What are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Flaws?

lol there was some hater talking about how that means she's a fake leftist and like 1) no one owns the clothes they wear in a cover shot, 2) people who key in on nice clothes or nice food as the focus of their opprobrium are horrible idiots, espoecially when the 630 billionaires in the us can each presumably buy at least 71428 of those outfits.

"But aren't those TOPPINGS on your pizza?!"

truffle fries iirc

They've tried the expensive clothing/haircut/etc. line for two straight years - I don't think it even seems to work with their base? Laura Ingraham was contractually obligated to tweet that but even she knows it's a dud.

"She looks nice" is not really the strongest line of attack.

Nothing that throws mud at your target is a dud, no matter how tiny the amount that sticks, because the right will keep throwing it, every hour of every day, and the effect is cumulative. If you keep it up constantly enough then it all devolves into a vague cloud of negativity than hangs about your target in the minds of your audience, as "I've heard so many bad things about her some of it must be true."

"She dressed up" for a public appearance is not "so many bad things," though. This isn't 'being involved in shady land deals' shit.

If the frame around it is cast as reflecting poorly on her character, it is filed under 'bad thing' in your brain, even if you aren't really paying much attention because it doesn't seem important. The framing plays to your emotional response and emotions play a key role in how facts are perceived and recalled. Even a weak smear, weakly received, reinforces the negative emotional aura around AOC. They do this shit because it works.

Honestly I think this line of attack is pure sexual anxiety aimed at people who feel attracted to her and need to form a theory of how they've been tricked into doing so.

They need a healthy way of dealing with these feelings like posting to the "ws of shame" thread.

There was a tankie dude on Twitter going after a random woman a few months ago for making a nice-looking charcuterie board out of meats and cheeses she bought at Aldi because she was privileging bourgeoisie aesthetics so I wouldn't have been surprised if that tweet had come from a left-wing guy and not a right-wing woman

I've posted this before but I think lot of the weak attacks on AOC really do stem from the fact that they like her so much and would kill to have anyone like that in their party

a tankie dude on Twitter going after a random woman a few months ago for making a nice-looking charcuterie board out of meats and cheeses she bought at Aldi

I want to preserve this clause

The attack tweet about expensive clothes that AOC was responding to was from Laura Ingraham, who doesn't attack AOC because she is jealous of her, but because she is a professional operative carrying out a program of deliberate propaganda against AOC and the left.

"Leftie likes expensive stuff" is an evergreen right wing attack

right but there is a reason so much of that propaganda focuses on one particular person

Alfred it was funny as hell:

i never thought i'd see the day when neatly assembling deli meats and cheeses with a bit of bread on a flat surface was deemed "unethical rich people food" but here we are pic.twitter.com/c716WAPe8M

— Elizabeth May (on semi-hiatus) (@_ElizabethMay) August 4, 2020

Socialist Bernie Sanders Wears a $700 Jacket While Complaining About Rich People
By Maria Perez On 1/2/18 at 7:14 PM EST

Wow I’m fancy as fuck cuz I love a charcuterie board too! Xp

"basically a ploughman's lunch" is bullshit as defense because a ploughman would prefer Oscar Meyer bologna sandwiches and a bag of Fritos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploughman's_lunch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploughman's_lunch#/media/File:An_Elsecar_Ploughman's_Lunch.jpg

https://tressiemcphd.medium.com/aocs-attractiveness-drives-us-all-mad-8c16a8654f9

is The Hyperbole a new dance or something

wassup waterface

The attack tweet about expensive clothes that AOC was responding to was from Laura Ingraham, who doesn't attack AOC because she is jealous of her, but because she is a professional operative carrying out a program of deliberate propaganda against AOC and the left.

― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Thursday, October 29, 2020 8:35 PM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is not the only attack out there, there is at least one other from a liberal pov, a woman iirc.

it's incredibly stupid and embarrassing that there are as many hot takes as there are today about someone who is trying to "change things" also wearing and possibly even liking nice clothes.

i get ia about people who focus on sensual indulgences like clothes or food as some kind of moral or political disqualifier for left-wing people. american puritanism at its pettiest and most vacuous.

I don't really think the right hate her for being pretty, I think they hate that they are attracted to her while at the same time she is "the wrong kind of woman with the wrong kind of values" or something. Clearly the right have no problem *supporting* people like Sarah Palin even while openly sexualizing them. It's not that they can't stand a hot woman, they can't stand a hot disobedient woman.

