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Today in white liberal hatred of Bernie Sanders: Trauma weaponization

Ruck Cohlchez -

(TW: Lots of talk about sexual assault, albeit mostly indirectly)

Our warmup act is the walking example of our header tweet, Amanda Marcotte– most famously seen lying about Bernie Sanders supporters throwing chairs in Nevada and then saying the facts didn’t matter– finding a way to blame Bernie Sanders for the toxic behavior of Kamala Harris supporters.

Now to get a little more serious. Apparently the latest talking point from the most toxic white liberals online is that Bernie Sanders merely running for president is re-traumatizing them.

This fantastic thread details why this is such a fucked-up talking point and concept.

As you can see if you click through here, a lot of the worst white liberals online, led by Sady “Bernie Sanders running is a personal attack on my mental health” Doyle, are challenging, mocking, and belittling Cari for her great, honest, and true thread here.

Let’s take a quick look at what else Sady gets up to online.

Of course, the people weaponizing trauma in this way were rabid Bill and Hillary Clinton supporters. Apparently an ACTUAL rapist and the woman who tried to destroy his victims isn’t traumatizing. But a guy who wants to give everyone health care is. Donald Trump, also an actual rapist, is the current President of the United States, but these people are more “re-traumatized” by, and have more vitriol for, Bernie Sanders. (Of course, the group engaging in this behavior is the same group of toxic white feminists we’ve seen online for the last four years, whose hatred– with a side dish of anti-semitism— is directed at Sanders entirely because he dared to run against The Patron Saint Of Slay Queen Girlbosses, The Perfect Feminist With No Flaws, Hillary Clinton.)

The other side of this is the idea that you’re not allowed to criticize this absolutely toxic behavior, because if you do, it means you hate victims and hate women. (There are entire websites and communities run by people with this mindset.) Of course, to the people who say that, if you don’t agree with them, your own trauma doesn’t matter and deserves to be mocked. And of course, you’re expected to take their word on how toxic the behavior of Sanders supporters toward them is, but they never have evidence, and asking for it is belittling all women everywhere. But if you actually show up with evidence of how the rabid Clinton Cult of rich white feminists harasses Bernie supporters and mocks their trauma, well, that just doesn’t count.

If you forget who Candice Aiston is, she’s the estate lawyer (class interests) whose avatar on Twitter for a long time was Hillary Clinton’s face laid over her own face (cult mindset) and who originally got banned from Twitter for racism (white feminist).

Doesn’t count, though. Civility for thee, not for me. You can’t mock me, but I can mock your worst traumas and lived experiences, because I am a rich white feminist and you are a plebian Bernie Bro (doubly so if you’re a woman, doubly so if you’re a POC).

And you know what especially doesn’t count? Openly talking about hiring women to make fake accusations of sexual assault against Bernie Sanders.

This is a difficult subject to write about because you have to tread lightly. It’s easy to say the wrong thing and be accused of mocking or diminishing someone’s experiences. But I think it’s pretty clear who’s acting in bad faith when they mock and dismiss other people’s assault and trauma. They mock and dismiss that trauma in order to weaponize it against Bernie Sanders, or because those people aren’t willing to weaponize their own trauma against Bernie Sanders.

White liberal feminists act like their experiences are the only ones that matter, and if you don’t agree with them, you and your experiences are worthy of mockery and scorn. You’re not people to them.

And that’s why it’s so important to push back against that attitude and stand in solidarity with each other. We cannot let toxic white feminists with overt financial incentives warp how we talk about trauma and assault and who deserves to be heard and why all so they can score points against Bernie Sanders and the left. Those people don’t care about anything but their own power and letting you know that you’re lesser than them. Don’t give them an inch. Stand up to toxic malignant narcissists and call out their gaslighting and other abusive behavior. You are not alone.

Shit, we didn’t even cover the broader smear machine working against Sanders today. That might have to wait for another day.

(Thanks to everyone on Twitter who contributed, directly or indirectly, to this article.)