Can we dispense with the idiot notion that Bernie is responsible for policing the internet?

[whatchamacallit]

The man is running a presidential campaign ffs. He doesn't have time read, let alone deal with, what anonymous people say online. All this "Bernie lost me because he won't put an end to it" nonsense is absurd. He is to date, the only candidate to make a formal call for supporters to be civil. Hillary hasn't. And please spare us the "we don't attack and disparage people online" BS, that would be a laughable fiction.

[bravenak]

1. Her and omalley supporters have good relations with us

They ARE us.

[whatchamacallit]

2. What does this have to do with the OP?

[bravenak]

4. She dont need to call on her supoorters because they aint doing it

Nowhere near as bad. There are article written all over about his fabs and they refuse to just take inventory and stop. Nobody would keep piling on if they stopped.

[whatchamacallit]

5. Sorry, that's utter bullshit

[bravenak]

6. Thats why all the articles are written about his fans for the nost part

Like fifty to one.

[whatchamacallit]

7. And nearly every one of them is from a source that supports Hillary

But let's bypass the issue of the legitimacy of the articles, and get to the point; Realistically, WTF is Bernie supposed to do about it?

[bravenak]

8. Bubble

[whatchamacallit]

9. He should 'bubble'?

How about an actual answer?

[Dawgs]

12. Not worth it with this one.

Doesn't matter what you say. Apparently all Bernie supporters, and Bernie himself, are racist in some way. All Hillary supporters, on the other hand, are better than all of us.

[Autumn]

32. Pretty bubbles in the air

[whatchamacallit]

33. *Laughing*

Thanks.

[Autumn]

36. Enjoy this one, I'm gonna use it as a reply to the many OPs

that insist Bernie do what no one has ever done or been asked to do. The use of it in the recycled OPs will just wear it out

https://gfycat.com/ImprobableDeficientItalianbrownbear

[whatchamacallit]

38. Haha... love it

[uponit7771]

22. No its not... not at all

[whatchamacallit]

26. Yes it is

There are vile posts and tweets all over the Internet from Hillary supporters. To deny it is insane.

[fleur-de-lisa]

3. +1 - Thank you!

[Dawgs]

10. +100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 n/t

[potone]

11. Agreed!

Disagreeing with Bernie's policy proposals is one thing, expecting him to control what other people say is ridiculous. And I have read just as obnoxious comments directed to Sander's supporters as I have toward Hillary's supporters. In fact, most of the attacks on Bernie are not on him at all, but on his supporters. There has been very little in the way of reasoned criticism of his proposed policies, just comments to the effect that he can't win or that his policies will be obstructed by the Republicans (as if Hillary's won't be) or that his policies are too expensive.

What should matter is priorities and vision. What kind of country do we want to have? Who is best suited to undo the terrible effects of Republican governance? Who is trying to build a broad popular movement to effect change? I'm sorry, but I just don't see Hillary moving us far enough in the right direction. We have gone too far down the path to ruin both domestically and abroad, in my view, for incremental changes to be adequate. We are in a crisis on all fronts, and if we have another banking collapse as in 2008, it will be very, very difficult to recover from the damage.

Thank you for your post, whatchamacallit!

[whatchamacallit]

13. Thanks

and welcome to DU.

[potone]

16. Oh, I've been here a long time.

I just don't post very often. But I am getting tired of the atmosphere here. I realize that passions run high during primary season, but this is becoming out of control. I don't think it was this bad in the 2008 campaign, and that was bad enough. I think I will be spending less time here if more Bernie supporters get banned or leave. The changes that I have seen in DU since I joined in 2004 have been disheartening, to say the least.

[whatchamacallit]

17. I feel ya

[frazzled]

14. Does that apply to Trump's responsibility to his supporters' words and actions as well?

Look, leaders set the tone for their supporters. When supporters behave badly, it reflects on the candidate and their message, and on their leadership abilities. And candidates set the tone: a candidate who angrily pulls off his mic and storms off in the middle of an interview is likely to be sending a message that anger is an appropriate form of behavior for those who follow him. That's all I have to say about it.

[whatchamacallit]

15. Nice theory

but you can't show me anything Bernie has said or done that makes him responsible for what people do online. Trump openly incites, so the comparison is not valid. Is Hillary responsible for the noxious crap her supporters post?

[dana_b]

41. +1

I completely agree. Trump wants his supporters to get in people's faces. Bernie wants none of that kind of stuff.

[artislife]

27. Does Bernie shout "Get em out"

and then promise to pay legal fees for his supporters?


The h spin is too much.

[joshcryer]

18. I tried to promote civility and all I got was a block.

And forced to use ignore for the first time in almost a decade and a half.

