Sandernistas and White Entitlement

[Landslide Lyndon]

An excellent look inside the Bernie Bros' mentality by a former Sanders intern.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/05/the-white-entitlement-of-some-sanders-supporters.html

Essentially, we disagreed on what America supposedly promised or owed us. They felt success was promised to them. The entitlement to believe that you should always win allowed them to overlook how the system in many ways has always been unjustly rigged in their favor because they’re white. I brought up race during our conversation and how I’m very aware of how a system can be rigged against you. These guys acknowledged my point, but it was obvious that this reality did not factor much into their thinking. They felt aggrieved and cheated, and that was all that mattered.

They could not understand the perspectives of blacks, Latinos and other minorities in America who are regularly treated as threats to society before their voices can be heard. We are often silenced before we even have the chance to win. And as a result, we know that losing is a reality we will confront and that success can be a difficult and long process that may only show its face in the lives of our children or grandchildren who have more opportunities because we’ve spent a lifetime fighting for positive change.

These guys could not understand this struggle. They wanted immediate success and gratification, and they were not used to things not going their way. The issues and the lives of others had become irrelevant. All they wanted was for me to agree that they had been unjustly cheated, and that “Killary” and the DNC had rigged everything against them. I could not agree, so I had to walk away.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

More "White/male privilege" nonsense from the regressive left.  The system is rigged against them.  It's rigged against everyone that doesn't have many PACs and/or lobbyists in D.C.

And Bernie isn't running against a black, latino, or other minority. It's against Clinton and or Trump.  Two white people.

The GOP rigged the system against Ron Paul.  They tried it with Trump (and failed). Bernie the Dems managed to keep down.

It doesn't have to do with color, and anyway last I looked blacks are getting plenty of attention lately (BLM) and we've had a black person the last 8 years in the White House. And I find it highly ironic that BLM are making noise, interrupting presentations and meetings, blocking roads and being as belligerent as Sanders' supporters and this guy wants to complain about whites doing it.

Bottom line: drop the race card.  Americans of all colors and creeds are pissed off and want real change and not Obama's hopey-changey stuff.  This might come to civil war.

[This account no longer in use.]

Move along and ignore it, Dabeav. LL's #analysis tends to be about as truthful as The Onion.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Evidence of what we all see everyday. Really sad for the next generation!

[skoods]

More "White/male privilege" nonsense from the regressive left.  The system is rigged against them.  It's rigged against everyone that doesn't have many PACs and/or lobbyists in D.C.

And Bernie isn't running against a black, latino, or other minority. It's against Clinton and or Trump.  Two white people.

The GOP rigged the system against Ron Paul.  They tried it with Trump (and failed). Bernie the Dems managed to keep down.

It doesn't have to do with color, and anyway last I looked blacks are getting plenty of attention lately (BLM) and we've had a black person the last 8 years in the White House. And I find it highly ironic that BLM are making noise, interrupting presentations and meetings, blocking roads and being as belligerent as Sanders' supporters and this guy wants to complain about whites doing it.

Bottom line: drop the race card.  Americans of all colors and creeds are pissed off and want real change and not Obama's hopey-changey stuff.  This might come to civil war.

I continue to see and hear this idiotic argument that the Dems "rigged the system" against Sanders. HOW THE HECK IS ANYTHING RIGGED? The man has 3 million fewer votes than Clinton and a couple of hundred fewer pledged delegates. It's a Democratic Party primary not the independent party primary. All primaries should be closed since if you're not a democrat enough to register as one, you shouldn't have the right to potentially sabotage the party's selection.

Man, the Bernie people are straight up delusional. He's losing by over 3 MILLION votes. It would be un democratic and true larceny if he stole it from Clinton after this.

[Hermit For Peace]

I thought the article was a great read, and I really do get the message, and I feel it's right on.

And the article is not about race, it's about "white entitlement" which exists, no doubt about it.

I was commenting on another thread how Bernie has gotten mainly the white vote, and mainly the young people out of that vote. He does not appeal to what our country is all about, which is our diversity. Bernie is the Democratic version of Trump in that regard.

Bernie does not appeal to "America" in all its wonderful and colorful range and types of citizens, and that's why he can never be President. And he doesn't seem to see that. It's simply not good enough to get the white vote, or the white youth vote, and that's reality. And those whites who are voting for Bernie and going gaga over him need to see that, but I doubt they will.

But he's still in the race, still thinking he's going to contest the convention, thinking he's going to lure Hillary's superdelegates away from her, and I have to ask, how deluded can one man get?

Yes, white entitlement is alive and well in Bernie Sanders and his campaign and followers. They are the embodiment of it, in my view.

[Chief Justice Keef]

I'm fed up with this double standard from HRC supporters. It's like they talk down to "Bernie Bros" all the time and then when it comes time to "unify the party" for the general they pander for their vote. It's ridiculous.

Stop making these kinds of threads.

[This account no longer in use.]

