July 29, 2016

In case anyone is wondering who #KhizrKhan's son is, here's who

Found on Twitter

Jonah Blank
Jonah Blank – ?@JonahBlank

In case anyone is wondering who #KhizrKhan's son is, here's who:



7:18 AM - 29 Jul 2016
264 RETWEETS280 LIKES

https://mobile.twitter.com/JonahBlank/status/759030237954973696

July 26, 2016

The primary-season framing of "Hillary Supporters" vs "Bernie Supporters" is a thing of the past

In the wake of some of the events here at the Democratic convention yesterday, things got a little testy on DU as well. This should come as no surprise -- we are talking about topics that people feel passionately about, and sometimes we all get a little excited. But I think things got a little more contentious than they should have been. I think the reason is because people were posting some pretty inflammatory things about groups of people, but they weren't being careful to clearly identify whom they were talking about.

Over the course of the Democratic primaries, many people got in the habit of referring to "Hillary supporters" and "Bernie supporters" as these broad groups of people that were either heroes or villains and who share common positive or negative traits within each group. This was both intellectually lazy and highly offensive, and to be honest a group of people who purport to be liberal really should have known better than to lump people into groups like this. But the point is that it happened and it became a habit for many people. Unfortunately, some people are having a difficult time breaking this habit even though the primaries are OVER.

Now that the primaries are over, these two phrases -- "Hillary supporters" and "Bernie supporters" -- are not useful or correct to label the two sides of the divide that we have seen here in Philadelphia. The problem is that they do not clearly describe whom we are talking about.

During primary season, the meaning of the phrases was pretty straightforward:

"Hillary supporters" = People who wanted Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic Nominee for president.

"Bernie supporters" = People who wanted Bernie Sanders to be the Democratic Nominee for president.

But now that the primaries are over, there are no longer two mutually exclusive groups of people who can be labeled as "Hillary supporters" and "Bernie supporters."

During general election season, these phrases take on a completely new meaning:

"Hillary supporters" = Everyone who wants Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump in the general election and become president of the United States. **This group now includes people who supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries and people who supported Bernie Sanders in the primaries.** It can even include people who dislike Hillary Clinton but are going to vote for her in November because Donald Trump is worse.

"Bernie supporters" = Pretty much everyone who likes Bernie Sanders. This includes people who are going to vote for Hillary Clinton on November, and people who are not going to vote for her. It can even include people who supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primaries but like Bernie too.

So if you post a message here on DU referring to simply "Hillary supporters" or "Bernie supporters" you are probably going to get into trouble. Because you have a particular meaning in your mind when you post it, but other people reading your post are going to think you are referring to a different group. For example:

Imagine you are someone who will be voting for Hillary Clinton in November (and if you are posting on DU you are supposed to be), and you are watching the convention on TV and you see a bunch of people disrupting the convention by booing loudly whenever someone mentions Hillary Clinton. This makes you angry (as it should). So you log on to Democratic Underground and you post this:

"I am so sick and tired of those fucking Bernie supporters! They can all go to Hell!!!1"

You have failed. But what's worse is that you have now driven a stake into the heart of this community. Your lazy inability to make clear whom you were referring to has caused this community to become polarized when it did not need to be. We have lots and lots of people who consider themselves Bernie supporters who are going to vote for Hillary Clinton in the fall and who do not condone the behavior of a small number of people who are disrupting the Democratic convention. But they feel like you just called them a crude name and said they should go to Hell (and they have reason to feel that way). So one of them decides to post a tit-for-tat response that is just as lazy and awful as what you wrote.

So we all need to be much more careful about what we mean when we are posting. And if you read something that pisses you off, you need to keep in mind that the person who posted it is probably lazy and stupid and didn't realize that the thought they were thinking in their head does not really match the words they put in their post. Don't take the bait.

In an effort to help people who aren't very good at this, here are some suggested phrases that you can use in your posts to clearly identify whom you are referring to and avoid any confusion:

- "People who are voting for Hillary in November"

- "People who supported Hillary during the primaries"

- "People who supported Bernie during the primaries"

- "People who supported Bernie during the primaries and who are voting for Hillary in November"

- "Those assholes in the convention hall who keep disrupting the speakers"

- "Bitter, vindictive dead-enders who call themselves progressives but aren't voting for Hillary in November"

On a similar note, I would advise using caution with phrases referencing Bernie-or-Bust people. I think there is an unfortunate tendency among posters and readers to (intentionally or unintentionally) conflate Bernie-or-Bust people with everyone who supported Bernie during the primaries. So you might think you are fine to post something like "Fuck those Bernie-or-Busters," but keep in mind that some people are going to (fairly or unfairly) jump to the conclusion that you are trying to smear everyone who supported Bernie Sanders during the primaries. The simple fact that the phrase includes the word "Bernie" probably has a sub-conscious biasing effect that will cause people to be upset even if they know you are not specifically referring to them. The bottom line is that you risk being misunderstood. Much better to make the effort to clarify exactly whom you are talking about.

July 25, 2016

We are posting convention pics in real time on Instagram.

In case anyone is curious.

https://www.instagram.com/democraticunderground/



https://www.instagram.com/democraticunderground/

July 25, 2016

We're off to Philadelphia and DNC 2016!!!

Found my old shirt from 2008.



We'll be posting regular updates on DU, and also posting pictures in real-time on Instagram for our massive audience of approximately 0 followers.

https://www.instagram.com/democraticunderground/

Clinton/Kaine 2016! Stronger Together! See you in Philly!

EarlG in the driver's seat.



Welcome to PA!



DNC Billboard



Just passed the Wells Fargo center. Check out the DNC signage.



At the designated "selfie spot" by the plastic Liberty Bell.



Oh yeah!

July 23, 2016

Based on what I'm reading on DU, it sounds like Kaine killed it.

How refreshing to see so many people excited about Democrats here on Democratic Underground. I could get used to this.