A Dance of Fools
We’ve all heard about the way politicians make deals to get something they want. You know, “I’ll vote for your bill if you vote for mine” or “I’ll put a little pork in my bill for you if you’ll vote for it.” Further, they may vote for or against something counter to their constituents’ interests, then twist their words in such a way to avoid taking responsibility or blame.
Yes, they really do that.
It is so pervasive that someone long ago came up with a nickname for the little self-serving dance. Because of the river that flows between Washington, D.C. and Virginia, they called it, “The Potomac Two-Step.”
Yeah, well that’s not the dance I’m talking about. Nope, I’m talking about a dance one freshman congresswoman did when she was in college, and it was all captured on video.
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Now that I’ve teased you into reading this, I’ll assuage your fears and reveal that the dance does not include a pole but does include a reasonable amount of clothing.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is young, in fact, last November she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Not only is she young (28 at the time), she is intelligent, attractive, and energetic. You know, the kind of person political adversaries hate, and hate her they do…at least some of them.
According to the Huffington Post, the video was released by a right-wing Twitter account (AnonymousQ1776) which asserted that it was scandalous. The tweet accompanying the video said, “Here is America’s favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is,” and called it a, “High School video of ‘Sandy’ Ocasio-Cortez.”
Sandy was a nickname for Ocasio-Cortez at the time of the filming, which was during her enrollment at Boston University, rather than high school.
Eric Baker, a 2013 BU alum who is currently in graduate school at Syracuse University, helped make the video. He said it was filmed when viral dance videos were “a fad” in 2010. Ocasio-Cortez was, “20 or 21”.
“We were student ambassadors at the Howard Thurman Center, and Sandy was like the face of the center,” Baker said. “So Julian Jensen (also in the video) and I cast her and our other friends.”
This video is a “Lisztomania” Brat Pack Mashup, an homage to an earlier viral video that mashed up the 2009 song by the band Phoenix with the dance scene from the 1985 cult classic “The Breakfast Club.” Phoenix played a show in Boston later that semester.
In 2010, the then-assistant director of the center told the university’s media website, BU Today, that the video showcased the “vibrancy and spirit of our community.”
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Folks, I have seen the video and will try to include it with this post. If you can’t see it and are interested, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj2Xald7NYQ … on YouTube and see for yourself. Don’t be afraid to watch it with your spouse, your kids, or you grandmother for that matter.
Yes, it’s that innocent. It shows a bunch of college kids having the kind of fun our parents wanted us to have at college. Well, besides studying hard. I’m serious, it’s just a bunch of healthy, attractive kids dancing on a rooftop. It reminds me of the movie, “Footloose”…the original not the remake, I haven’t seen the new one.
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Most of you know that I’m pretty conservative so, as such, I am a political opponent of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She is a democratic socialist. I’m not saying that as an insult to the Democratic Party; she is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party. Straight-up socialism is a good idea that doesn’t work in the real world. “From each according to ability; to each according to need.” Sounds good, right? But socialism in use is a system that panders to low-income people to gain support, all the while playing right into the hands of politicians who want to abuse their power. It takes away the middle class’s ability to achieve, thus crushing their desire to try.
Yup, I’m opposed to it. Do I think Ocasio-Cortez is the kind of politician who wants to take advantage of a position of authority at the expense of the very poor people she says she wants to help? I honestly don’t think so but I don’t know for sure.
Could be. Maybe not.
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What I do know is that attacking someone for something as innocuous as “Sandy’s” college dance video only paints you as a fun-hating stick-in-the-mud at best. At worst it makes you look like a petulant “hater” who clutches at straws to criticize your opponents, even for something you would probably brag about if your own kids did it.
If you do want to criticize your opponent for something legitimate, socialism paints a clear target on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Otherwise, leave her alone; you only make yourself look foolish.
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I know my post should be done now, but I feel I need to add something. The very underhanded trickery that makes most of us distrust politicians makes me wonder if this might just be a red herring. You know, something that grabs our attention and forces us to focus on it while we ignore or overlook a more serious issue.
Could be.
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So, the best thing we can do is to get to know Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. Find out what she truly stands for and what her core issues are. I predict that the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party are watching her with an eye toward putting her name on other ballots. She has the charisma that could carry her a long way in a presidential run.
If dancing talent were the only qualification, I’d vote for her. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez can dance…and I’m not talking about the Potomac Two-Step either.
I don’t know about that one yet.
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(below) This is “Phoenix – Lisztomania” the video Ms. Ocasio-Cortez made while she was in college. What is your opinion? Is is scandal-worthy?
While I agree with your belief on Ms. Ocasio-Cortez especially given the fact the opposing party is indifferent to “locker room talk” and a president who has had multiple wives and affairs though they claim the sanctity of marriage, your definition and implication of that definition of socialism is overgenaralizng and ignoring a facet of reality.
While one may claim that socialism “panders” to the lower-class and thus the lower-class would be intelligent to vote for such ideals, the lower-class in this country, on average, votes against their own best interest and supports the opposing party. In addition, the higher someone’s educational attainment the more likely they are to support aspects of socialism. Hence, it is not as clear cut that the lower class is the target or the ones pushing for such change.
Moreover, your implication that because socialism targets the lower-class and that they subsequently choose to support it deems their belief system inferior is an application of faulty logic and immoral. Just because a group of individuals supports a particular belief that would benefit them does not imply that that belief is necessarily incorrect. Also, implying that because the lower class supports a belief does not necessarily mean it is wrong.
