AOC brands fellow Dems as cowards

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who goes by her initials AOC, has lately taken to calling her fellow Democrats corrupt. She really means she thinks they’re all a bunch of cowards. And what they are cowardly about, should concern every thinking American and human being.

Latest AOC upset: Latinx

The latest issue AOC is raising, concerns a term everyone else seems to have abandoned. As anyone passingly familiar with Spanish knows, Spanish has no neuter gender. In the last century, most English speakers spoke of “Latin culture” or “A Latin” when speaking of Latin America, its cultures, or any member of that culture. In modern usage, most people use “Latino,” the Spanish adjective.

But the political left no longer wants to use the masculine gender in a generic sense. Instead they want to abolish gender. To do that in Spanish, ten years ago they coined a new term: Latinx (rhymes with Kleenex®). Merriam-Webster defines Latinx as:

of, relating to, or marked by Latin American heritage —used as a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina.

Your editor heard one person use that term in popular usage: Jacqueline Stewart, Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago, and frequent hostess on the Turner Classic Movies channel. And he found it jarring.

By all accounts, real Latin Americans find it just as jarring. Oprah Winfrey feels she must define the term in detail. Pew Research finds that only one Hispanic in four has heard of the term. Furthermore, only three in a hundred use it. Young Hispanic women use it more often than men.

AOC is one of these women. Today she is, by her own admission, ranting against her colleagues who refuse to use it.

Getting to the heart of the matter

AOC posted video of herself railing against her colleagues for refusing to use the term. Another Twitter user shared that video:

Here are some excerpts:

I also have a mini-rant about this because there are some politicians, including Democratic politicians, that rail against the term “Latinx.” And they’re like, “this is so bad, this is so bad for the party,” like blah blah blah. And it’s almost like it hasn’t struck some of these folks that another person’s identity is not about your reelection prospects.

Gender is fluid, language is fluid, and I think people right now are using the “e” term as gender-neutral in order to be as inclusive as possible. Don’t have to make drama over it.

Note carefully: “Gender is fluid, language is fluid.” In short, AOC has thrown in with those who wish to destroy the concepts “male” and “female.”

At least two of her colleagues are less than copacetic with that. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) will not let anyone in his office use Latinx officially.

When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is a term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias.

Similarly, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) criticized the New York Yankees for using the term.

Perhaps AOC was responding to her fellow New Yorker.

AOC has criticized fellow Dems before

Similarly, over the weekend, AOC criticized her fellow Democrats more broadly. The House of Representatives has passed many measures that amount to socialism in America. Every one of these measures has stalled in the Senate. Furthermore, Sen. Joseph Manchin (D-W.Va.) votes not only against these measures on their merits, but also against abolishing the filibuster to pass them with simple majorities.

So on Saturday AOC let her fellow Democrats have it. In fact she called Congress corrupt and morally empty.

Such sentiments, of course, say more about her moral values than about Congress as an institution. In fact, Democratic political strategists are correct to oppose not only silly words like Latinx, but also anything that smacks overtly of socialism. If that’s cowardice, your editor would hate to see what AOC would call courage.

Perhaps this illustrates why her biggest claim to fame is her leadership of a tiny caucus of radical women in the House. And also why Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Speaker of the House, clearly considers her a loose cannon. But to Republicans going into Midterms, she is the gift that keeps on giving.