![Liberal Twitter Emoji War wilted flower, corn, donut and rose emojis](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/023/697/_.jpg)
Liberal Twitter Emoji War
Part of a series on Emoji. [View Related Entries]
Overview
Liberal Twitter Emoji War refers to infighting amongst democrats and leftists on Twitter who make their political stance known via certain emojis.
Background
Rose Emoji
The trend started in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary, as supporters of Bernie Sanders added a rose emoji to their Twitter display name. The rose is a symbol used by the Democratic Socialists of America,[2] who use the symbol because it was used in the 19th century by socialists and trade unionists as a show of solidarity.[1] Keith Spencer explained to Mashable:[2]
"I thought it seemed like a good idea to help us find each other. It has the added benefit of being subtle enough that you can identify yourself as a socialist without, say, a random stranger noticing and then trolling you for it."
![DSA Rose Tweet Following @DemSocialists It's not you. It's Capitalism. #TrySocialism Join Us: dsausa.org/Join CAPITALISM 1:24 I](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/286/128/ba2.png)
Developments
Wilted Rose Emoji
Hillary Clinton supporters, frustrated at Sanders supporters because they believe the Sanders campaign played a large part in her defeat in the 2016 United States Presidential Election, mocked the rose emoji by adding a wilted rose emoji to their handles. This was in turn mocked by leftists who believed the wilted rose was fitting as it illustrated the lack of conviction in the neoliberal left.
![Wilted Flower Emoji Mr. RichardFader @taysdadtx Follow Replying to @marjoriecurtis @KaraCalavera The red rose is the Democratic Socialist symbol. Essentially the "Bernie is Jesus" emoji. The dead rose is a symbol of "I'm not on board" 12:49 PM-17 Jul 2017](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/286/129/b97.png)
![Self-own Diarahann Carroll @33mhz Follow Donut emoji twitter is bad but at least they finally figured out what a self-own the wilted flower emoji was 9:24 PM-10 Aug 2017](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/286/130/a45.png)
Corncob Emoji
The corn cob emoji became a pejorative emoji mocking political centrists in the summer of 2017 when Corn Cobbed became slang meaning to lose a social exchange and insist that you have not lost the exchange. Its origin is a Dril tweet posted on November 20th, 2011 (shown below).
![Dril Tweet wint @dril Following "im not owned! im not owned!!", i continue to insist as i slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob 8:20 PM 10 Nov 2011](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/281/691/992.png)
"Corn cobbed" began becoming popular slang towards the end of June of 2017 as it caught the attention of political pundits who did not understand the meaning of the term. On June 26th, 2017, Twitter user @_Chilladelphia responded to a thread by centrist pundit Candice Aiston regarding health care with an image of her eyebrows replaced by corn cobs (shown below, left). Aiston responded by dismissing the poster as a Berniebro. User @ironghazi reposted her tweet with the label "CORNCOBBED ONLINE" written over it (shown below, right).
![Candice Aiston Follovw Jawnbreaker _Chilladelphia Follow @CandiceAistor](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/281/705/121.png)
![Corn Cobbed Online THE LEGO COUCH GUY @ironghazi Following Replying to @CandiceAiston You got cobbed Tweet Candice Aiston @CandiceAistonm 1. This is what Bernie Bros d who present them with set Jawnbreaker @ Chi @Candiceisto](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/281/714/17b.png)
Discourse around the term grew popular again in the beginning of August of 2017. On August 2nd, journalist Yashar Ali tweeted an image of Kamala Harris, a rumored democratic candidate for the 2020 Presidential Election, that called her the "Centrist Corncob" candidate. Ali noted how it was remarkable how the "Bernie Sanders Crew" had mobilized against Harris (shown below, left). Centrist pundit Al Giordano quoted the tweet stated that the term had homophobic and rape culture origins (shown below, right). The same day, Neera Tanden, a chief strategist on the Hillary Clinton campaign in the 2016 United States Presidential Election did the same. Both were mocked for misunderstanding the term.
![Yashar Ali Tweet Yashar Ali @yashar +Follow Astounding how quickly the Bernie Sanders crew has mobilized against Kamala Harris. DEFENDER OF PRISON SLAVERY ST COR 7Z CD #NEVERKAMALA](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/281/731/61b.png)
![Al Giordano Tweet Al Giordano @AlGiordano Follow Every cretin who has spread this meme needs to reckon with how it uses "corncob," a r--- culture and homophobic term popular among dudebros. Yashar Ali @yashar Astounding how quickly the Bernie Sanders crew has mobilized against Kamala Harris.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/281/728/57e.png)
Donut Emoji
Neoliberal and centrist tweeters adopted the Donut emoji as a symbol following an event in which Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, a political group which aims to continue the progress made by the Bernie Sanders campaign, was barred from entering the Democratic National Committee's Washington D.C. headquarters on July 25th, 2017.[3] Turner recounted how the group was blocked from entering via a barricade, but was handed "donuts and water," which she particularly found insulting.
βThey tried to seduce us with donuts and water. Theyβre pompous and arrogant enough to say to the people, 'youβre not good enough to be on our property -- and, oh by the way, weβre just gonna hand you donuts and water over the barricade.' That is insulting. Absolutely insulting.β
After Buzzfeed[3] broke the story, Twitter account @HillaryWarnedUs[4] encouraged "proud Democrats" to add a donut to their Twitter handle (shown below).
![Add a Donut Hillary Warned Us @HillaryWarnedUs Followv If you're proud of being a Democrat, add a donut to your name. 9:53 PM -9 Aug 2017](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/286/133/c3e.png)
This trend was intensely criticized by leftists who saw the donut emoji as a celebration of the silencing of a politically prominent black woman, particularly when the same people had recently accused those who criticized Kamala Harris, a black woman, of being racist.
![Great Job Mike O'Hara @mediumvillain Follow Replying to @HillaryWamedUs After a week of "criticizing Harris is racism" & "corncob is r--- culture" youve invented some indecipherable online thing to mock a BW AU](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/286/136/db5.png)
![Extremely Normal Voice Pixelated Boat @pixelatedboat Following extremely normal voice* I'm going to put a donut in my display name to mock a black woman who couldn't be bought off with donuts AU](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/286/137/8f9.png)
The history of the so-called "emoji war" was covered by The Daily Dot[5] on August 17th, 2017.
Search Interest
Unavailable
External References
[1] NYU (via Wayback Machine) β The Red Rose as Progressive Symbol
[2] Mashable β Twitter handles are full of emoji, but what do they really mean?
[3] Buzzfeed β Our Revolution Takes Issue With The "Dictatorial," "Arrogant," "Pompous" DNC
[4] Twitter β @HillaryWarnedUs
[5] The Daily Dot β Corncob, donut, and wilted flower: Translating liberal Twitterβs dumb emoji war
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Top Comments
axel_
Aug 17, 2017 at 07:04PM EDT
Kazu
Aug 17, 2017 at 09:07PM EDT