Three kinds of threads to stop posting on [View all]

[kenfrequed]

I am sure there are more than these, but these are the three kinds of troll-paper that are put out that we should all agree to let sink. All of these are really just an effort to provoke reactions from us and all of them should be ignored in order to let them sink.

1) "Bernie Sanders is not a real Democrat"

It amazes me that some of the same folk that defended Lieberman right up until he finally ran as an independent are making this argument. There are conservative politicians that have had big 'ole 'D's next to their name that have screwed progressives, and even the moderates of the party over for decades. Whenever we stood up to them (Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas comes to mind) we have been castigated for our lack of pragmatism and that we are putting blind purism over the need to win.

There is absolutely no reason and nothing to gain by engaging in fake discussion with this one. Sanders is already on the record as stating he will support the Democratic party now and in November and that should be good enough. The only people it isn't good enough for are people that don't want him to be the candidate.

2) "Bernie the Warhawk"

This is probably the strangest accusation I have ever seen. He is faulted for voting for a military program or so and for supporting the use of US forces in humanitarian works, including trying to stop genocide! Somehow that is considered a bad thing. If you challenge someone on how they can analogize support for Iraq to support for stopping genocide in Kosovo they will always try to turn/project it back on you. "Im not, you are doing it, and you are pretending he is more peaceful than he is." No actual answer will be forthccoming.

But the goal is to try to paint him as some kind of hypocrite that isn't really as peaceful as his supporters suggest, which automatically somehow means we should all go cry in our pillows and just let a candidate that is more of a hawk win. The absurdity of this kind of post cannot be overstated. The only reason to put it up is to try to provoke a reaction.

3) "Bernie followers are meanies/cultists/brainwashed/not real democrats etc.."

This kind of post is particularly annoying and extremely prevalent whenever we get any positive press cycles going. Now, the reality of this is that in a group as large and diverse as ours there are going to be a few jerks. We shouldn't coddle them and we shouldn't encourage them. Of course some people get angry and it is often because they get sucked into an argument similar to one of the two listed above. But that is no excuse for being a jerk. Stop being a jerk. Some of these Hillary supporters are going to switch sides and it would be nice if we were a welcoming presence when they do.

That said, we really need to stop jumping on threads about how bad we are. Responding to these accusations keeps them afloat. Every time you jump onto one of these threads and explain how most of us are nice, normal, well adjusted people you are actually just pumping up that thread a bit longer.

If you cannot possibly help yourself and need to promote how Bernie supporters are welcoming then do that. Create your own thread. It might sink because some of the drama-seekers here are looking for the thrill of internet argumentation, but at least you won't be adding fuel to a thread saying how horrible we all are.


-There are of course other kinds of threads we should stop responding to but these are the ones I have been thinking the most of lately.