Another Reason Why Unity Won't Happen
Perhaps it's been remarked on elsewhere, but this "Democratic" primary was different in a number of ways, particularly when it comes to how the campaigns went about their messaging.
While Bernie was largely focused on issues and class-based politics, Clinton was vague at best on most issues and relied on identity politics as her primary resource for persuasion.
The end result was that the Clinton campaign spent the majority of the season trashing Sanders' supporters, not so much Sanders himself. In any contentious primary, there will always be acrimony between the groups of supporters. Names will always be called. But this plan to paint Bernie's supporters as racist/sexist/uncivilized was a concerted and organized strategy of slander coming from the HRC campaign itself. As the Daily Beast's Olivia Nuzzi tweeted:
So here is the problem: in normal primaries, the candidates usually stick to criticizing each other. In this one, however, there was a massive, deliberate effort to slime a huge number of people - to paint them as so crude, so stupid, so retrograde that their mere presence was a argument against whatever they were saying. How on earth do you then turn around and ask for such people's support once the primary is over?
You can't. Back in 2008, there was a first attempt at this trash-the-supporters strategy, but because Obama won the nomination, we didn't have to see how there could be a unifying follow-up. But here we are. I'm sure there will be plenty of trying, with lots more psy-ops/marketing sleaze to come. There will a veritable tidal wave of praise and positivity the instant the HRC campaign and its surrogates in the media know they have the nomination in the bag. We're seeing a bit of it already. But "Hey, BernieBro! You sexist/racist pig! Vote for me, because actually you're awesome and the Republicans are worse!" is not a convincing argument. And if Clinton loses? Well, take a guess who will suddenly get blamed for it all....
(h/t to Spacewoman3 over at r/Kossacks_for_Sanders for posting the Nuzzi tweet.)
Comments
The other side knows it's class war.
People of the 1% have commented that it's a class war and that they are winning.
If we bring up that undeniable fact, we're red-baited and told matters of race and gender are more important than the economic well being of the 99%. Too few of us have seen through this tissue of lies and are working for a democracy of and for the wage earners; the want-to-be wage earners; owners of small businesses; and student burdened with debt from their getting an education.
The forces of reaction have dropped any pretense of one-person-one-vote in support of Clinton.
The USA, and the world, can't afford a Clinton presidency.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
In 2008, it would have been more difficult
to run the same type of campaign against Obama--although, there was some with the ObamaBoys label. The difference: it would have been overtly racist to attack Obama supporters whereas the meme has been that Sanders' supporters were young white males which the media helped perpetrate. Divide and conquer.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Good distinction
Young white males are fair game. No ism there. With Obama anything that could be twisted and construed as racist most definitely was - at LOF anyway.
I don't think party unity is going to happen either. Even if some people cave and vote for her, it won't be because of "unity".
They attacked and insulted Bernie people personally. They cheated and stole the nomination from us. Bernie & Dem values are like oil and water. Dem & GOP values are peas in a pod with different messengers. No way in hell I can reconcile this and say, oh well, Hill's my gal.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Well, Hillary's a pig. She loves Henry Kissinger.
That's why unity won't happen. I won't vote for a pig.
I hope she loses. And I wish it were possible that I could be the reason for her loss.
If I am blamed for it, I will swell with pride.
If you don't know what you want, you deserve what you get.
Hillary a Pig you say?
I so hate that picture.
I think the point could have been made in a totally different manner that did not demean her as a person. Not that I like her as a person either.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
It's a political picture. This is nothing new.
No sympathy for Clinton at all.
Demean her? She does that to herself with every lie and dishonest action she takes.
This picture is nowhere out of the ordinary.
It is a political cartoon and the artist is doing
what good journalists should: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Yes, it's a political picture and it's stupid.
Doesn't even make any sense.
Uh huh…It actually makes perfect sense.
the photo also demeans mother pigs and their babies which are
actually lovely animals when given the space to live as a pig should live.
