2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumGreenwald's Seven Stages of Establishment Backlash (Sanders/Corbyn edition): Are we at stage 7 yet?
The meltdown over the past week or so, especially since Wisconsin, seems pretty real to me.
STAGE 1: Polite condescension toward what is perceived to be harmless (we think its really wonderful that your views are being aired).
STAGE 2: Light, casual mockery as the self-belief among supporters grows (no, dears, a left-wing extremist will not win, but its nice to see you excited).
STAGE 3: Self-pity and angry etiquette lectures directed at supporters upon realization that they are not performing their duty of meek surrender, flavored with heavy doses of concern trolling (nobody but nobody is as rude and gauche online to journalists as these crusaders, and its unfortunately hurting their candidates cause!).
STAGE 4: Smear the candidate and his supporters with innuendos of sexism and racism by falsely claiming only white men support them (you like this candidate because hes white and male like you, not because of ideology or policy or contempt for the party establishments corporatist, pro-war approach).
STAGE 5: Brazen invocation of right-wing attacks to marginalize and demonize, as polls prove the candidate is a credible threat (hes weak on terrorism, will surrender to ISIS, has crazy associations, and is a clone of Mao and Stalin).
STAGE 6: Issuance of grave and hysterical warnings about the pending apocalypse if the establishment candidate is rejected, as the possibility of losing becomes imminent (you are destined for decades, perhaps even generations, of powerlessness if you disobey our decrees about who to select).
STAGE 7: Full-scale and unrestrained meltdown, panic, lashing-out, threats, recriminations, self-important foot-stomping, overt union with the Right, complete fury (I can no longer in good conscience support this party of misfits, terrorist-lovers, communists, and heathens).
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/21/the-seven-stages-of-establishment-backlash-corbynsanders-edition/
pdsimdars
(6,007 posts)But the condescension seems to be carried on throughout the whole process.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)and really even Pinkos, have ALWAYS known that the so-called "liberals" will support even the fascists when it comes down to a choice between a full blown anti-capitalist revolt or a fascist state that "saves" capitalism. There's an old saw that I first heard in the '60s from the SDS. It goes:
The fascists will shoot you. The conservatives will cheer the fascists on. The moderates will watch your execution on TV. And the liberals will cry over your grave once you're safely dead. In the dark, after turning you in to the fascists.
That's why Reds don't trust liberals because this is an inevitability in class war.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Funny and sad, at the same time.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)It's almost like the UK and US are different countries with some similar problems!
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)seattleite
(79 posts)Ino
(3,366 posts)This article is actually referring to the uproar in the U.K. against Corbyn, but is the same as the reaction to Sanders here. It's the same all over, it seems. First they laugh at you...
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)and Bernie is not.
BernieforPres2016
(3,017 posts)Bernie was supposed to play the role that the Washington Generals played for the Harlem Globetrotters. Give them an opponent they could run up and down the court with. Make a few baskets so it looks like we're actually playing a game. Stand like statues when we want to run our routines like dribbling in circles around you or passing the ball between your legs.
But know your place. The crowd came to see the Globetrotters, not you or a competitive game.
kristopher
(29,798 posts)Then they ridicule you.
And then they attack you and want to burn you.
And then they build monuments to you."
It's the story of the labor struggle.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016151028