entry #3

'BERNIE'S ANGRY BROS' AND THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL FANDOM

through creating and sharing one’s fan works with others. Collectively, fandoms can also spark impactful changes in popular culture, whether that is through the attainment of mainstream recognition, or through influencing outcomes of pop culture objects themselves through complaint or campaign.

Fandom participation has become both more accessible and less stigmatized through new dominant forms of media communication. The global nature of the internet, along with the connective properties of social media, have allowed for fans of all things (even those that are relatively niche) to find others who share their interests and to organize into groups accordingly. Additionally, social media platforms in particular have become grounds where both mainstream and niche cultures collide, which has helped to normalize and legitimize fandom in the public eye. This is evident in the explosion and mass proliferation of fandoms in the age of the internet, and particularly in the emergence of a fan culture that is not completely novel, yet not previously imagined as a serious cultural force: political fandom. A politician’s “fans” can exert impressive power through collaborative action, and this capability is increasingly forcing the world of politics to change how it operates. Political fandoms can also be weaponized, both on behalf of or to the detriment of the candidate they are organized around. To examine this, I’m going to take a closer look at the phenomenon of Bernie Sanders fans, and a more specific subset of fans known as “Bernie Bros”.

In an opinion article for The New York Times, columnist Bret Stephens compares Sanders’ most vitriolic fans— the Bernie Bros— to the most vocal and venomous of President Donald Trump’s online supporters. Bernie Bros are viewed as devoted Sanders fans, who go so far as to attack and harass others online who they feel stand in their candidate’s way even if they are not very ideologically different. To them, even moderate Democrats are enemies who are just as morally inferior as Trump sympathizers. And often, this harassment is rooted in misogyny— whether it’s the dismissal of other women’s intelligence for not backing Sanders, or the degrading of the candidate’s female opponents.

Calling oneself a “fan” of a particular politician was not common until the advent of electronic media forms such as television and the internet, which for the first time allowed audiences to view public figures in a closer and more personal way. Meyrowitz (2008) wrote that shifts to such electronic media were responsible for a range of social shifts due to the more tangible and emotional nature of these technologies. One specific change highlighted by Meyrowitz was an increasing shift towards judging public figures, including politicians, by ‘dating criteria’ (such as likability and personality) rather than ‘resume criteria’ (like policy positions or qualifications). Although Bernie Sanders has a commendable track record in public service, many supporters flocked around his seemingly friendly and wholesome public presence. This idea was reflected in numerous fan works created by Sanders supporters, including internet memes and original artwork depicting the senator. Support for Sanders transcended his own words and policies, as fans appropriated his likable personality and broader ideals of progressive politics to construct him as an anime heartthrob or an American hero. The crossing over of Sanders with other elements of popular culture with their own fandoms, such as anime, is another common trait of fan works.

Gray (2019) details how fan communities can also orient themselves around dislike for a particular pop culture phenomenon or object, which is known as anti-fandom. According to Gray, anti-fandom may manifest itself in a number of different ways, with varying degrees of involvement with the disliked object, as well as varying emotions towards the object. One such example is of competitive anti-fandom, in which a fan community rallies against something that rivals or opposes their fan object, such as how fans of a particular sports team will often claim to strongly dislike rival teams. Bernie Sanders’ fanbase can also be viewed as a competitive anti-fandom towards Sanders’ political rivals, as his supporters will often criticize or even rally against rival politicians or even ideas on social media platforms. Sanders is in a politically unique position from most: as a longtime independent who chose to affiliate with the Democratic party only for the purposes of his presidential runs, his ideas and policy positions are often at odds with those of more moderate Democrats, who are viewed as his colleagues. Sanders fans notably engaged in competitive anti-fandom in 2016 against his political competitor for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton. This anti-fandom was expressed not only through critical social media posts targeting Clinton, but an explosion of more art and memes depicting Sanders as a hero and Clinton as a rival or even a villain. This perceived targeting of Clinton and her supporters was so potent that it ultimately lead up to her publicly decrying Sanders for failing to control a toxic portion of his base, which came to be known in mainstream news media as “Bernie Bros”.

The characterization of Bernie Bros attempts to portray Sanders supporters as vehemently opposing anyone in their candidate’s way, often doing so in ways that are misogynistic. In non-political fandom, sexism and gendered gatekeeping have long been obstacles for female participants (Scott, 2019). In particular, online communities have historically been masculinized, with women having to ‘prove’ their competence or intelligence to participate and often still not being treated as completely equal after doing so. Thus, the Bernie Bro characterization not only plays upon sexist rhetoric displayed by a vocal minority of Sanders supporters, but also upon sexist structures of online communication media themselves. It attempts to portray the digital sphere as a realm deeply rooted in gender, thus allowing for the existence of sexist norms, and of Sanders’ very-much-online fanbase as one which gladly perpetuates such norms— accepting women who support Sanders, but vilifying those who do not. And finally, it makes the harsh insinuation that women who support Sanders do not do so authentically, but out of fear of retaliation.

While some Sanders supporters have taken part in sexist harassment and rhetoric online, many have argued that the “Bernie Bro” archetype adopted by popular media is an inappropriate mischaracterization of his supporter base. Wilz (2016) acknowledges the fact that women who seek to occupy spaces traditionally held by men tend to be dismissed, degraded, and held up to certain standards that are simply not expected of men. However, she argues that the “Bernie Bro” label has been unfairly utilized in order to muddle and delegitimize what may very well be legitimate critiques of Clinton’s candidacy. Sanders himself has denounced any kind of toxic masculinity displayed by his supporters, but continually maintains that this behavior is nowhere near the norm for his base.

In his column, Stephens makes a predictive point about the comparison of Trump and Sanders fans, who could not be more ideologically separated— that each base treats its candidate as “saviors who deserve uncritical and uncompromising support”, rather than as imperfect humans. Although it is inaccurate to portray every supporter of a politician as being ideologically or demographically similar, it is essential to acknowledge how fandom is becoming increasingly important to the political realm. Now more than ever, people are idolizing their candidates of choice on both sides of the aisle. Political engagement has increased due to the internet, and no matter how much of that is due to political fan art or memes, it’s still hugely promising. However, fan communities’ treatment of some candidates as godlike is equally problematic. In order to avoid silencing legitimate criticisms of politicians or falling into the traps of an authoritarian, politicians have a responsibility to keep their communities in check, and fans have a responsibility to treat politics as more important than the next popular culture phenomenon.