Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC. I love saying her name. One, because it’s a nice name and rolls of the tongue well, but also, two, because her very name makes people really angry. I love saying her name around those who can’t stand her because their nostrils flare at the very mention of her. As it turns out, they’re usually the same people who get weirdly defensive when you bring up “toxic masculinity.” Probably no correlation.
This week AOC appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Always entertaining Colbert talked to AOC about her time so far as a freshman Congresswoman, especially about the dramatic waves she’s been making and wants to create in Congress. In a way that nearly only Colbert can accomplish he asked the burning question: How many fucks do you give? (Referencing the pushback she gets from other, more senior congresspeople.) AOC’s response? “I think it’s zero.”
The Hill ran the article reporting on AOC’s remarks with the title “Ocasio-Cortez: I give ‘zero’ f—s about pushback from other Democrats” which is definitely misleading. Never in the interview does AOC say she gives zero fucks. She does answer Colbert’s question with the quote mentioned above. Watch for yourself below.
So what did commenters have to say about AOC’s remarks and the Hill’s misleading title?
Irony is always kind of fun to run into. Sure, personally it can be a pain to encounter, but isn’t always kind of fun when someone thinks that they are better than you and then shoots themselves in the foot? Our commenter was picked for that reason alone. First and foremost, the correct word is “past.” Second, it’s really hard to believe that a congressperson would be unable to count. Third, in the big wide world of the web, why do people throw insults about intelligence when they could just…. I dunno…. look up something to actually insult someone about?
What is it about AOC that gets people so angry? Is it because she’s young? Successful? Attractive? Is it because she gets so much press time compared to her fellow freshman congresspeople? Because her popularity made a lipstick sell out online? In my research (in the comments of course) I’ve gathered a few choice insults: young, crazy eyes, inexperienced, naive, stupid. As a young woman starting her own career, I can tell you those are all things I’ve heard about myself in jobs so far. The agency I worked for reported last year that young employees are likely to not disclose their age so as to be taken seriously in the workforce. I’m guilty of doing it, not telling my coworkers my age unless they explicitly ask so that my opinions might be taken more seriously.
AOC gets all those criticisms that I attempt to dodge regularly in the comments below articles, from reporters, journalists, from her fellow congresspeople. But instead of shying away from her age or inexperience compared to her more senior peers in Congress, she runs boldly head-on into the firefight. People don’t like AOC because she is unapologetic for the things she cannot control. People don’t like her because she is not letting inexperience keep her from doing her job. It’s a chunk of advice we all ought to follow. As I write this I revel in all the things I wanted to get done at work that I shied away from because someone thought I wasn’t experience enough to take it on. You don’t get experience sitting on the bench. AOC has known that for some time.
The Comment Section 