Bubble Bots vs Bernie Bros
I agree that it’s time for a woman president of the United States. I agree that we need a political revolution NOW, not 4 years from now. I have a dilemma. I am struggling to choose the better of two of the most qualified progressive candidates for President of the United States that we have seen in my lifetime.That’s not a bad problem to have. But I have another problem ...
I have a well-defined decision-making process. I do research. I discuss what I find with a broad cross-section of people from my circle of friends, on Facebook, and on Twitter. Occasionally, maybe often, that process will uncover new, contradictory information to my own research efforts. I then incorporate the new facts and reconstruct my point of view based on that more complete understanding of the problem space.
Now, I find that it is very difficult to have that discussion with the broader community of decision-influencers with whom I interact regularly. It seems that, within my own progressive community, we have as much of a problem with folks believing what they want to even in the face of evidence to contrary. Here is a case in point from my Twitter stream:
Friend: My problem with Bernie is two fold. One he is less electable. Secondly if he did win, he'd be less effective
Me: Then why does Sanders poll higher than Hillary against EVERY GOP candidate nationwide?
Me: By the way, do you think Hillary would be proposing these big, bold plans if Bernie weren't making her nervous?
Friend: He's not Presidential material, he's about ideological symbolism, a gadfly
Me: I just think that taking a strong partisan stand for one candidate will automatically make anyone else a gadfly in one's mind.
Me: I find it offensive your call him a gadfly. You are insulting people you will ask to vote for Hillary if she wins the nomination
Friend: She sponsored and passed many bills in six years. How many of his sponsored bills passed?
Me: He has implemented his (my) agenda through 13 important amendments that he has gotten passed.
Me: Hillary says, "It's not realistic", Bernie does it anyway through amendments
Friend: He's gotten few of his own bills passed in 27 years.
Me: So it only counts if he "gets things done" with bills he authors and sponsors, amendments don't count as "getting things done?"
Friend: No one could say it's a prolific record
Me: Show me 13 things that Hillary has accomplished.
Friend: Now you're playing the she's got nothing done game. She’s gotten plenty done and in only six years
Me: I"M PLAYING THAT GAME? Umm, have you been reading your own tweets?
Friend: Because it's a GOP lie that she's gotten nothing done
Me: Whose lie is it that Bernie's a dreamer with no accomplishments?
Friend: Here is more on her record in the Senate
Me: FYI, Hillary has gotten exactly 3 bills passed. 1 names a U.S. Post Office, 1 names a U.S. Highway, ...
Me: Hillary has gotten exactly 3 bills passed. and ones establishes a natl historic site
Me: There is a big difference between sponsoring a bill and "getting things done". How many passed?
Friend: She has more than that. I'll look up source
ME: By your own definition, Bernie is not a gadfly. Bernie has a longer, stronger record than Hillary.
3RD Friend:
His paid family leave & healthcare plans raise payroll taxes by total of around 9%. I like, but Gunna b a hard sell here.
Me: These programs would be paid for by Wall Street, not the middle class.
Me: Incidentally, the only tax I heard Bernie propose is on Wall Street speculation & on corps hiding profits in Grand Caymens.
Friend: Now that is not the case. He has come out for a 2.2% tax for his single payer and a 6.6% payroll tax
Me: Show me that on his website.
Friend: Bob it's a fact it's out there. If you don't want to believe it I can't help that.
Me: If its out there, you should have no problem showing it to me.
Friend: OK well if you are going to deny facts I can't talk about it any further.
Me: So I see a tax mentioned - not an amount. …
(after some searching links from Bernie’s site to healthcare proposal site)
Me: 3% payroll tax on the bottom 40% of income earners (incomes under $53,000, tax paid by employers) Note: this is not a deduction
Me: 6% payroll tax on top 60% of income earners (applies to incomes over $53,000, tax paid by employers) Note: also not a deduction
Me: 6% high-income surtax (applies to households with incomes > $225,000) This one is paid by taxpayer, not employer
From this exchange, I learned that Bernie is proposing a tax I was unaware of in his healthcare plan. I also learned that Paul Krugman thinks its a bad idea to invest political capital in replacing the ACA with Single Payer (which I am in favor of). Note that I did not deny a tax existed. I also did the research to see if there was a basis for the claims and publicly announced that I accepted the reality of what I found. I’m not sure my friend left the discussion with the understanding that Bernie has accomplished more that his candidate’s talking points claim or that his candidate has not accomplished as much as he had come to believe she had. If he did, he did not mention it in the conversation.