The ideals of socialism in application to governments typically exist on a spectrum, as does democracy in this world. Thus, most countries, the US included, have aspects of both. Furthermore, if one is reaping the benefits of some ideals of socialism (public education, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, or other “hand-outs”) but yet arguing against that very thing, that individual is either ignorant to the contradictory nature of their actions or intentionally deceitful.
Lastly, claiming that the socialist system plays right into the hands of corrupt politicians while ignoring the status of the many cabinet members in our current democratic government is either ignorant or an attempt to rationalize a particular point of view.
In summary, I do not want my words to be misconstrued as supporting outright socialism, that is not what I am stating. What I am saying is that an open-mind must be maintained to the particular benefits and shortcomings of each form of government and overgeneralizations, especially in our current nationalist political climate, undermine the potential consideration of those benefits.
As usual your comment was well thought out and overall correct. I actually took most of your points into account when I wrote what I intended to be a small part of the post. I tried to offer a point without addressing the issue in depth, which would have taken up much more space and clouded the issue, which I intended to be more an indictment of the behavior of politicians on both sides of the fence. I aimed it at Republicans since the incident addressed was one of their doing. Since I admitted to being conservative, it would have been self-serving to discuss one of the cases where liberals were the offenders so that people would be distracted by that aspect and say, “This is the pot calling the kettle black.” I think the “lunatic fringe” of both parties does the same thing.
Educational level being an indicator of people supporting aspects of socialism may or may not be more a symptom of insulation from problems intrinsic to other classes than true social awareness. We have both experienced the fact that many people assume that those with less education are always ignorant whereas, while perhaps generally true, it is no more correct than the argument that “educated idiot” is universal fact.
Many political parties pander to certain segments of society. Of course that doesn’t mean they don’t appeal to other aspects. The Republicans tend to attract wealthier people in general but that is counter to the fact that many wealthy people are supporters of Democrats.
I could belabor the point but, again, my intent was to point out the unfairness of certain aspects of the Republican party and didn’t think I needed to resort to the “tu quoque” falacy of logical argument by pointing out blatently that those individuals are behaving of the “lunatic fringe” just as the democrats who behave the same way.
When I said “straight-up socialism” I used the quotation marks to indicate that the phrase was inclusive. Rather than meaning “in truth, socialism”, I meant “socialsim in its strictist, purest form”. One of the things that makes our country great is that we can combine different aspects of other forms of government and use what works best. In the process, we have to at least entertain opposing ideas, while not promising to adopt them.
As I said earlier, the point of the post was to discuss Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s college dance video. Thus, I pointed out that Republican should attack her (as in, “disagree”) for her differing political beliefs rather than her dancing past. No, I don’t agree with socialism in its strictist, purest form, but I am a strong believer in free education for all.
In closing, I strongly hope that “that individual is either ignorant to the contradictory nature of their actions or intentionally deceitful” wasn’t aimed at me. I must sadly admit that I am ignorant of so many things, but I revel in the fact that I do try to learn about many of them. The “intentionally deceitful” part could have been taken more persomally except that I really don’t think it was aimed at me. OK, OK, I regret that “Yes, Scotty, there is a Santa Clause,” phase.
Anyway, I thank you for your inciteful comment and hope you continue sharing your thoughts on my posts.
I am glad that you were referring to socialism in its truest existence and that you see potential benefits in aspects of socialism.
While I do not believe you are of the “intentionally deceitful” nature I have experienced many conservatives speak out fairly vehemently against socialism while reaping it benefits. Hence, the contradictory, or at least ignorant, nature of that belief system.
And while we could assume that higher educational level attainment could protect those same individuals from the true reality of lower class lifestyles or governmental structures it is more likely that their belief systems are a result of their executive funstioning skills. That is, the skills that allow them to obtain that level of education allow them to consider the situation (differing governmental structures in this case) from a more logical and less biased stance.
In the same way that no man is an island, no political “party” is 100% different than every other. There are aspects of many, if not most, segments of the political spectrum that can shed light on the human condition. Also, many politicians espouse a certain system of belief that I think originates in actual belief yet metamorphoses into a more self-serving form. I’ll admit that a lot of conservatives fit that description well, just as many liberals and socialists, etc do. I have had the pleasure of knowing several politicians personally of many parties. Sadly, the better I got to know them, the more I disliked most of them. Some, however, proved themselves to be honest, caring people. Those are the ones who give me hope. Unfortunately, Washington is a dog-eat-dog city and those unwilling to lie, cheat, and steal, tend to finally become the main coarse for the others.
I’m a strong believer in higher education, which is why I tried to encourage all of my sons as well as all the boys I’ve worked with at the facility to work harder in school. Also, I encouraged reading because it is a powerful tool that can open someone’s eyes to free thought. The ability to think openly I believe is more the reason that some can consider things from a “more logical and less biased stance.” I do concede that education exposes people to different beliefs so in no way am I saying it doesn’t play a great role.
In other words, if you, personally, ran for office, I would vote for you in a hot minute, while encouraging you not to run at all. D.C. is a cesspool and, while cesspools are full of floaters and sinkers, most of them are real stinkers. I don’t know exactly what that means but it sounded lyrical so I had to say it. In other words, the kind of men and women we most want to run for higher office, are frequently reticent to do so because of the problems it can cause for those they love the most, due not just their absence, but by being subjected to the libelous or slanderous lies that are often thrown at them.
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