• Hyperreality@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Not a conservative, but that’s not particularly hard, so I’ll play Devil’s advocate.

    AOC is idealistic, but sometimes naive and ill informed.

    She referred to a statue of Father Damian as an example of white supremacist culture. Damien spent the last 16 years of his life ministering to a leper colony on Hawaii, acted as a doctor, dug graves, eventually contracted leprosy, and died as a consequence of it. Lili’uokalani herself honoured him. He is honoured to this day in Hawaii.

    Calling a statue honouring a man who died helping non-white people, in the anything but enlightened 19th century, an example of white supremacy comparable to statues of racist leaders of the confederacy is absurd. Lincoln was more of a white supremacist than someone like Damien. It’s also a self-own, that was widely reported on in right wing media, helping them to support their narrative that it’s wrong to remove statues of bonafide racists.

    The not wearing a mask thing and crossing state lines in the middle of an epidemic, then contracting covid? Also not a good look. Once again, widely reported on in right wing media. “See, she isn’t a wearing a mask either. She’s a hypocrite!”

    I personally also find AOC’s self lack of knowledge or clear positions on foreign policy troubling, if unsurprising. IRC she also voted against seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs, which I found troubling. Her excuse for that, something about civil forfeiture, also seemed to suggest she hadn’t properly read the bill, as it only applied to non-US nationals, and not Americans like she claimed.