At first glance, the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash Facebook group looks like any other political Facebook group. The page is filled with supporters, links to articles, and you guessed it, hilarious pictures (usually overlaid with white text) the internet baptized as memes some time ago. But what non-members don’t see is the undulating river of connection that flows between every user signed up for BSDMS. And it’s this connection that’s going to win the election.
There is no doubt that the younger generation, known as millennials if they were born between 1982 and 2000, support Bernie Sanders over every other candidate. They say that Sanders is the voice of the people, and that his dreams of grandeur for the American population (which includes affordable higher education, universal healthcare, and a $15/hour minimum wage) aren’t as impossible as his rival candidate might have you believe. Sanders is unquestionably the personification of the working and middle class, minorities, and younger people’s struggles. Every Occupy Wall Street protest, every woman who is paid less than a male doing the same job, every veteran coming home to nothing waiting for them, has resulted in one clear candidate.
The last time young people were this excited about the political process was eight years ago, and a lot has changed in eight years.
According to NPR, millennials, for the first time in history, outnumber any other age group that’s voting this election cycle with an estimated population of 83.1 million. All they have to do is mobilize, and they could easily determine who wins and who goes home.
Enter the internet.
If the major news networks are the media, then the internet is the anti-media. And anti-establishment Sanders supporters aren’t letting the establishment tell them what to think.
For every meme posted, someone uploads a selfie with the caption, “I just registered to vote!”
For every laugh chuckled, a paragraph urging Sanders supporters to volunteer and phone bank.
For every page scroll, multiple links to figure out how and when to vote for Sanders, offers for carpools to Bernie’s rallies, and reminders that the fight for the nomination isn’t even close to being over.
And Bernie supporters aren’t only finding the moxie to keep fighting the good fight. They’re finding millions of voices that echo their own. They’re finding friendship that extends beyond geographical location. And for some special members of Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Singles (a dating offshoot of BSDMS), they’re finding what almost every single person on Earth craves: love.
What separates the millennial Bernie fans from, let’s say, Trump’s millennial factions, is their advent rallying of the internet. To those that grew up in this rapidly advancing technological age, the internet is a tool. And we’re the only ones who know how to use it.
No other contender has a Dank Meme Stash, and if they do, their numbers pale in comparison to Bernie’s. What the other candidates don’t realize however, is that they’re not just missing out on their supporters making funny pictures. They are missing out on their followers coming together, fighting together, and winning together.
Don’t tell us we have no chance of winning, because we’re not listening.
Don’t tell us that the younger generation doesn’t know what they’re doing, because we’re the ones with over 300,000 members in our Dank Meme stash, and growing every day.
Don’t tell us millennials are lazy and only want “free stuff,” because we’re the only ones funding our own campaign.
At first glance, the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash Facebook group appears to just be a collection of funny pictures. But once the layers start to peel away, the true heart of the page shines through: make Bernie Sanders President.
And we will.
Sources
NPR www.npr.org/…
Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash www.facebook.com/...