AOC ridiculed for celebrating Carlson's ousting and saying 'deplatforming works'



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to social media Monday to celebrate Fox News' ousting of Tucker Carlson, just days after she suggested that the government should clamp down on the news network.
Critics online have roundly ridiculed the Democratic lawmaker over her comments, highlighting her apparent affinity for shutting down opposing views, this time by corporate means and possibly with the help of statist pressure.

"Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News," the democratic socialist said gleefully in the video. "Couldn't have happened to a better guy."

Ocasio-Cortez indicated she was "very glad" that Fox News gave Carlson the boot, repeating the claim that he was "arguably responsible" for "driving some of the most, uh, amounts of death threats and violent threats, not just to my office but to plenty of people across the country."

While delighted by this turn of events, Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that Carlson's days of calling her out are likely far from over.

"Um, I also kind of feel like I'm like waiting for the cut scene at the end of a Marvel movie, after all the credits have rolled, and then you see like the villain's like hand re-emerge out to grip over like the end of a building or something," she said.

The democratic socialist held off on her more controversial statement until the end of the video, where she stated, "Deplatforming works and it is important and um, there you go. Good things can happen."

\u201c.@AOC on @TuckerCarlson: \u201cDeplatforming works and it is important.\u201d\u201d
— Donna, Independent \ud83c\udf3a\ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u23f3 (@Donna, Independent \ud83c\udf3a\ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u23f3) 1682381765

Independent journalist Kyle Becker responded to the video, tweeting, "This is the only way the radical left can defeat its political opposition. Terrorism, censorship, guerilla warfare, purging its ideological opposition."

Alex Lorusso, an executive producer at Newsmax, wrote, "The Democratic Party is the Party of Censorship."

One Twitter user branded Ocasio-Cortez "The Bronx Bolshevik."

Another argued, "Deplatforming does work in most cases (it won't in Carlson's case) but it is also the tool of people whose ideas either can't stand scrutiny or debate and/or those with totalitarian impulses."

Whereas Ocasio-Cortez had been more suggestive, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was explicit last week when he called on Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch to deplatform Carlson:

\u201cJust weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Rupert Murdoch to take Tucker Carlson off the air.\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1682355857

Like Schumer, this was not the first time Ocasio-Cortez took aim at independent-minded journalists.

The New York Post reported that in 2021, Ocasio-Cortez had mulled over ways to help "rein in" the free press and combat undesirable information.

"It’s one thing to have differentiating opinions, but it’s another thing entirely to just say things that are false," she said. "So that’s something that we’re looking into."

Whereas Ocasio-Cortez is "very glad" to see her critics deplatformed, she has spoken out in the past when those who share her views have lost their jobs at corporate news outlets.

In 2018, Temple Hill professor Marc Lamont Hill got fired from CNN, where he was a contributor, for making statements widely interpreted to be a call for the ruination of Israel.

The National Council of Young Israel said, "With his racist views and unabashed denigration of Israel, Dr. Hill does not deserve to be given any sort of platform that facilitates the dissemination of his bigotry, whether it be on Cable TV or in a classroom," reported The Hill.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Ocasio-Cortez bemoaned Hill's termination by CNN, saying, "There was no discussion about it, no engagement, no thoughtful discourse over it, just pure accusation."

Ocasio-Cortez later attempted to define cancel culture in 2020, noting that "the term 'cancel culture' comes from entitlement - as though the person complaining has the right to a large, captive audience,& one is a victim if people choose to tune them out. Odds are you're not actually cancelled, you're just being challenged, held accountable, or unliked."

According to the Democratic lawmaker, the people who are actually canceled include Palestinian human rights advocates, abolitionists, anti-capitalists, and anti-imperialists, "not spicy 'contrarians' who want to play devils advocate w/ your basic rights."

