Is the Bernie Bro faction just political hipsterism?

Travis

Misanthrope of the Mountains
Travis
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Mar 31, 2007
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I got into it with a few hardcore Bernie Bros on social media.

Background: Polls show that the early favorite for the Dems in 2020 is California Senator Harris. The Bernie Bros hated this and I had to ask why. Indeed I asked what policy position she has that they hate. I got no real answer except they don't want someone "anointed" again.

I asked how we can tell if Harris is "anointed" or not. And the answer I got was that she is because the traditional Dems like her.

Okay, so then I ask what will discern the one they will approve of. Answer: whoever the Dem leadership hates.

Okay so my question to you all is: is this just political hipsterism (support whoever is not favored)? I mean there doesn't seem to be any policy issue behind this. There had been thinking that the Bernie Bro faction was a one issue faction but Harris is good on that issue (sponsoring a Universal Healthcare bill) and yet they still hate her.
 
Garrison said:
For once I have to agree with theprestige, all your offering here is the equivalent of one of Trump's 'people are saying' stories.
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Keep in mind that there is a difference between the opening post and what Trump does.

When Trump said "People are saying..." he was using it as actual factual data, with no context or information about the source.

Assuming that the opening post was an honest recollection of events, the user 1) gave a source (well at least more details about the source than Trump did), and 2) didn't assume their information was factual. They were asking an honest question... whether the attitudes of a small subset of people could be extrapolated to a larger group. He wasn't saying "All Bernibros are hipster contrarians"... he was saying "I encountered a hipster contrarian, is it common".
 
I sometimes think I need to screencap all my facebook encounters.

But if someone wants to do some more digging literally find any facebook about Harris being a frontrunner and look for similar comments.
 
I doubt if Harris is really the front-runner. She's an "establishment" candidate, which may be what they mean by anointed.

I have had no interaction with any Bernie Bros to my knowledge, so I will refrain from offering an opinion of them.
 
Bernie Sanders supporters don't want business as usual in the Democratic Party. They want it to take a hard left. It is not surprising that they don't want an establishment candidate.
 
While AG of California she went against staff in her office and refused to prosecute Steve Minuchin as head of a bank which was illegally forclosing on people and kicking them out of their homes. Coincidentally Minuchin donated a signifcant amount to her campaign for the Senate. That isn't a policy I will grant you but it does seem to suggest she was in with the bricks in terms of political sleaze if not outright corruption.
 
Also, when you look at who is telling us she is the front runner (WaPo NYT etc etc), the primary benefit they mention about her is her friendliness with the big donors. It seems all the "front runners" (Harris, Gillibrand, Booker, Murphy(?)) are currently anointed so because of their coziness with the donors and their ability to sell $1500 plates. Kind of hard to sell yourself as the party of the working class when that is the main qualification
 
NoahFence said:
What?

They're passionate, clueless on reality, loud and stupid. Just like Trumpkins, only Bernie Bros don't chant "Jews will not replace me" (For reasons I hope are obvious)
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wow, if anyone thinks that Hillary and her pals learned something from her loss, I give you this thread and post in particular (and her idiotic alternative history book).
 
The Big Dog said:
wow, if anyone thinks that Hillary and her pals learned something from her loss, I give you this thread and post in particular (and her idiotic alternative history book).
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#1, you haven't read her "alternative history" book, you only pick and choose which portions to blow out of proportion so you can bitch about it.

#2, I don't think you fully appreciate exactly how small Trump's base really is.

#3, :dl:
 
NoahFence said:
#1, you haven't read her "alternative history" book, you only pick and choose which portions to blow out of proportion so you can bitch about it.

#2, I don't think you fully appreciate exactly how small Trump's base really is.

#3,
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I was speaking about your utterly ludicrous attack on Bernie Supporters, which boil down to "they are stupid."

Cool laughing dog, tho.
 
No.

There are reasons to dislike the the democratic establishment, even if many aren't articulate in their reasons.

Who brought single payer healthcare into serious discussion among the American people and ultimately taken up by the Democratic Party?

If the dems want to avoid a repeat of 2016 in 2018 and 2020 they have to appeal to that group of voters who would have voted for Sanders over Trump but chose either Trump or a 3rd party candidate over Clinton.
 
...I think "Bernie Bro" needs to be defined. A lot of us picked up on them back in '15, and titled them "Bernie Stans".

"Stan" is a reference to an Eminem rap about a crazed, obsessive fan of his. These aren't just folks that voted for Sanders in the primary, but then voted Clinton in the general election. Rather, they're the folks who immediately attack any potential candidate that isn't Bernie Sanders - they had Facebook boards railing against Clinton, they are happy to attack Kamala Harris, and so forth.

Now, having defined it to some point...

I dunno. I never really got what their anger was about in the '16 election.
 
The Big Dog said:
That is ludicrous
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You're right! It's ludicrous to think they aren't racist.

Bernie Bro
The Wall Street Journal described the Bros as generally "white, male" Sanders supporters who troll Clinton supporters, "leaving vitriolic comments on social media accounts and created memes showing Mrs. Clinton as trying too hard to be cool."

The Los Angeles Times calls them "online trolls... who attack journalists, politicians and fellow voters they perceive to be pro-Clinton with misogynistic, often vulgar attacks."