The leaders in various internet groups could've done something or attempted it, but instead, for instance, see the Sanders group, where you literally have a sticky post condemning self policing.

It was hopeless from the start.

[whatchamacallit]

19. Good on you for making an effort

I'm just weary of the 'Berne's poor leadership has spawned legions of evil Berniebros' bullshit. It's a moronic formulation.

[joshcryer]

20. That's the exact response.

Impossible to counter.

[uponit7771]

21. Sanders didn't give the same grace to a guy who was running the country so, don't know about that..

... yet.

[whatchamacallit]

23. I'm trying to solve your riddle

but it's hard. Is this an Obama reference? Could you explain the 'grace' that was denied?

[TCJ70]

25. The poster still thinks Sanders somehow doesn't like Obama...

...it's weird. But acknowledging that we can do better (which should always be the goal, right?) is somehow disrespecting him.

[bobbobbins01]

24. I've heard some of the most ridiculous excuses.

That he should denounce the negative comments he knows about or he is complicit. And if he doesn't know about them, then his campaign is a piece of shit, because they should be informing him of every thing his millions of supporters say on the internet.

He can't win with them...If he spent 24 hours a day calling out every bad thing people say on the internets, he would have no time to campaign...and if he doesn't, he's a dirty racist....

If only they applied the same kind of vigor and creativity in criticizing their own candidate.

[whatchamacallit]

31. Yeah, the reasoning, if you could call it that, is all over the map

[artislife]

28. Bernie is too smart to read DU nt

[whatchamacallit]

29. Haha no shit

[blm]

30. Exactly - why anyone puts stock in what 'internet user A or B' has to say and judge candidates by it

is beyond me. I also believe the worst of the As or Bs are getting paid by GOP$$$$ to keep the Dem supporter camps as divided as possible.

[sibelian]

34. You'll have hardened their resolve with this, I suspect, and little else.

Best to ignore it, I think.

[Scootaloo]

35. Well, it's like this...

Bernie Sanders is expected to meet exacting standards. when he achieves that, the standards are arbitrarily changed to make sure he still falls short. He has to jump every hurdle, eveyr hoop perfectly, and when he makes it to the end of the run, well, just add another hurdle, another hoop, and demand he do them all again. His prior achievements count for nothing no matter how big, but any past failings are magnified to absolutely define him as a person.

Meanwhile over on the other side of the ticket, we have Hillary Clinton who is held to no standards. No expectations. She's a darling, pampered and protected. Her failures are passed off as anyone, everyone else's fault, while her achievements, no matter how small, are made the whole of her. She doesn't have to jump any hoops or clear any hurdles for approval. Just by showing up, she's declared the winner.

basically? One candidate has to put in four times the work to be considered one fourth as good as the other candidate, who doesn't have to do any work to be considered perfect.

What do you think is behind that, I wonder. I mean back when it was 2008, and Hillary supporters demanded all that same of Obama, we knew EXACTLY what it was. But now it's two white people in the contest and... oh. OH! Okay, I get it now.

[whatchamacallit]

37. Ain't that the truth

[Autumn]

39. OH! You got it

[SMC22307]

45. "Her failures are passed off as anyone, everyone else's fault..."

I see that in some of her biggest supporters as well. One of whom is participating in this thread.

[Chitown Kev]

40. FWIW, I don't think that it's so serious that Bernie, himself, should respond to it

But Jeff Weaver should.

Don't think that people on both campaigns don't read what's going on here.

[whatchamacallit]

42. Here's the problem I see with that

To do so requires acknowledging and legitimizing a problem that is largely a myth. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of assholes, agitators, trolls, provocateurs... on both sides, but this Berniebro phenomenon is mostly a divisive campaign ploy.

[mythology]

43. Agreed

There are people who act like assholes on the internet. Given the Sanders demographics being heavily youth oriented, it makes sense that there would be a higher percentage of them to suck online. But given that women journalists get rape threats and I know of one who had a troll pretend to be her dead dad that have nothing to do with politics, it's certainly not Sanders' fault.

I know a woman who decided to train men's gymnastics and in an article on her, there were all sorts of claims that she was born a man or a man hating lesbian (both claims would come as quite the surprise to her husband and the twins they had last year.

Any substantial out of bounds attacks lobbed by Sanders aren't related to Sanders.

[SMC22307]

44. Yeah, that's one of my favs of the anti-Bernie hysteria.

A political candidate is supposed to be able to control the internet. There's a pattern: The same people making the policing demands try to control speech on DU. Fuck that.

[FlatBaroque]

46. When your ignore list nears 400 esteemed Hillary supporters

these things become inconsequential.