I mean, how is that fair?
You inform and correct them that their candidate will NEVER WIN, and they don’t go away.
You point out he’s a SOCIALIST, and America hates socialists — and he can NEVER WIN, and they reply how everyone likes socialism, with silly examples like social security and the army!
Then you let them know that some of his other supporters, well, they just were dirty rotten people, that did things they should find reprehensible. THEY DIDN’T FIND THEM REPREHENSIBLE! Those miserable reprobates!
You then lay it on the table — there’s just MOUNTAINS of stuff, that oh, you’d love to slam down on Bernie — but you’re being too polite, and it’ll FOR SURE come out any day now. Just the most HORRIBLE stuff. YOU DON’T WANT TRUMP USING THIS STUFF THAT ABSOLUTELY EXISTS!
And they keep raising money for him!
How — why?
Why can’t I drive them away? Don’t they see he can never win?
Don’t be the person above. It doesn’t really help against Sanders supporters. It never really helps against anyone.
Because it’s not really an argument — it’s a plea to be left alone.
On a comment board. Inherently designed to communicate. With a goal literally against that.
Don’t get me wrong — if you just want to be alone with other folks and reminisce, that’s awesome, but this is the primary, and that sort of game doesn’t play in the primaries anymore. There’s plenty of places to just be alone with a fan club.
I understand some of the reasoning all the same — perhaps you think he’s something like Michael Dukakis, or Walter Mondale, or John Kerry, or or Al Gore or something.
Cool — that’s an argument, so we can go into details… except those are all people that largely lost for a lack of conviction and trying to play up their accomplishments and found largely false.
See — that’s what Sanders supporters see in him, why they’re pretty heavily resistant to demotivation. Sanders really does live his ideals, he limits his boasts, and he drives a core set of messages to those ideals.
Sort of closer to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in that way.
Now — disagreeing with all that is PERFECTLY FINE.
Just be aware that “he’s going to lose, why can’t you see he’s going to lose” is not a winning argument. It’s motivated reasoning — a story you’re telling yourself to drive others away.
Exactly the people you’d need to win with if your preferred candidate succeeds.
Bernie Sanders supporters aren’t cult members (In Florida, I know cult members) — they’re motivated by exactly the same things that you are.
And yes — I’m also talking about the independent supporters! They’re kind of one of the advantages a Sanders path has. They end up showing up, compared to the mythical centrist Republicans that never end up voting in large numbers for the centrist Democratic party candidate.
Listen — I’m fine if Sanders is not picked in the end — I’d be overwhelmingly happy with Warren too, and accept any of the others. That’s part of why it’s hard to demotivate me in particular — because Bernie Sanders the person isn’t that terribly important. Bernie Sanders the vehicle for the ideals I care about is really all that matter. I’ll swap in a second if it works better for what I care about.
So, the insults against him and his supporters — they’re just noise.
The insistence of impossibility — that never stopped Obama supporters much.
The fear of failure? What is there to be afraid of — as long as you’re honestly working towards what you care about the most, that’s ENDLESSLY more important than trying to read the mind of every other voter and working on what you guess they’ll choose.
None of this is magic pixie dust or any other insulting dismissal — it’s how campaigns have won forever. By appealing to actual shared needs, and stepping right over fear to get there.
This plea for paralysis that is inherent in the demotivational approach is really a form of paralysis for yourself.
You can move past that — and fight for your preferred candidate with actual appeals, and do far better for yourself and your own emotions, AND be more effective to boot.
You know, if you want. And you might want to.