AOC's Racist Speech

[BFritz21]

Like it or not, AOC is the current face of the Democratic party because she's so outspoken with her stupidity and being so under qualified.

The "tolerant left" is all about equal rights and calling the right racist, but listen to AOC go on this "motivational rant" that is completely racist!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrfKm_vi8t4

Using that stereotypical southern accent and slang words is treating the audience like they're so hillbilly and so stupid that it's hilarious!

This is why the left can never be a solid group because they have idiots like this calling running the show but they're so "tolerant" that calling her out or shunning her would be dividing them!

Imagine if a white Republican did that!

[CJD]

The video ended before it became racist. Do you have the rest of the speech?

[SunsetBengal]

Someone will be along shortly to explain that it isn't racist at all to imitate the speech patterns of one's audience, but merely an orating style call "code switching". For some reason code switching seems to only be applicable to politicians on the Left, as when anyone on the Right does that it branded as racist mockery.

[*michaelsean*]

Damn that sounded worse than Hillary's "Nobody told me it would be easy".

[CJD]

On a serious note, my wife is black (and I'm white). Her general, day to day cadence is what most people would consider a "white voice."

For a few years, she worked at a car rental place and people would make reservations on the phone and then the person would arrive and say "I was talking to a woman named Dominique" and she'd say "I am Dominique" to which they'd occasionally seem confused and reply with some version of "Oh, is there another Dominique here?" obviously confused because they did not match her voice to her face. This happens in other scenarios as well.

See, there's this whole concept of assimilating into society that a lot of minorities feel compelled to do in order to fit in. My wife uses her "sterile" voice at work because it is seen as unprofessional to get "ebonic" in tone in the workplace. She often tells me stories about how she had to hold back certain phrases, sayings or expressions (or, on occasion, would let one slip and then have to explain to her co-workers what the phrase/saying meant, often awkwardly) to maintain her professionalism.

However, when she is hanging out with me, her friends (both black and white) or her sisters, who do speak with the generally "black" tonal patterns and qualities, she does have a subtle "sassy" or "ebonic" tone to her voice at certain points of the conversation. Not the whole time, mind you. But maybe when doing some sort of emphasis on something (I think we are all aware of the clap between words emphatic expression). It's a comfortability thing.

If I made a "white" comparison, I have a friend from Kentucky who says he used to have to stop himself from using the term "Y'all" in emails to our clients, because it also is seen as unprofessional. It's the same basic concept.

So, why is this relevant? Obviously, I'm aware AOC is not black (or at least, not the socially defined version of black), but this same idea of assimilation into the white society affects most minorities. She was born in the Bronx, after all. And, by all accounts, she is at least tangentially familiar with "the struggle" throughout various parts of her life. So who's to say what we see here is not a tone she adopts when with her friends, in a more comfortable atmosphere, whereas the tone we often hear her speak in is her more sterile voice for professionalism?

Some may call it code switching (as Sunset brought up), but I just think of it as "oh, this person is comfortable enough around me to not feel like they have to self-censor."

Now, I don't know AOC personally. Maybe her common tone is her natural tone and this was pandering. I can't say. But I don't think it's unreasonable to give her a bit of allowance here, given her roots and ethnicity.

Now, if a white congressperson who grew up rich, in a mostly white suburb suddenly dawned an ebonic/ethnic tone while speaking to black people, that raises different flags, since there's no indication she has any relation to that upbringing. This points more definitively towards pandering. That is what you may perceive when you say "Imagine if a white Republican did that!"

I hope that clarifies the distinction, in the eyes of a liberal.

[SunsetBengal]

(04-11-2019, 10:15 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: So, why is this relevant? Obviously, I'm aware AOC is not black (or at least, not the socially defined version of black), but this same idea of assimilation into the white society affects most minorities. She was born in the Bronx, after all. And, by all accounts, she is at least tangentially familiar with "the struggle" throughout various parts of her life.  So who's to say what we see here is not a tone she adopts when with her friends, in a more comfortable atmosphere, whereas the tone we often hear her speak in is her more sterile voice for professionalism?