I got sucked into some youtube conservative commentator's very unfunny spiel on "Smokin Hot Justice Amy Coney Barrett" the other night - it was extremely pathetic and also seemed to imply that she's the *right* kind of attractive woman.

otm it's the default mode of ogling for conservative men, the same energy you see in the ads at the bottom of websites that feature a desirable/objectivized woman in the photo and say things like "try not to be furious at her lies" or w/e xp

this is not the only attack out there, there is at least one other from a liberal pov, a woman iirc.

This is the one you mean; it's embedded in the Medium piece linked upthread.

AOC on the cover of Vanity Fair. The clothes are estimated to cost $14,000. So happy that AOC is upholding the long established hypocritical tradition of Socialists who believe Socialism is for poor while they enjoy the fruits of Capitalism. pic.twitter.com/g8iTa1my1q

— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) October 29, 2020

Um, hate to break it to you but the $50 uniqlo sweater you're wearing is much more the "fruit of capitalism" than the $14,000 one-of-a-kind suit.

right?

the "journalist" who posted that "critique" also follows up with a tweet addressed to the "triggered" which makes me think she's working a ratfucking angle

*looks at self* oh god i'm an aoc stan aren't i

she's a modi/trump supporter who gives 2 fucks what she says

Isn't socialism about everyone sharing the gains rather than only a few wealthy people? So AOC wearing fine clothes that were shared with her fits.

xpost otm, typical "oh you're so socialist, you should be living in squalor!"

It's just another example of lazy thinking that only is a "gotcha" for mouth breathers
A la "latte liberals", Hollywood elite against guns but have armed security, for immigration but don't house immigrants themselves

"you're so pro-life, why u goin to a funeral!"

Tressie McMillam Cottom:

I believe that in this worldview, which is the dominant one, beauty is seen as the only legitimate capital that women are allowed possess. But beauty is supposed to serve power’s interests. When beauty occurs in an “unruly body”, such as a non-white person’s body, then it is an existential threat.

I believe the right’s attacks on AOC (and a few of the left’s to be honest) are a visceral reaction to their inability to control what they see is her only legitimate source of power.

They hate her because she is pretty.

she's just another shill reinforcing the message so it sounds more like a chorus. the point isn't that AOC is a disobedient woman. the point is that she must be undermined because of her message and this is a handy vehicle to do that which doesn't amplify her message by attacking it directly.

You'll notice the attacks aren't "she wants working people to get better health care, but that will mean raising taxes, which makes her a horrifying socialist". The best attacks are those that don't mention any part of her political agenda, but simply label her as an enemy of 'our kind', or mock her, or insinuate wrongdoing without citing evidence. These are designed as inoculations against her general attractiveness, both personally and politically.

tressie mcmillam cottom otm

I mean, it's kind of all of the above, because we're simultaneously talking about why the barons of capital oppose her, why the riding mower bourgeoisie hate her, and why the religious right hate her, and how the first group can rouse the second and third against her. I mean the #1 reason she is a target is that she is a popular and charismatic socialist who has had unlikely amounts of political success and is still very young and promising. The other reasons are useful to get people riled against her though.

tressie mcmillam cottom dyac

take 1 look at right-wing editorial cartoons about AOC and you’ll see there are plenty of republicans who don’t think she’s pretty. they draw her with buckteeth, flies circling her etc. frankly “they secretly think she’s hot” kind of a weird angle imo

in my experience calling a girl annoying is guy for "im gonna try and fuck that chick". its an instant break up in my book.

-- sunny successor, Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Republicans are Very Mad (again) about my appearance. This time they’re mad that I look good in borrowed clothes (again).

Listen, if Republicans want pointers on looking your best, I’m happy to share.

Tip #1: Drink water and don’t be racist

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 29, 2020

she’s the fucking best at this.

wow

I’m willing to hold you accountable for lying about climate change for 30 years when you secretly knew the entire time that fossil fuels emissions would destroy our planet 😇 https://t.co/ekj1Va1Cp0

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 2, 2020

followup:

The audacity of Shell asking YOU what YOU’RE willing to do to reduce emissions. 🙄

They’re showing you RIGHT HERE how the suggestion that indiv choices - not systems - are a main driver of climate change is a fossil fuel talking point.

Yes, make good choices. Reign in FF corps.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 2, 2020

fuck yeah