A Tale of Two Cartoons

The cartoon on the left is something that Hillary supporters have been posting on Facebook lately. I first saw it a few months back when the nomination was still in question. Evidently, if you're a Sanders supporter, someone who believes in universal health care, college for all, and other such trivial nonsense, you merit personal ridicule.

To me, this is not precisely the most persuasive tactic, and it doesn't really make me want to vote for Hillary. In fact, I don't much like being insulted for my beliefs. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.

I still see people who I generally respect referring to us as "Bernie bros." Perhaps they feel by stereotyping us we'll be more likely to jump on the bandwagon. Or perhaps they'll deny this is a stereotype. Who knows? I see "Bernie bro" and I read "sexist thug." And I've read stories implying precisely that--those mindless Bernie bros went out and did this or that, and are therefore not worthy of consideration.

It's odd to be attacked like this, particularly since I've pretty much resigned to vote for Hillary anyway. A much more eloquent case for this position is given by Shaun King in the NY Daily News. Had I not already made my decision I'd perhaps have been persuaded by this one. It's a whole lot more persuasive than the arguments I've heard from Hillary supporters---that I don't understand politics, that I'm unrealistic, that I don't understand high school civics, or whatever nonsense is aimed in my direction this week.

Now cute as the above cartoon may be, it's actually not the original. It's copied, almost certainly without permission, and pirated from the

one on the right. As you can see, the original is simpler, and thus funnier and more effective. There's some irony here too. The original ridicules Wall Street types--you know, the ones whose money Hillary takes hand over fist.

I'm not exactly sure why those of us who want real change, rather than someone better than the awful Donald Trump, merit ridicule and abuse. I'm not sure why Hillary supporters want to be sore winners.

Here's what I do know. Right now Five Thirty Eight gives Donald Trump a 55% chance of winning the election if it were held today.  I don't know about you, but I find that pretty scary.

Some Hillary supporters come to curious conclusions. I'm not a mind reader, so I can only speculate as to why. Perhaps they think that by ridiculing us it will bring us around to their point of view. Actually it has the opposite effect. It makes us angry. No one likes being stereotyped and ridiculed. Maybe they just hate the fact that people see the obvious flaws in candidate Hillary. Maybe some of them are borderline fanatical and cannot tolerate differing points of view. Who knows?

Whatever the reason, if Hillary supporters want their candidate to win, if they really want to Dump the Trump, they're gonna have to start treating Bernie supporters with something akin to common courtesy. If the goal is to Defeat the Donald, that's a necessity. And if the goal is to actually pile on and reject him decisively, it's even more important.

To help Hillary or defeat Trump, this stuff simply needs to stop. But if the goal is to further alienate Sanders supporters, well, keep up the personal insults. Call us thugs. Call us selfish and immature. Try to get us to take out our frustrations with you on Hillary. Maybe you'll succeed. Maybe I'll even change my mind and vote for Jill Stein. And even if you fail to persuade me, you'll surely persuade others.

So if that's what you want, go right ahead. After all, when Trump is President, you can always blame us.