MTV correspondent Jamil Smith described these people as engaging in "trolling, misogyny, and 'hipster racism.'" Washington Post reporter Janell Ross described some pro-Sanders online activists as "angry people who sometimes engage in or embrace bigotry," and believed they demonstrated an attitude she called "offensively dismissive, superior, let-us-tell-you-black-voters-what-you-need-and-how-you-should-vote commentary from some subset of Sanders supporters."
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NoahFence said:
As I said. Same as Trumpkins - just not racist.
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Don't put racism past them.


They want to "burn the whole place down". That's all.
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This part may be true. And I will say that corporate donations and such ate problems.

But I will not align myself with Bernie Stans who immediately turn to slurs as soon as Sander faces criticism. Just as I will not support the white supremacists who insist that this administration is somehow doing a good job.

All y'all are terrible.
 
Can we get an actual agreed upon definition of "Bernie Bro" so it doesn't just become shorthand for "person who criticizes the Democrat/policy I like"?
 
Donal said:
Can we get an actual agreed upon definition of "Bernie Bro" so it doesn't just become shorthand for "person who criticizes the Democrat/policy I like"?
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Someone who really wants the policies espoused by Bernie Sanders in the last Presidential elections to become the planks of the Democratic Party platform?
 
NoahFence said:
As I said. Same as Trumpkins - just not racist.

They want to "burn the whole place down". That's all.
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Quite a few of them do. They imagine that something amazig will grow from the ashes.

It will not work.
 
Donal said:
Can we get an actual agreed upon definition of "Bernie Bro" so it doesn't just become shorthand for "person who criticizes the Democrat/policy I like"?
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As I said, we know these guys. They were quite prominent on social media, insisting that Hillary Clinton would "start World War III", calling her a "bitch", and so forth.
 
NoahFence said:
What?

They're passionate, clueless on reality, loud and stupid. Just like Trumpkins, only Bernie Bros don't chant "Jews will not replace me" (For reasons I hope are obvious)
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At least some of them are willing to chant "women will not replace me".
 
It seems as if the so called Bernie Bros will have a problem, in that if their guy actually won the nomination he'd automatically be disqualified, since he would then be anointed. Is it possible to be a "Bernie Bro" without losing?

Maybe I'm a bit cynical, but I suspect the so-called Bernie Bros of being something other than serious about getting anything except the opportunity to gripe about how bad everything is. In that sense, they bear a lot of resemblance to the Trump supporters. Drain the swamp, burn the barn. A change is more important than what you change to. I think they are fundamentally pessimists who don't believe anything can be done except by a radical shakeup, and care little about the carnage and collateral damage. They belong more in the company of the Tea Party and the Shining Path than that of reformers, and I suspect that had Bernie actually won they'd soon be disappointed.

I like Bernie, and I think he'd have made a pretty good president, better than either Trump or Hillary (way better than Trump, a good bit better than Hillary), but I don't get the hard core Bernie or nothing camp, nor do I get the image some people seem to have of Bernie as a political outsider like Trump. I can understand liking Bernie, and liking his occasionally unorthodox approach, but I cannot fathom the mindset of someone who, when he lost the nomination, shifted support to Trump. Bernie is a party outsider, of course, but hardly a novice at politics. He's been a professional politician all his adult life, and he has gotten much of his success not by gesturing and spouting nonsense, but by actually doing the work of a politician in government.

Bernie would never have been a serious contender for the presidency if he had not been a senator, and he'd never have been a senator if he had not served long and well as a representative, and he'd never have been a representative if he had not been both a successful mayor and a willing beneficiary of opportunity.
 
Now, here's the funny part.

Bernie Sanders, himself, does not like these people. They damage his cause, set him back...
 
bruto said:
It seems as if the so called Bernie Bros will have a problem, in that if their guy actually won the nomination he'd automatically be disqualified, since he would then be anointed. Is it possible to be a "Bernie Bro" without losing?
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Well no. It is normal - in fact, more common than not - for a piece of hipstericana to eventually become mainstream. The natural evolution at that point is for the "originals" to start gatekeepering the "newcomers", asserting supremacy by tenure (ex: "I liked Bernie Sanders when everyone else was still centrist"). May involve the development of one or more shibboleths (i.e., "Bernie would've beat Trump in 2016" or derivations thereof).
 
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So, let's get to it.

I doubt that the actual "Bernie Bros" will get anywhere. They are motivated primarily by anger and hatred. When we hear that Hillary should "go away" we can see the misogyny. It's obvious.

We're looking hard at the average person. They're the ones that we need on our side, but may be reluctant to speak up. The Republican party has gone way too far.

All of the bile spewed at Hillary Clinton has only convinced me to read her memoir, when it gets released.
 
Mumbles said:
All of the bile spewed at Hillary Clinton has only convinced me to read her memoir, when it gets released.
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I recently read a fascinating investigative -journalist account of the rise and fall of Enron. Well researched, detailed, and dispassionate. I would love to read a similar account of what happened to Hillary's campaign. The players, their stories. The culture they operated in. The decisions they made and the thinking behind those decisions. What they got out of it, what they left behind, and where they ended up.

It's probably too soon for a book like that. But who would know that story better than Hillary herself? Let me know if her memoir is that kind of book, and I'll read it myself.

This signature is intended to irradiate people.
 
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