The photo also demeans breastfeeding, the source life, which should be honored and not demeaned.
And furthermore, the photo has it backwards and is not even a good political cartoon. Hillary is not the giver of life, not even the giver of bad life. Hillary thrives off the system of corruption and lies and grows fat from it. Not the other way around. The Corrupt Election System is the pig and Hillary is the lip stick on the pig (ie, supposedly better than Trump.) Trump might be the tail on the pig, wagging the pig.
But again, pity the poor pig. For here we have all of this rotteness which was created by humans now thrust upon the image of the poor innocent pig.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
I think you are assigning intent that wasn't intended by the
artist.
To get his point across, he had to use a pig. (notice the lipstick? it's referencing the old "Putting lipstick on a pig" and "Suckling at the teats of (insert group here)" adages.
When it comes to humor in particular, Intent is important.
We can always find a way to find a negative aspect in anything if we are looking for it.
Hence the famous quote, "Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre." (If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.) - Cardinal Richelieu
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
Alpha, I'm a farm girl, love pigs and my first instict is always
to defend pigs. We loved our pigs and those days that they got turned into porkchops were the saddest days ever.
And on the subject of breastfeeding, I nursed both of children each for a year and don't like to see breastfeeding portrayed as somehow disgusting. We women go thru enuf trying to feed our babies in public what with people telling us how disgusting we are and we should go in the bathroom and feed our tiny baby. To which I used to tell them to go sit on the toilet themselves and eat their meal and see how they liked eating in there.
Yes I got the point of the cartoon, I don't need it explained to me. The point was poorly made by the cartoon. The cartoon made it's point completely backwards, IMO, even putting aside all of my objections to the negative portrayal of pigs and breastfeeding.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
My ex breastfed our kids.
Anecdotal - I personally have never known ANYONE who equates a sow suckling piglets being used in a political context was somehow demeaning to breastfeeding.
That's one hell of a jump…LOL
I've seen this image going back decades before I was even born used in political drawings year after year.
The point was well made by the cartoon using common political imagery.
And the saddest day might have been the day those pigs got turned into pork chops, but it got better when it was time to cook a pork roast, or fry up some pork chops, or enjoy some spare ribs, or bacon.
Well I disagree that it's a leap at all since it isn't just
any ordinary picture of a sow suckling piglets, but a very ugly one. We humans have a habit of associating some of our ugliest habits with pigs, I'm guilty of it myself. The pig is a fine animal and doesn't deserve the association no matter how far back it goes.
I really don't like anything about breastfeeding, human or animal to pictured as ugly, but that's just me. All of memories of breast feeding are wonderful, both my own and of all of our animals, cats, dogs, horses, cows, and pigs. We have plenty of photos. None of them ugly like this one.
And, yep, the smell of bacon frying on the wood stove in the morning was the best. Made it easy to get up and get to work. God Bess the pigs who were sacrificed for our benefit. At least on our farm they had a huge pen and a happy life before they made the ultimate sacrifice.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
Ah jeeeez. This cartoon has absolutely NOTHING to do with
Demeaning PIGS
"je suis Charlie "
Orwell was an optimist
A little off topic, but if I knew some pigs personally, I think
I'd be a vegetarian. I have to think of meat as magically appearing in the supermarket, or I literally cannot eat it.
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I think that there is some underlying misogyny in it when
Somebody like Pete Peterson describes Social Security as the sow with a million teats, or whatever it is he exactly said. There is a contempt for nourishing and nurturing, definitely.
But that's a different discussion.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Social Security Is ...
