasons she would be worse than even the hypothetical alternatives (as opposed to the reality of our two-party system, which makes Trump the only viable alternative). Is it because you’re afraid you’ll be attacked by the commenters (I mean, honestly, unless you call her shrill or a war hawk I don’t see that happening)? Or is it because you’re afraid we’ll show you evidence to the contrary?
Off topic, I just got to Picardy en route to the Ile de France.
Ohlmann, your country is extremely beautiful. I had forgotten.
Just adding on to this general thought train: I can never stand it when middle-class cishet white dudebros whine that “Obama never did anything.” Because what they really mean is that he never did anything for them.
Pushing through Obamacare, pushing through same-sex marriage, supporting #BLM, ending the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, dragging America out of the recession kicking and screaming…
He’s not perfect, but I’m legally a full person in the US now thanks to him.
My parents voted for Nader back in 2000, before I was old enough to vote. They to this day will tell me it’s the only vote in their lives they regret. Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. And yet, to throw another aphorism on the pile, many people even here are willing to let the perfect (a candidate who doesn’t even exist) be the enemy of the good.
Because, I will say it again, Hillary Clinton is good. She’s not evil, she’s not the devil, she’s not even corrupt or a liar. She’s a woman who is seeking political power, and that scares an awful lot of people. But she’s a woman seeking political power who wants to: help the disabled, protect women’s rights, fight for racial justice, protect immigrants, give better access to health care to everyone, expand preschool programs and daycare programs, support the elderly and the poor, protect the environment, create jobs, help relieve college debt and make it easier not to rack up as much or any college debt for people who haven’t been… it goes on and on and on.
And if you’re going to turn around and give me the (sexist) line that she’s only saying those things to win: THEN HELP HER WIN. If she’s going to give you what you want for your vote, why not vote for her? You think someone who will do what you want her to do to win is somehow NOT on your side? That’s a person who will keep doing what you want to stay in power. And if you vote 3rd party or stay home all you’re saying very loudly is that what she’s offering isn’t what you want. So she, and the rest of the Democrats who want to win elections (ie all of them) will turn away from the far left to find people who will vote for them, in the center and the right.