Is Ocasio-Cortez pretending to be working class when she’s really not?

[Anonymous]

I like her, I think she’s funny and super refreshing. But why is she bending over backwards to brand herself as this Bronx faux working class struggle millennial?

> dad was a credentialed architect
> moved out of the Bronx at age 5
> raised in very affluent, safe, great schools Westchester County
> went to private Boston University, $65,000 per year
> chose carefree bartender lifestyle after college instead of 9-5 buttoned up gig

I just saw on twitter she’s attacking some man for questioning her version of her background:

In which a Republican literally tries to mansplaining *my own childhood* and life to me.

And in true mansplaining form, he’s doing it wrong with an great degree of confidence.

Instead of correcting his assertion her background is actually quite privileged, her rebuttal is an ad hominem attack.

[Anonymous]

Oh look. RWNJs are still obsessed with her.

[Anonymous]

Idk what rwnj means but I assume right wing something. I’m a registered Democrat. There’s just no need for her to stretch the truth. It’s dumb and lame. And fake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like her, I think she’s funny and super refreshing. But why is she bending over backwards to brand herself as this Bronx faux working class struggle millennial?

> dad was a credentialed architect
> moved out of the Bronx at age 5
> raised in very affluent, safe, great schools Westchester County
> went to private Boston University, $65,000 per year
> chose carefree bartender lifestyle after college instead of 9-5 buttoned up gig

I just saw on twitter she’s attacking some man for questioning her version of her background:

In which a Republican literally tries to mansplaining *my own childhood* and life to me.

And in true mansplaining form, he’s doing it wrong with an great degree of confidence.

Instead of correcting his assertion her background is actually quite privileged, her rebuttal is an ad hominem attack.

I'm confused by her upbringing. I thought she was raised by her mom who was struggling.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:IInstead of correcting his assertion her background is actually quite privileged, her rebuttal is an ad hominem attack.

This is not a new attack on her, but something that has been repeated many times. She has answered it more substantively in the past. You should not be so quick to accept right-wing narratives. Her parents were not wealthy. Her mom was a house cleaner. The home in Yorktown was bought for $150,000, hardly a mansion. She went to public schools in Yorktown. During that time, her extended family was in the Bronx and she spent a lot of time with them. She then returned to the Bronx after college.

Your take on her job as a bartender is interesting. Given that she graduate from BU with a degree in International Relations, I'm not sure what type of "9-5 buttoned up gig" you think awaited her. I can tell you that I graduated with a Master's in a similar field and bartending jobs paid more (I took a low-paying job in my field to gain experience).

The guy she accused of mansplaining is John Cardillo, a right-wing nut job who tweeted about the Women's March, "“Wrap this up girls. My shirts aren't going to iron themselves. #WomensMarch” and has accused the Federal Reserve of purposely tanking the markets. He is really not the guy in whom you want to put you trust when it comes to the biography of Ocasio-Cortez or any other Democrat.

[Anonymous]

Just another flash in the pan.

[Anonymous]

Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

Probably the motivation to misrepresent her origins is similar to Elizabeth Warren's. On the left, it's all about class struggle and racial struggle against the wealthy Causcasian oppressors. Kind of difficult to claim you represent "the little guy" if you are actually part of the privileged class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

She isn't inventing anything. Ask the right wing why they ascribe an upper-class upbringing to her, when, as you have stated, she was solidly middle class? She is certainly more in touch with the middle class, working poor and millennials than just about any other politician. And to be clear, I am not a fan of her politics, but let's be reality on this.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

Where are you getting that her mother was a housecleaner when she was a teenager before she got married? Ocasio-Cortez says she helped her mom clean houses. She couldn't have done that before she was even born. Working class and middle class can often mean the same thing. She never claimed to have been poor.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

Where are you getting that her mother was a housecleaner when she was a teenager before she got married? Ocasio-Cortez says she helped her mom clean houses. She couldn't have done that before she was even born. Working class and middle class can often mean the same thing. She never claimed to have been poor.

Her mother has been interviewed multiple times. She said she cleaned housed as a teenager after she moved from Puerto Rico. She said that she was a school secretary and occasional bus driver for the school when Ocasio-Cortez was in school. She did say that she had fallen on hard times after Ocasio Cortez graduated from college after her husband died and during the financial crisis (like many people), and that her house almost went into foreclosure. No, I do not think working class and middle class are not the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

She's "Jenny from the block". LOL

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

Where are you getting that her mother was a housecleaner when she was a teenager before she got married? Ocasio-Cortez says she helped her mom clean houses. She couldn't have done that before she was even born. Working class and middle class can often mean the same thing. She never claimed to have been poor.

Her mother has been interviewed multiple times. She said she cleaned housed as a teenager after she moved from Puerto Rico. She said that she was a school secretary and occasional bus driver for the school when Ocasio-Cortez was in school. She did say that she had fallen on hard times after Ocasio Cortez graduated from college after her husband died and during the financial crisis (like many people), and that her house almost went into foreclosure. No, I do not think working class and middle class are not the same thing.

I can’t find any of those interviews. Could you point me towards one? Also, I just realized that Ocasio-Cortez father didn’t move to Yorktown with them. He stayed in the Bronx to run his business. He apparently owned his own remodeling company which does sound somewhat working class. If her mother didn’t clean houses after getting married, are you suggesting that she never had a job? I think you are wrong about her stopping before marriage since AOC has repeatedly described her cleaning homes while she was growing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like her, I think she’s funny and super refreshing. But why is she bending over backwards to brand herself as this Bronx faux working class struggle millennial?

> dad was a credentialed architect
> moved out of the Bronx at age 5
> raised in very affluent, safe, great schools Westchester County
> went to private Boston University, $65,000 per year
> chose carefree bartender lifestyle after college instead of 9-5 buttoned up gig

I just saw on twitter she’s attacking some man for questioning her version of her background:

In which a Republican literally tries to mansplaining *my own childhood* and life to me.

And in true mansplaining form, he’s doing it wrong with an great degree of confidence.

Instead of correcting his assertion her background is actually quite privileged, her rebuttal is an ad hominem attack.

Sounds like Jho's or jenny from the block's background. Nuyorican, computer engineer dad and school teacher mom and news anchor sister but we're supposed to believe her rags to riches story growing up in the tough bronx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her mother was a house-cleaner when her mother was a teenager, before she got married. They were solidly middle class, not working class, not working poor. Middle class. Two parent home. Professional dad. She grew up in Wedtchester county. Never struggling. Not poor. Like many of us. She had nexus to poorer family members. Again, like many of us. She had an impressive campaign. Why she feels that you needs to invent a background of struggle to identify with those who actually struggle is a mystery. One can be a middle class person and care about the poor.

She's "Jenny from the block". LOL

heh I just saw this after I posted