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
@ Kat
Yeah, I think it’s a bit of a disparaging term, but it’s the one they used, hence the quotes.
It is interesting that it seems to work on animals (a friend of mine swears by it for her dog). If we assume it is placebo, how does that transfer? Do the animals pick up on the owners belief or is it just they feel better for the attention and caring?
I defer to your experience, notwithstanding you lose some judgment points for thinking I’m smart 🙂
ETA: I’m a big fan of Bach flower remedies so I certainly not going to be judgmental about this.
@BVH
Hmm. You say that Jill Stein’s a kook and you link to her quote:
Assuming what she says is true, then Europe is kinda odd too!
I’m no expert on electromagnetic fields, but I’ve listened to a few radio shows about it, so I know that Jill Stein isn’t the only person in the USA speaking out against kids using wireless phones.
I’m not a kid. But I strictly limit my time on my cell phone because my ear gets warm and my head feels buzzy, like there’s too much energy in it.
@Alan
Flower remedies!
Like homeopathy, Bach flower remedies are energetic medicine.
I’m a big fan too of Bach flower remedies, along with other brands of flower remedies. My cats and plants get them too. A kidney remedy from Pet Essences helped keep my cat with end-stage renal disease alive. She died when she was nineteen and a half.
@ Kat
Random musings (it’s one of those days)
Re: electromagnetic interference
I got a client off having to wear a tag because he had a doctors report saying he suffered from that (the tags don’t emit but the transceiver you have in your house does). The court was a bit sceptical but they accepted the report.
Radiation from phones:
Had a case about that once too. Can’t go into details but at one stage got to play with the device they use for measuring radiation. It’s basically a human head model with a detector in it.
“So what do you use to replicate bone?”
“Nothing, that’s a real human skull in there”
*Drops £25,000 worth of expensive equipment*
Flower remedies:
There’s probably a gap in the market for macho versions, so I’m going to knock some up with things like thistles and Venus fly traps.
I followed the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash right up till the primaries started, only for it to flood my FB timeline. The memes were pretty funny and clever back then, but I can only imagine what it’s like now with the Bernie-or-Bust shitheads and Jill Stein tragics. I regularly tussle with them in other forums – and as an Australian, I don’t strictly have a dog in this hunt – and the sheer volume of overwrought conspiracy babble is as bad as any lunar right nonsense I’ve encountered. I even gave up on one of my favourite American political comedy podcasts recently (The Jimmy Dore Show) after one Bernie-or-Bust tirade too many.
o_o
The dangerous kind of radiation is ionizing radiation.
That’s the sort that actually interacts with larger molecules by busting them apart – those scary Free Radicals that you drink your antioxidants for. (I do love me the cramberry juice)
You will take more ionizing radiation by holding a banana to your ear for a half hour than you will by doing the same for a cellphone.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, @Kat! <3
Homeopathy does have a long and venerable history, and it does work. Just like a placebo. Placebos are useful! Placebos aren’t a fake thing, they have real-world biological effects. They can be very pronounced!
And, yes, there’s good evidence that mammals experience the placebo effect as well. For example:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19912522
There’s no evidence to suggest that homeopathy is anything but placebo in action. That doesn’t make it worthless, though! The big questions are 1) whether the effect of the treatment is sufficient for you, 2) whether there isn’t a more comprehensive treatment available for you, and 3) whether your provider is either treating you with respect or taking advantage of you (with high prices, for example).
Investigate #2 and #3, but if #1 is true? Go ahead and keep taking it. That’s a real effect, and not at all a sign of weakness or gullibility.
I am Canadian so don’t really have any horse in the race, so to speak, beyond all of my lovely american friends whom I care for a great deal. I supported Bernie because he represented a change in the way the game of politics is played down there, a change towards honesty and the removal of corporate influence. A pivot away from the oligarchy which the United States has become.
That said? Politics isn’t about getting a person into an office. I never supported Bernie for Bernie, I supported him because I like his ideas. I still do – and I see that Hillary has started talking about the same things. She also has a lot of good things to say of her own, too, things that Bernie frequently ducked and dodged.
I’m pleased as punch that Bernie’s supporting her, and that their platforms have merged into the Democratic platform. The next step is getting her elected, but the big one – the important one – is to hold her feet to the fire once she’s in. Make sure that she follows through on that platform. That takes a level of political interest and activity in the general American populace that hasn’t been seen in some time. It’s my hope that the Bernie phenomenon represents that, but we’ll see after the election.
Right! Enough rambling. <3 everyone, ta.
Dalilama – You’re certainly not wrong in anything that you replied to me, so no, I’m not offended by it.
