White fragility (lot of this around here recently!):

[MADem]

76. The individual who was swarmed and kicked off DU by hide after undeserved hide

(while personal insults thrown at her stood) wasn't a "pro-Hillary person." That's what a lot of the "pro-Sanders people" are not acknowledging.

In fact, she started off life in the Sanders camp, here, until she decided to share her perspective with them about how Sanders could improve his outreach--at that point she was met with more push-back (on the usual "He marched with MLK" lines) than I've ever seen on this board. It was frantic, frankly--along the "Lalalalalalala I can't HEEEAAAAR you!" style of push-back. All she was trying to do was give people a clue, but they deliberately took it the wrong way, and then started going after her. When they made things personal, quite naturally, her back went up.

I think DU showed a really ugly side with the way that they treated her. Opened my eyes, that's for sure. I've always said that if my preferred candidate, HRC, doesn't make it, that I'll vote for the nominee. I've often said I'd hold my nose if it's Webb. I'll tell you, though, if it's Sanders, and my car breaks down, I will have to think hard about reaching into my wallet and renting a car to drive the dozens of voters (sometimes, over a hundred) I usually cart to the polls on election day. I'm just not enthused. I'll drag myself to the voting booth, but I just am not inclined to put my back into it. The way Bravenak was treated has left a nasty taste in my mouth.

I think the Sanders supporters here need to do a better job of policing their own, particularly the newcomers to the site--and they aren't doing that. They should know, though, that these partisan cuts they're making at their fellow DUers are deep, they'll take a while to heal, and the scars will show for a long, long time.

As for Sanders, I think--if he really doesn't want disruptions like this in future--he needs to ask for some security at venues where he is appearing, and his people also need to do a better job at ensuring that his speaking platforms are not easily accessible to people wishing to take over the stage--unless that's what he wants.

He wants to be the leader of the free world--if he can't put in place the mechanisms to prevent a couple of twenty-somethings from stealing his microphone, then he needs to work on his organizational skills. Dubya had a lesson for him, there, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...unnnnh, duhhhhh...won't git fooled agin!"