"Hillary Clinton's Internet Supporters Desperately Want This Campaign to be about Sexism"

[kath]

<snip>


The strategy of Clinton supporters had to shift, and the solution was obvious: Avoid policy, and make the campaign about sexism. It wouldn’t be a stretch. In fact, they simply had to reprise the same tactics from 2008, when “gender bias” was one of the most reliable arrows in Clinton’s quiver, and Obama supporters fretted about losing the female vote because of perceived abuse toward Clinton’s backers. It’s the same today, and it started with the “Bernie Bro” phenomenon—a fabricated demographic supposedly chock-full of misogynistic dudes whose support for Bernie is less about policy and more about keeping a hated woman out of office.

The entire concept of a vast sexist conspiracy operating from the political left is ridiculous, and has been effectively debunked by Glenn Greenwald and Sam Kriss at Vice, but it’s worth looking at a specific example of its origins to examine the absurd, dishonest way this stuff gathers steam. I’ll take you step by step, with this post as a guide.

1. Emily Nussbaum, of The New Yorker, tweets that she’s been called a “psycho” after expressing support for Hillary Clinton. “Man,” she writes, “the Feel the Bern crew is such a drag.”

We’ll stop here for a moment to point out that the person who called her a psycho was a Republican congressman named Steven Smith who identifies as a Tea Party advocate and who, we can safely guess, is not feeling the Bern.

2. Outlets like Mashable and the BBC quote Nussbaum, without bothering to check who delivered the insult.

3. The New Republic cites Mashable.

4. Others cite The New Republic.

<snip>

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/02/hillary-clintons-internet-supporters-desperately-w.html

[ErisDiscordia]

1. Well, about something, ANYTHING

except the "entitlement" of Hillary Rodham Clinton over all others.

[JaneyVee]

2. As someone who posts on social media...

There is A LOT of sexism tossed at her. But its the internet, so even if they have pro-Bernie stuff on their page it doesnt necessarily mean they arent just a rightwing Operation Chaos troll. But there is certainly no shortage of sexism being thrown at her from all sides.

[TTUBatfan2008]

21. I don't support sexism...

but I don't support empty feminism either from people like Madeleine Albright who say there is a special place in hell for women who don't vote for Hillary. Madeleine Albright and the Clintons (and Obama and Bush and Reagan and on and on) are part of the War Machine that has led to the deaths of MILLIONS of innocent women around the world, all in the name of America's corporations getting richer from the war racket.

[frylock]

3. Hillary Supporter proudly stands with catapulting the propaganda.

[djean111]

4. For me, Hillary's campaign started with sexism, telling me I would vote for Hillary because I

am a woman, telling me that having a woman in the White House is more important, evidently, than issues or records.
Blecch. Throwing down a whole pack of gender cards, and then accusing everybody else of playing them.

[beam me up scottie]

5. Someone even claimed that criticizing Hillary for taking millions from Wall Street is sexist.

Right, because we never criticize men who do that.

[CharlotteVale]

6. Yet *they* call Bernie supporters Berniebros - when many of us are women!

What is more sexist than that? They deny the very existence of us female Bernie supporters.

[MrMickeysMom]

10. Yes... I've somehow been morphed into a sweaty little boy on THAT one...

I'm pretty sure that the over-all reaching problem of being female while running for office is one existing everywhere, but that has more to do with what kind of society we are producing.

When good people run, it's the issues, not the gender that is part of the deal. Gender issues start going away when society's role comes front and center. Everything else is just fodder for yellow journalism.

[UglyGreed]

15. Well look at your screen name

oh never mind

[kath]

7. Lots of good stuff in that article. Love the ending:

“If you’re actively seeking to explain the entire progressive opposition to Clinton with misogyny, then you’re part of the problem…a much bigger problem, which is the bone-deep dishonesty and corruption in national politics, practiced by the vast majority of male and female representatives in Washington D.C., that has created a corporate-dominated oligarchy where money trumps principle and the middle and working classes are at the bottom of everyone’s priority list.”

Sexism exists, it’s a real problem, and it needs to be addressed. But it should go without saying that when sexism is used cynically, to deflect valid political criticism, it risks becoming an empty phrase. Why do fewer people than ever before care that Bernie Sanders identifies as a Democratic Socialist? Why, when the GOP whips out the words “redistribution of wealth” to give rich people a pass on higher taxes, does it resonate less than ever before with an angry population? Why are these reliable bogeymen failing?

Because when you fall back on a deceptive turn of phrase, even an effective one, people will eventually figure out exactly how you’re lying. They’ll understand your true purpose, which is to fog the playing field and stifle discourse. Democrats should know better than that. Democrats should be better than that. And if one of our candidates can’t win on the issues, maybe that candidate shouldn’t win at all.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro

Berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro berniebro obamabro

http://www.salon.com/2008/04/14/obama_supporters/


...whoops

[reformist2]

9. This is a last resort strategy, and it reeks of desperation. You don't win elections on the defensiv

You don't win elections by playing the victim. You win by ignoring the naysayers and advancing a real vision of the future.

[Avalux]

14. Truth! I love your post. n/t

[joshcryer]

11. One should not take this lightly.

I'm just saying. It's unnecessary to go there and join the MRA brigades that Reddit espouses.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. I remember when "grrrl power" was a thing. I miss that.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. I partied with L7, back in the day.

They sure could drink!

[enigmatic]

20. Love L7

Such a great band.

[nc4bo]

16. Only problem is, it's not. Never ever was. How disingenuous.

One cannot accuse an entire campaign nor the candidate for what a handful of loudmouth assholes says or does unless of course, those assholes are doing this on behalf of the candidate or candidate's advisors and with the candidate's knowledge.

This is what bugs me about HRC and David Brock. They work together, it is a known fact. So I find myself being extra suspicious of any nastiness coming from HRC's direction.

[Odin2005]

17. Article: Clinton isn’t a champion of women’s rights. She’s the embodiment of corporate feminism.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/hillary-clinton-womens-rights-feminism/

[kath]

19. Thanks for the link!

[kath]

18. Kick

[kath]

22. Kick. cuz she's playing the sexism card a LOT today.

And it's bullshit.
Great way to dodge talking about issues, though.

[avaistheone1]

23. "The sexism card"

Well put and spot on.

[kath]

24. Sunday kick.

[kath]

25. Kick. Still more and MORE threads playing the sexist card today.

Enough is enough is enough

[Betty Karlson]

26. Too bad it is about issues.

Third Way's time has come and gone. Only those still living in a 20th century bubble still think Clinton would make a good president. And that group, sadly, still includes Clinton herself.

[hollysmom]

27. let's just be truthful the internet is full of sexism, everywhere, what else is new?

I have been trashed, and had to ignore people of, of all places, facebook. I get crap on various news/blogs comments. Been getting that crap all my life, and it only got worse once people could hide their faces on the internet.
If you are a woman, you are going to get sexism on the internet, it is a given and not specific to Sanders supporters.

[Buzz cook]

28. So you really believe that?

I tend to think of who would be the better administrator. That would clearly be Clinton. Who is smarter and faster on their feet intellectually, that would be Clinton as well.

Bernie supporters are all about ideological purity. That's all they got.