None of that changes the fact that the Khan’s lost their son in military service and that Trump decided that they were a suitable tweet-target for saying things about him that he considered “unfair” or whatever. (Ever notice how Trumplethinskin is never simply offended, but rather being “treated unfairly”?)
Having a standing military force is kind of fraught, if I think about it. Military members join for lots of reasons, but all know that it can result in injury and death and for reasons that they may or may not agree with.
Recruiters have long said that military service is basically just like a regular job, and it is for the most part, except you live and work with the possibility of doing it in a war zone at the behest of people who never live with that risk.
I feel proud that I made it to the end of the comments. Long time lurker, first time commenter, life time feminist, I’m with her.
Interesting to think that trumpheads might be driving the dank meme stuff. I have a couple of hard core BoBers on my facebook feed and i’ve never seen anything this atrocious come across courtesy of any of them. But I’m old enough to remember when the vast right wing conspiracy started, and it never really stopped, and it feels like misogyny is getting uglier and uglier all the time, which helps all this along.
I admire the skill of the commentariat here.
@Scildfreja
I usually have links to support what I’m saying. I don’t have that kind of time right now.
I’ll just say this: (1) Other people report the same phenomenon; (2) I have to rely on what my body tells me is true for me; (3) Science doesn’t know everything.
No worries. I know that you have no interest in hurting my feelings. (Visualize a sideways heart here.)
I’ve got nothing against the placebo effect. I’d be very happy for it to work for me. But when it comes to homeopathy (and Bach flower remedies and acupuncture and all energetic medicine, that is, medicine that works on a subtle level), it’s important to get the right remedy for your symptoms. Yes, the remedy that’s not quite appropriate might very well help you. (Or not.) But the remedy that’s truly appropriate can do amazing things.
One homeopath who treated me really did have a jerky side to his personality. Ick. But his remedies worked very, very well. Yay!
My current acupuncturist is very nice but the language barrier can be formidable (she’s a native of China). Because of that language barrier, I spent many treatments lying in an uncomfortable position on the table. (Not anymore; I finally made myself understood.) Despite that discomfort, I returned time and again because her treatments worked.
The study about epileptic dogs and the placebo effect was intriguing. What the abstract did not discuss was any theory as to why it worked. Possibly they got extra attention.
My plants and cats get their remedies in their food or water. That’s zero extra attention. When my cats are in greater need, I’ll rub the flower essence into their skin several times a day. That’s extra attention, but it involves wetness on animals that notoriously hate wetness.
Yeah, I’ve used conventional medicine, which in the USA can be staggeringly expensive. Alternative medicine is often less expensive — way less expensive. Over-the-counter homeopathic pills or flower remedies are about $10 to $14. If something doesn’t work, I move on. If it does work, it has an extra economic advantage.
For example, my acupuncturist virtually (99.9 percent) cured the eczema I had experienced for many years. I was so happy to go off cortisone, which got more and more expensive and has nasty side effects.
The bottom line? I feel better. Conventional medicine has come through for me sometimes. Alternative medicine has come through for me more often.
@Alan
You’ll need some people to test that stuff on. I’d be happy to test the thistles — I need more protective energy in my personality.
Venus flytraps? You’ve gone too far!
@Kat
“Of course science doesn’t know everything. That’s the point. If science knew everything, it’d stop” -paraphrased, Dara O’Brien
@Axecalibur
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
And it’s true about every field of study and every field of endeavor. (Or at least that’s what it looks like to this human, here and now. I keep an open mind!)
@Kat
Not really… Doesn’t matter, talk of this subject just makes me tired, and it’s important to me that we get along, so I’ll leave y’all to it. Laterz
@Hambeast
No, I never pay any attention to what politicians say if I can avoid it. That said, it’s a pretty standard right-wing routine; there’s a quote going around the internet to the effect that when one is used to privilege then equality feels like oppression. Also he’s a whiny spoiled jackass.
Very much so. I am a staunch advocate for its total abolition, ASAP. I would personally prefer to abolish the National Guard as well, but I realize that’s a bridge to far for many. At any rate, the Guard, Air Guard, and Coast Guard are more than sufficient to deal with any current or foreseeable military threat to the U.S. (as a note, there are no current military threats to the U.S. and wouldn’t be even if we melted all our guns tomorrow).
A lot of jobs offer the chance of dying at the behest of someone who doesn’t face your risks. Some of them underpin industrial civilization (mining, frex.), or indeed human society itself (farming, hunting, fishing). Virtually none, however, call upon you to kill strangers because other strangers told you to. That is where the problems start to come up for me. I recognize that people join for a lot of reasons, often including a strong element of economic necessity, but that doesn’t change the essential nature of the job. I generally do not judge individual members of a military organization for the operations of same, but neither will I agree that it’s worthy of more respect than any other stressful, strenuous job, of which there are a myriad, most of them of far more use to society than an army.