I think most people are aware that she grew up in an affluent suburb in Westchester Co.

[CJD]

(04-11-2019, 10:21 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I think most people are aware that she grew up in an affluent suburb in Westchester Co.

Born in the Bronx, grew up in the Suburbs. Returned to the Bronx.

Where were her parents raised? I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was "The Bronx."

Is this the only thing you took away from my post?

[GMDino]

[*michaelsean*]

(04-11-2019, 10:32 AM)GMDino Wrote:

Was your meme expiring and you had to use it or lose it?

[*michaelsean*]

(04-11-2019, 10:15 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: On a serious note, my wife is black (and I'm white). Her general, day to day cadence is what most people would consider a "white voice."

For a few years, she worked at a car rental place and people would make reservations on the phone and then the person would arrive and say "I was talking to a woman named Dominique" and she'd say "I am Dominique" to which they'd occasionally seem confused and reply with some version of "Oh, is there another Dominique here?" obviously confused because they did not match her voice to her face. This happens in other scenarios as well.

See, there's this whole concept of assimilating into society that a lot of minorities feel compelled to do in order to fit in. My wife uses her "sterile" voice at work because it is seen as unprofessional to get "ebonic" in tone in the workplace. She often tells me stories about how she had to hold back certain phrases, sayings or expressions (or, on occasion, would let one slip and then have to explain to her co-workers what the phrase/saying meant, often awkwardly) to maintain her professionalism.

However, when she is hanging out with me, her friends (both black and white) or her sisters, who do speak with the generally "black" tonal patterns and qualities, she does have a subtle "sassy" or "ebonic" tone to her voice at certain points of the conversation. Not the whole time, mind you. But maybe when doing some sort of emphasis on something (I think we are all aware of the clap between words emphatic expression). It's a comfortability thing.

If I made a "white" comparison, I have a friend from Kentucky who says he used to have to stop himself from using the term "Y'all" in emails to our clients, because it also is seen as unprofessional. It's the same basic concept.

So, why is this relevant? Obviously, I'm aware AOC is not black (or at least, not the socially defined version of black), but this same idea of assimilation into the white society affects most minorities. She was born in the Bronx, after all. And, by all accounts, she is at least tangentially familiar with "the struggle" throughout various parts of her life.  So who's to say what we see here is not a tone she adopts when with her friends, in a more comfortable atmosphere, whereas the tone we often hear her speak in is her more sterile voice for professionalism?

Some may call it code switching (as Sunset brought up), but I just think of it as "oh, this person is comfortable enough around me to not feel like they have to self-censor."

Now, I don't know AOC personally. Maybe her common tone is her natural tone and this was pandering. I can't say. But I don't think it's unreasonable to give her a bit of allowance here, given her roots and ethnicity.

Now, if a white congressperson who grew up rich, in a mostly white suburb suddenly dawned an ebonic/ethnic tone while speaking to black people, that raises different flags, since there's no indication she has any relation to that upbringing. This points more definitively towards pandering. That is what you may perceive when you say "Imagine if a white Republican did that!"

I hope that clarifies the distinction, in the eyes of a liberal.

I commend you on a well thought out post.  It did not sound natural to me, but who knows?  There's a better chance that her's was natural compared to Hillary's I suppose.  

I get what your wife has to do.  I often have to curb my natural accent which includes telling customers to eff off and they are morons.

But as is often pointed out here,  Republicans are held to a higher standard that Democrats.  Or something to that effect.  

[SunsetBengal]

(04-11-2019, 10:25 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Born in the Bronx, grew up in the Suburbs. Returned to the Bronx.

Where were her parents raised? I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was "The Bronx."

Is this the only thing you took away from my post?

