Salon:Why does the "BernieBro" myth persist? Because pundits don't understand how the internet works

[jg10003]

https://www.salon.com/2020/02/09/the-berniebro-myth-persists-because-pundits-dont-understand-how-the-internet-works/

...debunk the stereotype that Sanders' support base consists entirely of a mythic tribe of entitled, pushy young millennial men. To wit: young women make up more of Sanders' base than men. He polls especially high with Hispanic voters, far more so than with white voters; Hispanic voters also donated more money to him than any other Democratic candidate. Polls consistently show that nonwhite voters prefer him over the other candidates. Notably, the demographic group that likes Sanders the least is white men.

...Sanders has taken in the most money from women. Many of Sanders' female supporters bemoan how they are ignored by the mainstream press.

....many intelligent pundits and politicians persist with the myth. How do they justify it? They just know, apparently. But specifically, they feel it on Twitter.

[denem]

1. "Why does the "BernieBro" myth persist?"

Because some people read Twitter?

[MH1]

34. Or because some of us know Bernie Bros IRL?

I mean seriously, I do, and the stereotype is really quite close.

That said I always try to set stereotypes aside when I engage with people. But if someone acts like an asshole, whether it's a BernieBro asshole or some other candidate's less stereotyped asshole, than I move on.

[Squinch]

2. Sure, Salon. You go with that.

[davs797]

3. Thanks for posting

It is interesting because Hispanic voters make up the largest minority group in the electorate.

[Happy Hoosier]

4. Ummm.... because I've met them?

I'm not saying they are numerically dominant, buyt they do exist. I've met them. They are not a good "brand ambassador."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. It isn't necessarily that the majority of Bernie's supporters are

loud, misogynistic assholes on social media and in public gatherings; it's that loud, misogynistic assholes seem to be gravitating to Sanders' campaign and not to the other candidates.' Why does his campaign attract so many loud, misogynistic assholes? That's a fair question.

[PatSeg]

8. Unfortunately that seems to be true

Also the loudest people draw the most attention. A candidate needs to call out the more disruptive supporters and disavow any of the ugliness they spew forth.

[Indepatriot]

17. You have any data to back up your assertions? Or is this your opinion?

You may be familiar with the old saying about opinions and assholes....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. I've seen them in action since 2016

when I was a Sanders supporter - at least I was until the bros tried to disrupt the convention. A bunch of them left DU to form JPL, which has become one of the nastiest places on the Internet. Nobody but Bernie is pure enough for them; they hate Democrats (corporate sellouts!) but seem inordinately fond of Stein, Gabbard and Russians. It’s a cesspool.

[Indepatriot]

23. So, opinion it is.

Thanks.

[Cha]

35. It's her experience.

[Sloumeau]

28. JPL? nt

[still_one]

33. They meant the scum at JPR

[betsuni]

44. +1

[OilemFirchen]

6. The entirety of what you cited is a cacophony of irrelevancies.

For those who've read it, is there anything of substance in the article that would warrant a click?

[betsuni]

43. No. It's pointless:

First of all, not every single Sanders supporter is a white man. In fact, white men don't even like him! Women give him lots of money. The NYT columnist who wrote about Bernie Bros is a "well-insulated, upper middle-class pundit" who hates good poor people like Bernie supporters in Nevada. Media elites think Twitter is a zeitgeist but they see the world through "the bluebird's drinking glass." Twitter is owned by a corporation and its users are wealthy, probably with corporate office jobs, so they can spend a lot of time fooling around online, unlike good poor people.

There are angry people on Twitter. Did you know that people act differently online than in real life? Did you also know that not all Twitter accounts are real people? If someone has a story about a mean Sanders supporter, it's because there are individual assholes. There's a video of a Warren supporter being mean to Sanders fans, but it's ignored because it doesn't fit the stereotype. Anyway, Sanders did not specifically instruct his supporters to be angry, menacing and threatening online. He and his rhetoric have nothing to do with it, don't be silly. Sanders is an "egalitarian, a civil rights activist, and a compassionate progressive voice." Therefore, Bernie Bros are a myth.

The End.

[OilemFirchen]

46. Thanks betsuni.

Glad I didn't waste a finger twitch.

[betsuni]

48. You're welcome.

I'm still trying to figure out what the hell seeing the world through the bluebird's drinking glass means. Never seen that expression before and hope to never see it again.

[Indepatriot]

7. Please stop with the fact-based analysis.

It get's in the way of a good-old fashioned, fact-free bashing!

[irisblue]

9. So a dude who posts this, surely has serious creds

Keith A. Spencer (@keithspencer) Tweeted:
Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown would be proud of this design

(only #ArchitectureTwitter will get this joke) https://t.co/CKcN7eWaHp

Link to tweet

SARCASM EMOJI HERE


Then some really educational privacy tweets, then a retweet of a rose twitter deizen calling Speaker Pelosi... "Love to nominally be connected to a political party led by a woman who is a proud supporter of right-wing coups and two-bit, wannabe dictators."

Muddled messages

[sheshe2]

22. Jaysus! Thank you so much for this post.

I think you should combine the Op and this and make your own OP.

I can't believe what I read here at times.

Oh my.

[irisblue]

24. what I posted was after a 5 min search, I don't feel I know enough

I do know I got a mini swarm of gnats who gave up after 20min last night on my Twitter.

And I do wish, when I made my Twitter acct I had not used a female name. Live & learn.
thanks for the compliment.