That’s kind of a big assumption though. I’ve lived in Europe all my life, and I’ve never heard anything about this.
In general, when American politicians or pundits talk about what “they do in Europe”, the truth is normally closer to “someone in Europe did this once, I’ve heard”.
Wow. I’m glad I took a break from this.
Hey, Squirrel, no one is going to fucking kill you for a fucking bumper sticker. My life, my family, we are actually AT RISK. So you can take your victim complex and fucking shove it.
Fuck you from a victim of abuse and extreme bullying. I love being told I can’t be angry for people implying my life isn’t worth enough to actually follow through on the ideas Bernie pushed by drifting to the Green party which is full of anti-science jack assery.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/Sephirajo/tumblr_mmntq4h7yi1qa69wso5_500_zps897fccb8.gif
@IP
I can’t say for sure. I did an Internet search but came up with nothing conclusive to this non-science major.
But what I said before still stands. I rely mostly on how things feel to my body.
A thing this thread has really put into perspective is–whatever the flaws of the Democrats or the DNC–how much from a privileged position it is to say that, in this election, that Trump is a typical Republican, no more dangerous than the others have been, or that others are wrong for saying only the Democrats have a real chance for defeating Trump. Real people’s lives, from not having to fear a police state to bodily autonomy, are at stake.
I’m re-reading this piece on the “perils of lesser evilism” by Matt Taibbi. In light of the comments here, it just comes off as an attack on straw men. No one here, for example, is saying that Democrats must never be criticized. He certainly doesn’t address how Nader actually helped change anything or fostered a Green movement, e.g. what Freemage spoke of earlier.
@ Ghost Robot
Did you see Sam Seder’s debate with Jimmy Dore? It’s very long, but kind of a nice counter to the TYT’s crew Bernie or Bust-ing.
The Nocebo Effect (the placebo effect but it causes harm instead of health, due to belief in the effects) is also a real thing, and something that produces real symptoms.
I don’t know if it’s quite appropriate but a friends relative died recently because they decided to go with homeopathic remedies instead of chemo to rest their cancer. They died. Not in comfort either.
I don’t think it’s fair to be peddling that kind of alternative medicine stuff here guys. If commenters disagree fair enough I’ll just stay out of it, but that “science doesn’t know everything” stuff actually harms a lot more people than it helps. Sorry if this hurts feelings, but that just spreads non info and fear (the whole wireless radiation thing) and it’s quite raw for me.
Fair enough it might have worked for you but it worked the way lucky charms work. Again I’ll shut up if people disagree but this stuff really gets my goat.
Also thank you Axecalibur, that Dara O Briain quote Is one of my faves.
Science is a toolkit. It knows literally nothing. People apply it and, from doing so and upholding their results to the rigorous standards or peer review and then repeating, science provides us with knowledge.
Homeopathy demonstrably doesn’t work. Water doesn’t possess memory. Homeopathy is no more effective at treatment of anything than chance or placebo. People die when they reject evidence-based medicine in favour of homeopathic remedies. Penelope Dingle’s horrific death by colorectal cancer, which may have been quite treatable if medical intervention had occurred early, is but one sad example of this.
If using non-evidence-based remedies for non-life-threatening conditions makes you feel better, that’s great. Placebo is real. Spend your money however you like. Promoting them as legitimate medicine based on personal anecdotes though is not cool and I really don’t think peddling such here (or, in my personal opinion, anywhere but that’s neither here nor there) is acceptable.
Cellphones and WiFi aren’t harming people or any animal. Yes, they radiate. Different kind of radiation. Words like “radiation” shouldn’t frighten people and necessarily influence their decision making but most of us are woefully uneducated, particularly in chemistry and physics, and so charlatans and cranks and quacks can use them against us.
@Ddog, @marinerachel
You’re making a leap of logic. You seem to think that I would tell someone with cancer to ignore what their doctor says. Not true.
You also seem to think that my opinions are like an out-of-control fire and will spread from vulnerable building to vulnerable building and then — who knows?! Also not true.
My opinions are just that: my opinions. And they are not dangerous.
Paging EJ
Hey, didn’t know you were down our way. Pop in for a cup of tea.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/02/lion-on-the-loose-in-cornwall-sparks-police-hunt1/
my ex just shared the Hillary ‘happy merchant’ meme in Facebook. I can’t believe my son is exposed to his shit several days a week. WTF?
@Kat thsts a leap right there, I never said you’d tell someone to do that but I do think talking about these things like they actually do work is dangerous since it can be pushed easily on vulnerable people. Commenters here regularly call out bullshit whether they’re just someone’s opinion or not. In my opinion peddling alternative medicine is actually dangerous so I called you out on it.