END TO END BERNERS: The Official Bernie Sanders 2020 Crew thread

they're more about throwing chairs

Guys, just stop this. You're not helping anyone by making fun of a rando who is angry at being called a 'cunt' or a 'piece of shit'

Things are certainly taking a darker turn but I don't see how we can force better standards of online discourse. We have seen on this very board just how far people can go with their words. At this point, one wonders what the end game is

Guys, just stop this. You're not helping anyone by making fun of a rando who is angry at being called a 'cunt' or a 'piece of shit'

― Frederik B, Friday, 3 January 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Yes let him be with his terrible opinions.

Been a minute since we had some good Fred pearl clutching.

Guys, come on now

There are people out there being called bedbugs (and probably worse). You can joke about it all you like, but for many its creating a climate of fear. Laugh today, but it could be you tomorrow

It's just unproductive. Being an asshole actually isn't a part of the intersectional class struggle, y'know.

And yeah, comrade alphabet is a great example of what not to do. Don't end up like the corbynists.

Guys, come on now.

what an absolute blooming wally cunt Fred is!

Supporting coups across Latin America, but doing so politely.

No matter how much you say it, still just a lie.

Again. A prime example of not how to be. Anyone thinking this sort of behaviour is not a drag on any movement is simply too partisan. You can't transform the country with people like that, no matter how militant they are on social media.

Transforming the country, one social media post at a time.

Guys, just stop this. You're not helping anyone by making fun of a rando who is angry at being called a 'cunt' or a 'piece of shit'

Fred, I think the deal is that he makes no distinction between things that might be actually demeaning or abusive; things like "centrist hack", "hacky writer", and "gossip columnist", which are totally fair game for someone who writes professionally about politics (you could surely find worse in Pitchfork reviews); and things that are just goofy like "walking jar of mayonnaise". He also provides no context for, or frankly, evidence of any of this, other than the very general statement that they are things that 'Bernie Sanders supporters' have 'called him' over the past few years. (As someone asked, was he writing each insult down in a notepad app as it came in or did he comb through all his last few years of Twitter interactions - if the latter, surely, we could see the receipts?) Since he is not just some rando but a paid political writer with a decided agenda, you might see why we're a little hesitant to open our hearts regarding a public declaration like this.

That said, maybe he actually has been treated appallingly by a mob of Berniebros and is just very bad at expressing it? Tbh, a scan of his Twitter feed and some of his writing mostly seems totally anodyne so idk why it might have happened.

The problem is once online mobs of BernieBros feel emboldened in this way it is only a matter of time before they take their threats off of twitter and into the physical domain. This has happened in the UK where Momentum Thugs have gone unchallenged for years and have graduated from online threats into shouting and pushing, recently shutting down a hospital and forcing a journalist to flee, lucky to escape only with a fractured rib from a fall.

He is probably stupid, but so what? That's not really important. Some of the stuff he has received is shitty, and laughing at people because the way they complain about being attacked is less than perfect, is nagl. Just ignore him. Nothing constructive can come from this.

Agreed, I have stopped laughing now. There has to be a limit

i really love to call dumbasses dumbasses, is my praxis bad

Poll options:

"Since he is not just some rando but a paid political writer with a decided agenda" Vs "He is probably stupid, but so what? That's not really important."

Politeness is fucking entitlement Fred, sometimes unproductive rage comes from a place of powerless despair

And sometimes it comes from being an asshole

And nobody is asking for politeness. Not shouting 'cunt' at Twitter randos has nothing to do with politeness

so anyway

I was right about Vietnam.

I was right about Iraq.

I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran.

I apologize to no one. pic.twitter.com/Lna3oBZMKB

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 3, 2020

It's 2020, everybody is a "Twitter rando". I don't understand why you're on the side of entitlement.

He is not a rando either.

Like maybe people being mean to defenders of the status quo aren't the real enemy?

i don't think bernie supporters are notably more "toxic" than supporters of other candidates. this is just an idea that's been promoted to discredit the candidate.

and the guy who claimed there is "little difference" between bernie supporters and trump supporters is, respectfully, a vile liar.

there is no comparison between the candidates or between the movements they represent. it's insulting to people suffering under trump to pretent otherwise.

guy owns himself by not only keeping but posting a list tbh

anyway bernie otm

i don't think bernie supporters are notably more "toxic" than supporters of other candidates. this is just an idea that's been promoted to discredit the candidate.

― treeship., Friday, January 3, 2020

mmm they kinda are? The bros are, especially on Twitter. Messianic fervor is a helluva thing in politics.

I endorse him anyway btw

his campaign is explicitly not personality-driven. so, if people think he is the messiah that is their problem

After all, they've been told

Keeping calm while the right politely deny anyone a future on this planet.

Rabid twitter people ≠ most supporters. No way are Bernie’s stable of vocal zealots more toxic than Gabbard’s or Trump’s or, hell, Roy Moore’s.

agreed

Rabid twitter people

maybe this is a consequence of living in new york but if anything it's worse (if less frequent) irl

anyway yeah hate the fans not the band 2020

i don't think bernie supporters are notably more "toxic" than supporters of other candidates. this is just an idea that's been promoted to discredit the candidate.

Bingo.

Also, that Fassler guy seems to be more invested in going after Bernie than Republicans/status quo.

Yeah but Corbynists are why we deserve to become a 19th century robber baron hellscape, Fred otm

it would be really interesting to see what happens with Bernie stans if he actually became president (and I hope he does!). because he will inevitably disappoint in many ways, as all presidents do, and I wonder if the people who spend half the day on Twitter replying "go off king" to every Sanders utterance will turn on him or put on blinders/make excuses. my guess is the latter.

Same thing I tell Warren supporters: his plans don't mean shit until we win the Senate.

Plans are points of inspiration, to-do items, which is why they should be as ambitious as possible and insult as many people in the establishment as possible.

A Twitter search for "KHive" doesn't really turn up monuments to civility.

Alfred otm. Radicalism has no end point it, it's a program of continuing demands

It’s literally the smallest anecdotal evidence possible but I had dinner with my best bud last weekend and when talk turned to politics he derided Warren for, ironically enough, not having any plans and more or less saying she was going to fix things magically. I think her waffling on raising taxes to support M4All is the germ of this sentiment because my friend also praised Bernie for being willing to say he’d tax the shit out of rich people to fund his ambitions.

i don't think bernie supporters are notably more "toxic" than supporters of other candidates. this is just an idea that's been promoted to discredit the candidate.

― treeship., Friday, January 3, 2020

mmm they kinda are? The bros are, especially on Twitter. Messianic fervor is a helluva thing in politics.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, January 3, 2020 9:20 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't know enough to say how toxic "berniebros" are but they have definitely been the most exhausting to me since 2016.