Agonistic AOC and Polemical Politics
As we observed through the analysis of Twitter user responses to President Donald Trump’s tweet regarding “Global Waming” and the Midwest, the public sphere of Twitter as a multimodal social media platform provides much to consider when thinking about rhetorical appeals and the notion of kairos in a public setting. However, Donald Trump is not the only politician using the social media platform as a method of sharing beliefs, arguing for a political agenda, and receiving responses. On the other end of the spectrum, we see newcomers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 29-year-old US Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, also taking advantage of what Twitter has to offer.
Known notoriously by her initials AOC, Ocasio-Cortez uses Twitter to both rally support for her proposed policies and challenge what she perceives to be problematic criticism perpetuated by her GOP peers. In fact, one of her most famous tweets yet, shown below, actually helped to rocket her into the mainstream and helped her stay in the spotlight.
The tweet, which garnered over 161,000 retweets, 788,000 likes, 36,000+ comments and a whopping 20.70 million views, demonstrates what a fierce political critique of the GOP looks like as executed through the modern media of Twitter and other social media sites. The tweet was made in response to conservative critiques of a dance montage video Ocasio-Cortez made while in undergraduate studies at Boston University, using it as a way to call into question her maturity and ability to lead. While AOC did not leak the college dance video herself, she did take advantage of the kairotic moment created through those who attempted to criticize her by dancing in front of her office, thereby confronting these adversaries and choosing to still express herself confidently. She found the opportune moment and multimodal method in which to spread her message, and decided to deliver it in an increasingly difficult political environment to navigate. In a system that has traditionally and historically silenced or excluded women from broader political engagement, AOC found that precious window of timing and space needed to make her claim effective and garner attention.
Interestingly enough, the responses AOC received on this tweet varied rather notably from the kinds of responses we saw to Trump’s tweet on Global Waming. Of course, there were still people who seized the opportunity to continue to criticize her, like the following:
While I still do see a number of individuals try to attack AOC’s character and make claims of immaturity and incompetence, I also see a lot more conversation chains like this one:
Despite the fact that the Unite America twitter page disagrees with AOC’s policies and beliefs, they still choose to engage in civil, controlled communication with others in a way that does not start any additional problems but rather promotes open dialogue and political discourse. I think one would be hard pressed to find a Trump tweet that does not mostly consist of people almost exclusively alluding to his stupidity and poor leadership abilities. In fact, while it could be argued that AOC’s messages are just as polemical and provocative as Trumps, they demonstrate that specifically tailored provocations actually have the capacity to yield valuable responses and perpetuate a sense of community in the public sphere of Twitter.
When I think about the kind of kairotic response I would make to AOC’s tweet, I think I would emphasize the importance of confidence and ambition among our political youth while also exposing the problematic and outdated perspectives of her critical GOP counterparts. A lot of people who agree with AOC in this case take advantage of Twitter’s multimodality, using animated gifs and memes to demonstrate agreement and solidarity. While I think that’s a good way to express yourself on a platform like Twitter, I would feel inclined to try and find references to other compositions that could supplement AOC’s actions or serve as inspiration for others. My largest concern about political discourse on Twitter is that it often materializes in the form of sheer insults or blind devotion, both of which I find counterproductive. Maybe the character constraints make Twitter a challenging place to advance conversations or persuade minds.
Yet, we know that it is not impossible, given that we as readers and participants in this public sphere are influenced and often act upon these agonistic tweets and their responses. As such, I would want my response to emphasize my support of AOC’s message, elaborate upon the flaws of her dissidents, and demonstrate that her actions can serve as the foundation for other people to find their kairotic moment to speak or act out for the progress and change they want to see in the world.
