New Political Meme Attempts to Make Bernie Sanders Supporters Kill Themselves With Homemade Bomb

Here’s a “hilarious” new meme that appeared this past weekend on Tumblr and Reddit, allegedly teaching Bernie Sanders supporters how to make glowsticks supporting their favorite candidate:

It’s not difficult to imagine someone taking this seriously and following along—lots of Bernie Sanders fans are young people who go to concerts, and if they’re feeling particularly enthusiastic, why not build some blue glowsticks to show their support? After all, the meme itself implies that Bernie and his campaign endorse the idea.

One problem: Someone who follows this recipe is not making a blue glowstick. He or she is making a chlorine bomb.

As Mic News first reported, the formula is pulled straight from The Anarchist Cookbook, and could do fatal damage to anyone who actually follows the directions. The potential consequences are ugly:

Here’s what would actually happen if you made them. The instructions require you to mix a swimming-pool-chlorinating tablet with isopropyl alcohol, then shake the ingredients together inside of a closed bottle. The chemical reaction rapidly generates enough chlorine gas to cause a pressurized explosion in the bottle, releasing the gas into the air.

If the lungs are exposed to enough chlorine gas, it begins to attack the respiratory system and can cause the lungs to fill with fluid until the victim asphyxiates.

Ha…ha?

This is arguably the ugliest move yet in a campaign cycle marked by ugly online tactics. A group of Tumblr users quickly figured out the deception, and tried to warn others.

There’s no word on who made this meme, though of course, it’s already being passed around Reddit. To be fair, each post I’ve seen has come with a slew of people warning others not to actually make this bomb, but it’s sad and shocking that this ever made it online in the first place.