\u201cMany of the people actually \u201ccancelled\u201d are those long denied a fair hearing of their ideas to begin w/:\n\nPalestinian human rights advocates\nAbolitionists\nAnticapitalists\nAnti-imperialists\n\nNot spicy \u201ccontrarians\u201d who want to play devils advocate w/ your basic rights in the NYT\u201d
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1594341837
While Ocasio-Cortez is evidently sensitive to the possibility that the same tactics she now celebrates could be wielded against her, on Twitter for instance, Elon Musk intimated Monday night that it is a bad road to take.
Musk tweeted, "If we lose freedom of speech, it's never coming back."

The Twitter CEO was responding to a video wherein South African venture capitalist David Sacks discussed an "illiberal agenda" that "involves censorship, and de-platforming, including economic de-platforming, and this collusion between state power and the security state and these tech monopolies and the media. This idea that we have all the right answers. This is fundamentally an illiberal agenda."

\u201c.@DavidSacks: "Well, on @elonmusk criticizing the woke mind virus, what he's really criticizing is this intolerant agenda that involves censorship, and de-platforming, including economic de-platforming, and this collusion between state power and the security state and these tech\u2026\u201d
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) 1682375681

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Investor hosting DeSantis fundraiser in San Francisco fires back after interviewer calls the Florida governor 'divisive'



Tech investor David Sacks, who is planning to host a fundraiser for conservative Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis later this month in deep blue San Francisco, pushed back after Bloomberg's Emily Chang asked why he would back "such a divisive candidate."

"Why is he inherently more divisive than say, [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom," or a person at the other end of the spectrum, Sacks queried.

He added that he would contend, "words like polarizing and divisiveness, they, they assume a normative baseline in which everybody agrees, everyone in the tech industry agrees because they all come from a certain information bubble, and anyone who deviates from that orthodoxy is perceived as divisive."

Sacks further argued that "you're not divisive just because you don't agree with the orthodoxy of Silicon Valley."

Chang responded by asking Sacks why he is backing DeSantis with a fundraiser over other candidates he could support. She said that DeSantis and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who had been on the program earlier, are at different sides of the spectrum.

"I've donated to Suarez, too," Sacks said, noting that he likes each one.

According to Ballotpedia, Miami mayoral elections are nonpartisan, but media outlets identify Suarez as a Republican.

"I like Suarez because he's been extremely welcoming toward the tech ecosystem in Miami," Sacks explained.

"In terms of why I like DeSantis, he was the first governor to stop these insane lockdowns," Sacks said, noting that the Sunshine State governor acted despite media hostility. Sacks said he respects it when an individual takes the correct position on a matter in the face of media hostility.

Tech investor David Sacks tells @emilychangtv why he's hosting a fundraiser for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis… https://t.co/4xrPwYLknf

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) 1634083144.0

According to an invite, suggested donations for the Oct. 22 fundraiser are $2,500 for a cocktail reception, $7,000 for a photo opportunity, and $25,000 for dinner.

Sacks "has been a successful founder and investor for over two decades, building and investing in some of the most iconic companies in tech," according to his bio posted by Craft Ventures, where he is co-founder and general partner. "David has invested in over 20 unicorns, including Affirm, AirBnB, Bird, ClickUp, Eventbrite, Facebook, Houzz, Lyft, OpenDoor, Palantir, Postmates, Reddit, Slack, SpaceX, Twitter, Uber, and Wish."

It will be fun night. Who’s in? https://t.co/TGq6tESNkM

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) 1634012631.0

DeSantis, who is up for re-election in 2022, has become an immensely popular figure on the political right.

Sadly, the governor recently revealed that his wife Casey was diagnosed with breast cancer. The couple has three young children.

"Her view is, 'Better me than somebody who may not be able to deal with it,'" DeSantis said earlier this week, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "That's just kind of her spirit. I got faith in the big guy upstairs, and I've got faith in her, and I know that this is a bad break, but she's got an awful lot to live for for the rest of her life."