"We Should Call Brocialism What It Is — White Populism"
"While Sanders tied or won whites everywhere, he lost Blacks 75–25 overall, and lost Latinos 65–35 overall. It is telling that as diverse populations grow, they have increased say over who Democrats choose as President. It is even more telling that there have been many “leftists” this cycle who have attempted to silence these diverse voices and recenter the Democratic Party’s agenda on the white working class...
Sanders’ candidacy revealed a brocialist movement, which became notorious for attacking women and minorities who even mildly criticized Sanders online. Brocialism can be defined quite simply: self-proclaimed socialists who put class issues over race and gender issues. Brocialists believe that fighting for diversity in government and business is simply a distraction to the class struggle... Brocialist theory purports that once the class struggle is complete, issues with race and gender will simply melt away."
I think this describes the vibe I always got from the Bernie campaign. I have been trying to figure out what is turning me off, while so many of my friends across several identity-spectra are so into him. And why so many of them have a violent-distrust response to Hillary's vibe.
But there is something about the Bernie movement that feels very specific, almost naive to issues that don't impact the white working class; reactive and receptive to these issues but still a bit naive to them, like they are in outer orbit. Sometimes it looked like a festival to white angst - very legitimate class-based white angsts, but still... It's that thing where privileged white people are trying to get in with oppressed groups like fighting for your rights is fun.
If I spent more time listening to his speeches, maybe attended an event or something, hung out with groups of Bernie supporters who share my politics, maybe I would see what other people see. But I guess I never had the energy to do that around all the other stuff going on in my life this past year, because I just didn't feel like encountering the disappointment that I feared I would find there.
(And probably because my early encounters with Bernie supporters def involved white people telling me that I didn't understand that we need economic reform in order to address race. Thanks for the 'splaination...)
FB: This articulated the vibe that alienated me a bit
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