To be frank, we can't tell LL not to make these kinds of threads without telling Jfern the same thing; the fact is that Hillbots and Berniebots are two sides of the same coin.

[Hermit For Peace]

I guess "white entitlement" is a touchy subject for some people.

[This account no longer in use.]

Not quite. It's just that this "Sanders support is based off white entitlement and privilege" myth has been a myth from the very beginning. Just because the vast majority of a candidate's supporters are white does not make that sentence true, unless you want to claim the Clinton '08 supporters suffered from this same white entitlement.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

More "White/male privilege" nonsense from the regressive left.  The system is rigged against them.  It's rigged against everyone that doesn't have many PACs and/or lobbyists in D.C.

And Bernie isn't running against a black, latino, or other minority. It's against Clinton and or Trump.  Two white people.

The GOP rigged the system against Ron Paul.  They tried it with Trump (and failed). Bernie the Dems managed to keep down.

It doesn't have to do with color, and anyway last I looked blacks are getting plenty of attention lately (BLM) and we've had a black person the last 8 years in the White House. And I find it highly ironic that BLM are making noise, interrupting presentations and meetings, blocking roads and being as belligerent as Sanders' supporters and this guy wants to complain about whites doing it.

Bottom line: drop the race card.  Americans of all colors and creeds are pissed off and want real change and not Obama's hopey-changey stuff.  This might come to civil war.

The luxury of being colour blind is only ever something you will see white people hoist on the population, because white people would prefer to call the whole "race" thing a done deal than address the hard truths that come with it.

The problem is not solved because a white male libertarian decides it is. That's not how this works. And that's why BLM has legitimacy and the people who rise up against them because they think white men are now being oppressed do not.

It's fair to say that people of all colours and creeds are frustrated and want change, but to completely discount the way that intersecting realities generally build up to create more difficult challenges for people of colour is simply wrong. And it's a position that can only be borne out of unchecked privilege.

[136or142]

Poor white people aren't entitled in the slightest and those who feel a sense of entitlement support Trump, not Sanders.

Disenfranchised white people should be working with disenfranchised minorities and the people who want to divide them are mostly on the right (Gods, guns and gays).  This is the coalition that Martin Luther King Jr hoped to put together and that even Jesse Jackson started putting together in his 1988 campaign and with his Rainbow Coalition. Had Jesse Jackson not been such a flawed candidate (never held elective office, poor management skills) and such a flawed person, he likely would have handily won the Democratic nomination in 1988.

[NerdyBohemian]

If anything the nomination process is rigged in favor of Sanders; all those super white, super rural states he wins have caucuses which means only white college students with nothing else to do show up.

[Cassius]

I'm loving Hagrid's (a white man) big insights into the lives of 'people of colour' and the challenges that they face.

[Virginiá]

These guys could not understand this struggle. They wanted immediate success and gratification, and they were not used to things not going their way. The issues and the lives of others had become irrelevant. All they wanted was for me to agree that they had been unjustly cheated, and that “Killary” and the DNC had rigged everything against them. I could not agree, so I had to walk away.

I like this paragraph, but I dunno whether or not there is any truth to it. Bernie's campaign kind of set the mood for this, imo. His campaign was centered around a system being rigged, and it's not really that surprising that a lot of people see his defeat as a result of cheating when he has spent the past year going on about rigged economies / campaign finance rules. I still think he could have vigorously spoke out against this foolishness the second it started, but he tacitly endorsed it by letting it go largely unaddressed, as it seemed to benefit him by riling up supporters. Maybe they worked harder if they thought it was being stolen? I'd hope they have a damn good reason though, as letting these kinds of lies and conspiracies proliferate is bad for our elections and party morale

I'm loving Hagrid's (a white man) big insights into the lives of 'people of colour' and the challenges that they face.

He isn't wrong..

[Gabagool102]

YOUR A WHITE MALE YOUR A WHITE MAN

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

These guys could not understand this struggle. They wanted immediate success and gratification, and they were not used to things not going their way. The issues and the lives of others had become irrelevant. All they wanted was for me to agree that they had been unjustly cheated, and that “Killary” and the DNC had rigged everything against them. I could not agree, so I had to walk away.

I like this paragraph, but I dunno whether or not there is any truth to it. Bernie's campaign kind of set the mood for this, imo. His campaign was centered around a system being rigged, and it's not really that surprising that a lot of people see his defeat as a result of cheating when he has spent the past year going on about rigged economies / campaign finance rules. I still think he could have vigorously spoke out against this foolishness the second it started, but he tacitly endorsed it by letting it go largely unaddressed, as it seemed to benefit him by riling up supporters. Maybe they worked harder if they thought it was being stolen? I'd hope they have a damn good reason though, as letting these kinds of lies and conspiracies proliferate is bad for our elections and party morale

I'm beginning to be more and more disappointed with the Sanders campaign. It was all supposed to be about addressing issues, not playing a bitter conspiracy talk. Bernie should definitively have took a stance. OK, I understand he wants to have best possible performance when it's over, which is a requirement to have some impact, but that actually may hurt the causes.