Not at all.  I was only speaking to the part that I quoted, as much of the rest of your quote had to do with your personal/family life.  I don't feel like I should be commenting on another member's personal/family life, especially when I have never met those people in person.

[CJD]

(04-11-2019, 10:39 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I commend you on a well thought out post.  It did not sound natural to me, but who knows?  There's a better chance that her's was natural compared to Hillary's I suppose.  

I get what your wife has to do.  I often have to curb my natural accent which includes telling customers to eff off and they are morons.

But as is often pointed out here,  Republicans are held to a higher standard that Democrats.  Or something to that effect.  

I don't know if Republicans are held to a higher standard than Democrats. It all comes down to the expectations of the people who vote for them.

For example, Roy Moore came very very very close to being elected to the Senate despite numerous sexual misconduct allegations against him. 

Meanwhile, Al Franken was ousted from the Senate for having allegedly forcefully kissing a woman and having a a picture of him pretending to touch her breasts while she was sleeping.

Joe Biden is also looking like his time has run out due to non-sexual touching allegations.

Our President was accused of much worse things and was still elected.

Republicans were still willing to vote for Moore and Trump because their expectations were different than Democrats' expectations of Al Franken and, potentially, Joe Biden.

I think the idea that one political group is held to higher standards is, in general, ridiculous. They're definitely held to different standards, but those standards are entirely informed by the voting bases of those two parties.

[CJD]

(04-11-2019, 10:44 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Not at all.  I was only speaking to the part that I quoted, as much of the rest of your quote had to do with your personal/family life.  I don't feel like I should be commenting on another member's personal/family life, especially when I have never met those people in person.

But you're commenting on the same thing regarding AOC. I don't really understand the distinction.

Do you think my description does not fit AOC because she was able to move out of the Bronx when she was a child? Isn't the saying like "You can take the girl out of the (area), but you can't take the (area) out of the girl?" Wouldn't that hold true for AOC? Or shouldn't that at least be our initial assumption?

[jj22]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8qIhgOHcuY

[jj22]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-L3uLGjcP4

[jj22]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2-o4YK33hg

[jj22]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLvX8pJY04A

[*michaelsean*]

I have to agree with JJ. I'm not a big a big fan of AOC, but she is no worse than Trump.

[CJD]

I think the difference, in these cases, are Trump is just mocking other ethnicities. He's not trying to pander to them. So it's a different energy. Trump, in these clips, is not trying to appeal to Indian or Hispanic people by imitating them, but rather distancing himself from them to get a laugh out of his primarily white fan base.

AOC is, according to the OP, trying to appeal to black people by putting on a false facade. Which is more a deception tactic than anything else.

Plus, I don't think using Trump as some kind of ethical, moral or normalized standard for what is not acceptable (and thereby, implicitly, approving of everything that isn't as bad as him) is a path I think most people would agree is not one we, as a nation, would prefer to go down. If you compare everything to the bottom rung, everything appears acceptable by comparison.

[SunsetBengal]

(04-11-2019, 10:56 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: But you're commenting on the same thing regarding AOC. I don't really understand the distinction.

Do you think my description does not fit AOC because she was able to move out of the Bronx when she was a child? Isn't the saying like "You can take the girl out of the (area), but you can't take the (area) out of the girl?" Wouldn't that hold true for AOC? Or shouldn't that at least be our initial assumption?

The difference is that you and your family are private citizens, AOC has elected to make herself a public figure.  As a public figure, she is held to much higher scrutiny on all things.  Now this part is strictly my opinion, but I feel like elected officials should be consistent in how they present themselves, no matter which splinter group of the constituents they are speaking to.  I'll use Trump as an example, since he's loved hated so evenly by both sides.  His reputation is that of being brash, direct, and very straight forward.  Sure, those may be unappealing characteristics to some, but I sure know that he's exactly who he says he is, and doesn't change his character to match the group he's addressing.