[sheshe2]

25. I don't do twitter.

Like to read them, yet don't participate.

I am sorry you got swarmed. Obviously you are on the right track.

Hugs.

[Me.]

27. I'd Say His Staff Picks Point To An Attitude of

intimidation, insult and lack of respect

[sheshe2]

32. Correct.

Why anyone listens to a Stein voter is beyond me. She dines with Putin. Putin is not a friend of America.

[Cha]

38. Mahalo, Iris.. I can tell by the title

he has no cred. Good Grief

[krissey]

10. We saw it live in New Hampshire dinner. We saw it live, creating a gauntlet for a bunch of

women and children to walk to go to a rally. I keep being told not to believe my eyes, and I simply say. No.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread jg.

[nolabear]

12. Myth my ass.

[whistler162]

21. Well they are no longer young so!!!!

[Cha]

39. Ikr.. just Who Do they Think they're KIDDING?!!!

[Nanjeanne]

13. Twitter is a bunch of anonymous people full of all kinds of agendas and games. I ignore

most of the nonsense and never believe a tweet by a "Bro" or a "Clintonista" or a "Puma" or a "NeverBernie" or "BernieorBust" or whatever. I've had rude things tweeted at me. If it's really offensive, I block the person. I don't get bent out of shape about it. I'm always shocked that people go on Twitter and get offended by some anonymous person saying something.

The media loves a circus, a fight, a scandal - and it's such a pity that so many people buy into it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. The "myth" persists because they exist.

They are not the majority but they're real and they make a lot of noise. And his senior campaign staff certainly do nothing to dampen the flames - they spend more time bashing other Democrats (real Democrats) than they do bashing Trump, and that's where the bros seem to be getting their inspiration. Sanders could shut it all down just by telling his staff that he won't tolerate slandering the other candidates and the DNC, but he's either unable or, more likely, unwilling to do that. None of the other candidates have significant numbers of rude, angry assholes among either their campaign staff or their supporters. Why is that?

[FiveGoodMen]

15. I don't know, but I've encountered it here

(and gotten my response deleted)

[SidDithers]

16. Reminder that Salon happily published everything HA Goodman had to say...nt

Sid

[Celerity]

19. he seems nice

NOT

H. A. Goodman TRUMP 2020
@H_A_Goodman

[still_one]

36. and Salon never misses an opportunity to disparage Hillary

[Cha]

40. Yep.. they were only Too Happy To Do it!

[tishaLA]

20. WhItE DuDeS WhO WrItE fOr SaLoN ArE ThE OnLy SmArT DuDeS

[betsuni]

31. ...

[still_one]

37. +++

[Cha]

41. Or So they think..

[stonecutter357]

26. lol i have "BernieBro" in my family ....

[Cha]

42. haha.. so the article is not convincing you?

smh

[cherryinpa]

29. There are definately some Bernie Bro's, but they're not all bad

Theres some good and some bad.

As Democrat's we need to find a way to use their power to defeat Trump.

Rather than alienate them we need to bring them further into the party and to support our chosen candidate.

Let's not get into the past and repeat 2016, we all have the same values and end-point objective to get rid of the nutball in the Whitehouse.

Bernie Bro's might be barbarians, but they're our barbarians.

[Fresh_Start]

30. open secrets statistics

liz warren was the only candidate I found that had more money and more women supporters for the candidate

Bernie
sex %of funds #of contributers
Female 38.7% 317148
Male 61.3% 388421

Liz
Female 50.9% 240035
Male 49.1% 175273

[dalton99a]

45. Because they have the certitude and charm of Scientologists

Especially after you tell them "NO I don't want to try your fucking E-meter!"

[NurseJackie]

47. Haaaaaa!

[Gothmog]

49. I met and dealth with vetted sanders supporters at the National Convention

Normally going to a national convention is a once in a life time experience. I have worked really hard inside the party on campaigns and voter protection issues for a very long time to earn this trip. Too bad that sanders and his vetted delegates ruined that experience and did their best to help trump. A candidate has absolute approval rights over their pledged delegates because these delegates can change their votes and these delegates represent the candidate and campaign. I helped vet Clinton delegates and I know that I was vetted. The Clinton campaign told us that we represent her and that our actions would reflect on her and her campaign.

In contrast, sanders sent one very weak text the Sunday night before the convention and then did little or nothing to control his delegates. It was nasty I was there when the sanders delegates booed Congressman John Lewis. I was warned about this stunt 30 minutes before it happened by the Clinton campaign whip. According to my whip, sanders was asked to stop this event and declined. That incident will be used against sanders by Russia to suppress the African American vote just as was done in 2016

Link to tweet

Russia will just run material showing sanders delegates booing John Lewis, Elijah Cummings and others to suppress the vote of African American voters and I feel that this tactic would be very effective

I was at the Texas delegation breakfast when a group of sanders delegates marched in and demanded that we condemn Clinton and change our votes to sanders.

sanders spoke to the Texas delegation the next morning and his speech was again solely about himself. There was a mini-riot due to his delegates the prior morning and the only thing that sanders talked about was himself. sanders did nothing to deal with the fact that his delegates were out of control and did nothing to try to help Hillary Clinton win the general election.

Finally a group of sanders delegates yelled at my daughter and called her the c-Word because she would not try to get me to change my vote. Again sanders was asked to tell his delegates to behave during the convention and sanders refused

The conduct describe in the OP does not surprise me