AOC dismantles the concept of 'cancel culture' in just 15 words


Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit out at the concept of "cancel culture.

The move comes after Trump equated "cancel culture" with "totalitarianism" during his 4 July speech. This week a group of 10 authors and artists also penned an open letter calling for an end to so-called "cancel culture."

The letter, published in Harpers Magazine, was signed by the likes of JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Noam Chomsky. It called for a "free exchange of information and ideas" which is "daily becoming more constricted."

Another part of the letter adds:

As writers, we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk-taking, and even mistakes.

We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences.

However, Ocasio-Cortez has noticed something that doesn't quite ring true about this letter. Taking to Twitter she summed up the problem with it in just 15 words.

People who are actually “cancelled” don’t get their thoughts published and amplified in major outlets.

The 30-year-old Democrat went on to add that many who are claiming to have been cancelled are more likely being challenged and held accountable for their views, going on to point out that she is regularly criticised in the US right-wing media and listing many groups who have actually been cancelled and denied a right to have a say.

As always with Ocasio-Cortez, her opinions divide people but there were those that agreed.

However, Hollywood actor and outspoken conservative, James Woods claimed that Ocasio-Cortez and members of the left were the ones responsible for starting cancel culture.

Ocasio-Cortez is currently campaigning to be re-elected as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district a position that she has held since she caused a major upset in 2018 and defeated her fellow Democrat Joe Crowley who had not been challenged since 2004.