Yes, the candidate should make damn sure to disassociate herself or himself from certain actions of  supporters. Remember Geraldine Ferraro's comments on Obama in 2008? Hillary did immediately disassociate herself from this and Ferraro ceased to be a surrogate.

[Hermit For Peace]

Not quite. It's just that this "Sanders support is based off white entitlement and privilege" myth has been a myth from the very beginning. Just because the vast majority of a candidate's supporters are white does not make that sentence true, unless you want to claim the Clinton '08 supporters suffered from this same white entitlement.

Most white people -- and I include myself in this -- have been born into the mindset of white entitlement. It's not even anything we think about, we just live it. We unconsciously expect it. It's no myth.

Hillary, Bernie, Trump...all the whites in political office were born into it. The trick is to acknowledge it and not allow it to grow in our consciousness, but take steps to eradicate it, because there is no place for white entitlement in such a diverse country as ours.

And risking the ire of African Americans, that also includes what might be termed "black entitlement" as well, those who think that white America "owes us" for what white ancestors did in the past. Sorry but that doesn't work either.

Everyone needs to grow up and take responsibility for who they are, today. That's my belief.

[Crumpets]

The article's rather blah. But the picture is great. A friend of mine recently posted a picture on Facebook of a Porsche with a Bernie sticker on it.

[mgop]

ok so killary "understand minorities" and will have 80-100% of their votes, but she didnt do nothing to appeal white voters. you need majority to win, and she doesnt even have 20% support among whites

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

The system was never rigged against Sanders and anyone who claims otherwise should be corrected on that, but nowhere does that imply "white entitlement" is the driving force behind this.  I follow a black man on Facebook who runs a radio show, and he constantly uses the same talking points against Hillary and for Sanders as any white supporter (hence why I tuned him out eventually).  It's not "entitlement," it's the usual frustration that goes with losing an election.

For many of Sanders' supporters, this is their first election and therefore the first election in which their preferred candidate lost.  I felt terrible for days after Bush was reelected and then after the 2010 midterms.  It's a bitter feeling.  And it is common for people to dig up conspiracy theories as to why their candidate lost because they can't grapple with the fact that not everyone outside their social circle thinks the way they do.

That's not a matter of "white privilege," and this obsession the modern left has with casting all their political opponents - including other leftists - as "racist," is why it's as divided and alienating as it is.  When Bernie Sanders and his supporters are cast as more of an affront to racial equality than Donald Trump is.  It's nonsense.  And if your only retort to that is mean words or more unfounded accusations of "privilege," then it shows how far you're willing to dodge the point to build up a false sense of moral high ground.

[Virginiá]

ok so killary "understand minorities" and will have 80-100% of their votes, but she didnt do nothing to appeal white voters. you need majority to win, and she doesnt even have 20% support among whites

Huh? If she only had 20% of the white vote (or less), she would be losing in a landslide of historic proportions. The polls would reflect that. And due to nearly unanimous non-white support, Democrats don't need a majority of the white vote to win. They have been getting by just fine with the standard 39% - 43% for over a generation, and even more before then (at least outside of presidential races)

Trump isn't exactly beloved by white people either, and he won't be winning them by Reagan 84' numbers.

[Famous Mortimer]

This article is weird because it speaks in the usual left-wing language of "privilege" and how horrible White people are but at the same time, it admits White people are angry because they NO LONGER HAVE PRIVILEGE. This would all be a valid criticism of Sanders if he was advocating welfare but only for White people, in order to bring back those privileges. Obviously that's not what he's doing though. Sanders wants everyone, regardless of race, to have the privileges being White supposedly used to entail. What's wrong with that?

[Xing]

I approve of the actual article using the word "some." That makes a quite a bit different, since no doubt some of his supporters are acting entitled. Whether race has anything to do with that, I couldn't tell you. It could just be a case of some people being sore losers, and refusing to accept that their candidate could actually lose without voter fraud (I fell into this trap in 2004.) Still, it's important to understand that this is the mentality of a select group of people, not all of Bernie's fans. I know that this point flies over the heads of a couple of posters on this forum, but that's to be expected.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm also curious as to how the author of this piece thinks White people should confront rapidly declining living standards. Apparently in his view, calling for better living conditions for all races is problematic. So what's the alternative? Really? On one hand, he contends that minorities are horribly oppressed, on the other, he condemns White people for not happily accepting the same oppression. Should people be content to never make more than $10 an hour, to always have roommates until they die, to never have quality healthcare, because hey, that's the horrible state minorities have always lived in, so we should all be in equal misery. Apparently White people deserve to be poor because their grandparents were richer than Black people's grandparents and if they try to change their lot in life, that's just "White entitlement" even if they LITERALLY say that EVERYONE regardless of race race is entitled to a better life.