On the Political Internet, Moderate Democrats Have It Worse

Joshua Sukoff/Unsplash

Robert Crohan/Staff Writer

As soon as I was introduced to the internet at the beginning of middle school, I noticed an array of political talk. Given that my first politics class came the following year, I was confused as to what all of this meant.

My understanding of politics is still evolving every day, but it wasn’t until the 2016 election that my basic knowledge solidified. I knew, by this point, what my opinions were. I liked President Obama, and wanted a Democrat to defeat the Republican. Here, the divisive nature of the primaries generated a wave of online debate and rage.

Admittedly, this all made me very angry, and I was roped into troublesome debates with random commenters online who I did not agree with, on everything from immigration to gun control. And I noticed something.

In the world of the political internet, you will have an easy time if you are progressive, moderately conservative, or very conservative. But if you are a center-left moderate Democrat, like myself for many years, you, in the words of the skier in South Park, are “gonna have a bad time.”

This has always intrigued me, and left me flabbergasted. However, after thinking about it for years, I think I can partly explain why.

The internet, by its very nature, promotes extremes. This is because of its rapid and widespread promotion of content, and the relative ease with which anyone can share their news or opinions. It has made us crave new, eye-popping revelations without much thought or consideration. This draws those who hold more extreme views.

In addition, companies have what are called “algorithms,” programs that give us information based on our political history online. This includes exposure to conspiracy theories via advertisements and news articles.

But regarding the basic left-right dichotomy, conservatives historically enjoy an advantage over their leftist counterparts in digital activism. It might be that they are more skilled online debaters, but it might also be due to the strong appeals and seeming straightforwardness and/or common sense of conservative ideas. For example, a conservative may claim that the US should more aggressively counter terrorism, while a liberal may claim that countering sentiments to prevent extremism is a better first step. Whose idea sounds easier to grasp? Probably the former, because it seems more straightforward.

Conservatives also generally stay focused on national issues and memes, as opposed to the left’s organizing and journalism. This is why the internet can appear to paint a different picture of America as moving right instead of the reality of America moving left. This led to a popular saying: “the left can’t meme.”

But on the left, progressives have successfully countered the right with their memes also pointing out supposed problems with the Democratic party. Using Bernie Sanders’ platform of making America more affordable while stopping establishment corruption, they won over many undecided voters and made liberal ideas more mainstream among young people.

2020 seemed to reveal this to a greater extent, as the right, more comfortable with controversial humor than the left, was largely sidelined as the left used social media like never before. Posts about the hidden realities of racism, police brutality, imperialism and inequality kept the message focused, only staying serious, and rightfully so. The language of these posts was intentionally explanatory and did not shy away from making readers uncomfortable and questioning themselves. Many posts implied that moderate Democrats in particular were highly complicit in racism.

Plus, figures like Bernie are popular among many conservative-leaning independents and libertarians, who can unite with progressives around populism and hatred for mainstream politicians. And we don’t exactly expect suited-up legislators to understand zoomer customs.

What doesn’t help is that, up until the election of President Biden, the right seemed much more unified than the left. True, memes still poke fun at George W. Bush and his Iraq War, but for the most part, the conservatives seem united in their resistance to the left. They promoted themselves as open-minded and civil, and depicted leftists as angry and intolerant, a message that resonated.

Going back to 2015, supporters of Bernie Sanders were very upset at Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party (in many ways, rightfully so) due to Clinton’s neoliberalism and the DNC’s bias against Sanders. And they were not afraid to express it. This has become more pronounced during and after the 2020 cycle, where Joe Biden was accused of being careless about the concerns of everyday people.

So, as you can imagine, Hillary Clinton fans felt left out. Because she and other moderates were behind President Obama’s policies that had become less popular by 2016. The same held true for Joe Biden, whose controversies landed an ocean of memes. Plus, the landscape got more left-wing as Bernie supporters crafted clever memes and the right became more divided over Trump.

It goes further: in my experience, moderate Democrats are perceived as elitist, out-of-touch and hiding behind a curtain of progressivism, which they promote by mouth only by taking advantage of voters. They are seen as being disingenuous and not “getting it,” caring more about elections that they lose than the voters. Progressives offered excitement with policies never-before considered in mainstream US politics, while the moderates were still trying to settle old scores.

Plus, moderate Democrats, in my view, got a little too comfortable with anti-Trump humor. The right countered it with “Orange Man Bad!” and the progressives countered it with questions about why we hate Trump for his policies and not just his demeanor.

Thus, many young people who prefer moderate Democrats to progressive ones are questioned on touchy subjects, even accused of being Republicans in disguise. As someone who holds some moderate views but considers himself a progressive, I can certainly relate and felt frustrated at the views I disagreed with gaining the most traction on the global virtual highway we call the internet.

Can moderate Democrats make a comeback? Maybe. It depends on future developments and what tricks may be up people’s sleeves. But the effort should be made to ensure that a variety of voices are available, with fun memes, good insight, and easily accessible materials showing the internet that a center-left zoomer can, in fact, meme.

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