To paraphrase the co-head of the Obama-appointed Catfood Commission when Obama was on his austerity kick during the Great Recession:
"Social Security is like a milch cow with 320 million teats." Alan Simpson (R)
I agree
with you on this one, Lop.
accidental double post, sorry, good time for a song:
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
That comment made me think of this song, and the lyrics
actually fit the situation quite appropriately
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ4S9ydkMG4]
Lyrics
hey pig
yeah you
hey pig piggy pig pig pig
all of my fears came true
black and blue and broken bones
you left me here; I'm all alone
my little piggy needed something new
nothing can stop me now
'Cause i don't care anymore
nothing can stop me now
'Cause i don't care
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I don't care anymore
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I just don't care
hey pig
nothing's turning out the way i planned
hey pig
there's a lot of things
i hoped you could help me understand
what am i supposed to do
i lost my shit because of you
nothing can stop me now
'Cause i don't care anymore
nothing can stop me now
'Cause i don't care
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I don't care anymore
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I just don't care
Nothing can stop me now
Nothing can stop me now
Nothing can stop me now
Nothing can stop me
Nothing can stop me now
Nothing can stop me now
Nothing can stop me now
Nothing can stop me
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
Thank you
I was trying to figure out a song for how I feel after Tuesday. Thank you (BTW it is one of my fav NIN songs also)
War, War Never Changes - Fallout Series
Berniebros rock!
Hillary sucks! Sorry. Old habits die hard. Excellent point. I am close to getting a 30 day chip for complete abstinance from The Pie Fight Place. I was going to Daily Upchuck to keep up on the issues and was constantly baraged with things that 95% of Bernie supporters believed or did to help Trump win.
It was quite annoying at first and then I was accused of embarassing myself, asked if I was new, accused of being a troll, etc., etc., etc.
At this point I wouldn't vote for Hillary if she offered Bernie the combined positions of V.P., Sec. of Defense and Sec. of Treasury.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Look into my eyes.. You are getting sleepy
When I count to 3 you will wake up refreshed and a die hard hillary supporter because Elizabeth Warren
Orwell was an optimist
Congrats on 30-day abstinence! I gave them a consistent
message over there - every time they asked me if I would support Hill in order to defeat Trump, I responded, "If you're so worried about Trump, vote for Bern".
I do think we need to go all the way to the convention with a strong and consistent message about Bern's top policy proposals. Go with the intent to make them the best party they can be and then see what happens.
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Turn it off, ignore it
Fight for reality.
Beware the bullshit factories.
it's been amazing to watch this operation unfold
They really think they can create the reality. The sad thing is, if all your info comes from corporate media, then they essentially do. That's a big problem.
Looks like Peter Daou's check from Brock cleared
He's spamming for a brand new site that 'Democrats can trust'. Blue-something...
Perception equals reality
Perception equals reality
- Lee Atwater
Orwell was an optimist
for those who play along
I am shocked, shocked I say
that divisive charges of racism and sexism as the basis for a campaign has reduced unity.
Integrity IS important in Prez; won't be bullied it isn't!
You have hit the nail on the head and put into writing how we are feeling belittled, attacked, shamed by the Hill-bots. And you are SO RIGHT, why would we turn around and now love the abusers? We won't.
A great opinion piece from Inquisitr had this to say about how insulting the Clintons have been to us:
http://www.inquisitr.com/3182173/post-california-bernie-sanders-gains-le...
The reason we won't turn around and support HRC is the integrity thing. Nothing has changed, the lying still continues, and no amount of delegates will erase that! I am deeply troubled by a President, whose office should be the highest level of support for our American laws and justice, coming out to endorse someone under FBI criminal investigation.
Identity politics...
...may have sounded like a workable idea 40 or 50 years ago, but the world is now a much different place - in fact it's been turned on its head and used quite effectively by the 1% to divide people up and set them against each other. I don't know how long it will take for people to wake the hell up, but I fear it may be a very long time. Clinton and some of her more execrable followers over at OrangeState and elsewhere have been using it very effectively to demonize anyone asking hard questions.
I've often wondered if they have thought at all about the oligarchy they are defending, or if they're as brainwashed as the meatheads over at RedState.