My point, however, is that people I know and respect who are supporting Hillary are now blinded by their own partisan obsession with the candidate of their choice. They seem so obsessed that they are no longer willing to incorporate provable, documented facts into their “reality” in order to make the strongest case for the positions they support and promote. They live in their own bubble, insulated from any inconvenient truth that might disrupt the perfect perception they have had created for themselves. They have joined Hillary’s army of Bubble Bots that I am encountering across the social media landscape.
(JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
from Vox.com
Not surprisingly, it is this same army of Bubble Bots who seem to be the most vocal in their attacks on Bernie’s supporters, labeling them “Bernie Bros.” In fact, it is not even necessary to be a committed Bernie supporter to be labeled a Bernie Bro. One can simply obtain “Bro”hood by simply refusing to blindly regurgitate Hillary’s talking points. This especially true if you engage a Bubble Bot in a vigorous debate on an issue and point out anything positive that Bernie may have contributed to the issue. Rather than engaging in a vigorous debate on the issues, the Bubble Bots will first try to marginalize the unconverted Progressive. When that fails, the Bernie Bro label is sure to be branded firmly on the hide of the “offender”.
For anyone who has been on another planet, or at least on a different continent, who doesn’t know what the term "Bernie Bro” implies, an explanation of its history and implications can be found here. For purposes of this blog, it is enough to know that it is not a term of endearment. On the contrary, it implies sexism and gang mentality as described in the following excerpt:
But the live controversy over the alleged bros’ existence and activities didn’t begin until months later, after many women began to notice that when they criticized Sanders online or praised Hillary Clinton, male Sanders supporters would reliably turn up in swarms to tell them they were wrong. And that this swarming occasionally escalated further, into misogynistic abuse that was upsetting or even frightening for them. ~Amanda Taub from Vox.com
I cannot speak to the legitimacy of the claims these Bubble Bots are making about the abuse they claim to have experienced. I have no doubt that the original complaints were genuine and sincere. I have no doubt it still happens. To the extent that Bernie Bros are harassing, intimidating, and especially abusing another person, male or female, those perpetrators deserve any and all condemnation that comes their way. This is a particularly critical issue in this election because of the historic nature of the possibility of electing the 1st female President in U.S. history. It is also critical because of the history of paternalism and misogyny that characterized most of America’s history. To his credit, Bernie Sanders, a long-time advocate of women’s rights, acted swiftly to deal with this issue within his campaign. And to Amanda Taub’s credit, she points out that, “The kerfuffle over harassment by Sanders supporters isn’t about Bernie. Nor is it about who gets to be president or whose supporters are better.”
The dismissal of Hillary supporters’ issues and positions, the attempts to marginalize those supporters, and, ultimately, the demeaning, dehumanizing behavior of the Bernie Bros most likely comes from the same passionate loyalty and compromising of values that was exhibited by the Bubble Bots that I encountered and described above.
And therein lies the problem. We have a broad spectrum of personalities and experience within our progressive movement. We have novices who may be less than graceful and lacking in a degree of finesse that participation in the national debate requires. We have supporters who have brusque personalities, regardless of their level of experience. When we encounter abuse within or without our personal circles we have a civic obligation to address it and to take action to expel it and any who persist in engaging in that sort of behavior.
However, a vibrant democracy demands vigorous debate. It is as much of a miscarriage of justice for the abused to become the abuser as was the original abuse. There seems to be an if-you-disagree-with-Hillary-you-must-be-a-Bernie-Bro meme spreading across social media among the Bubble Bots that is based on the same marginalizing, demeaning, dehumanizing and abusive behavior as the Bernie Bros whom they hold in such contempt. This behavior has a dampening effect on the discussion. This discussion makes up a national debate that is so important to our democratic process. And “to my mind” this is the same behavior our entire progressive community has been met with when attempting to engage in the national debate with conservatives. Until we can have civil debates with opposing points of view, we will continue to experience the same toxic political environment that we have suffered through since the Reagan Revolution ushered in the “Liberal is the L-Word” attitude. Who loses in that sort of toxic environment? All of us.
