Btukfyl

There have been several stories in the media about how a video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing has caused conservatives to attack her for it.

News sources where this claim is made:

There have been several stories in the media about how a video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing has caused conservatives to attack her for it.

News sources where this claim is made:

1. 
   

   So when an old video of her as a college student emerged, some of them [conservatives] darn near lost their minds.
   MSNBC

   
   




2. 
   

   I love how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has turned American politics into a live action Footloose. People dancing!? Oh the horror! Where will it end?
   New York Times

   
   




3. 
   

   I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous. -Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
   CNN

   
   




4. 
   

   After several conservative Twitter accounts resurfaced clips from the video this week in an attempt to mock Ocasio-Cortez, supporters rushed to her defense.
   USA Today

   
   




5. 
   

   Conservatives Try to Shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Dancing Video from College

   
   
   

   Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez danced around once in college — and conservatives lost it.
   Now This News

   
   




6. 
   

   Conservatives Mock Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for College Dancing Video, Everyone Else Thinks it's Adorable
   Newsweek

   
   

However, among all these different stories, there has only been one example cited where she was attacked for the dancing video, a tweet from an anonymous twitter account.

Are there notable examples of any prominent conservatives attacking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the dance? Any evidence of a public upset among common conservatives? Are all of these news stories only based on this one random tweet (in which case is it fair to say that the news stories are false when they claim that conservatives are "losing their minds" over the video)?

An article from Fox News claims the outrage is fabricated:

An old video of now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playfully recreating a dance scene from "The Breakfast Club" was resurfaced anonymously on Twitter last week -- resulting in a slew of misleading stories claiming conservatives were outraged over it, despite virtually no supporting evidence.

In light of there being virtually no prominent conservative cited by any of the media outlets making the claim, and further in light of Fox News' through article (which you already cite), the burden of proof that a conservative outrage actually exists or existed is firmly in the claimants' hands. As that Fox article notes multiple times, not a single bit of evidence aside from an anonymous tweet can be found as the reason for this claim. Without an exhaustive search of all media, I'm not sure what else could be provided to disprove the claim. Without the claimants coming forward with real evidence, a skeptical position seems the most reasonable.

What I believe we are witness to here is an instance of a recent phenomenon. So called "Fake news" is perhaps the most comprehensive term, but in this instance, the drumming up of controversy from a small collection of tweets from common people with no audience is specifically what has happened. It's been determined that Twitter specifically is prone to spreading falsehoods (secondary source), but more and more people are depending on Twitter as a news source. Science News blames this on cleverly designed Twitter bots. The Guardian scathingly blames fellow journalists as self-referential and detached from the rest of the world outside their "twitter bubble". Ken Kam of Forbes, in an article on the rapidly changing landscape of news media, calls Twitter a direct line to newsworthy persons. Specifically, he means to point to President Trump, with with 50 million Twitter followers, whose Twitter use is only exacerbated by his belief that the news media will not report on him fairly.

With all this in mind, your inner skeptic should be screaming his head off the moment you see any news that has anything to do with the activities happening on Twitter. This Ocasio-Cortez dancing thing is only a recent example, egregious as it is.

Someone had the foresight to archive the original tweet on archive.is. From that archive, we can see what the original account, and a few of the conservatives following it, actually thought.

@AnonymousQ1776: "Here is America’s favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is..."

Right-wing reply: "I actually find this endearing although she is completely out of her mind politically..." @AnonymousQ1776: "Agreed"

Right-wing reply: "Got to admit she is smokin' hot." @AnonymousQ1776: "First thing my liberal acquaintances say when she comes up in conversations. Bruh...she’s so hot!" Reply: "No brain, too bad."

Right-wing reply: "maybe Sandy from the Bronx was auditioning for a Fame remake.oh well politicians are just actors anyway." @AnonymousQ1776: "Agreed"

Combative reply: "You realize this just makes her look cool as hell right?" @AnonymousQ1776: "Really?"

Combative reply: "It’s a kid dancing, nitwit." @AnonymousQ1776: "No it’s a nitwit dancing, kid."

In summary, the original anonymous account thought the video made her look stupid. Some right-wing users agreed, while others disagreed. If the original account was trolling, they were doing a very good job looking authentic.

The MSNBC/NYT/CNN spin that these Twitter users were "losing their minds" and were representative of "the GOP" is hyperbolic. However, I think the description by USA Today is accurate. There was indeed a funny thread on Twitter which spawned memes.

The original tweet about dancing came from an anonymous account, and indeed could have been done to make conservatives look stupid. However, noted and widely-read conservative pundit Jim Hoft (Gateway Pundit) retweeted it favorably. So at least he was outraged.

It's important to note that you are the one using the term 'outrage' here. From the claims you quoted:

So when an old video of her as a college student emerged, some of them
[conservatives] darn near lost their minds.

This COULD be argued into meaning outrage, but isn't quite as strong. It can also mean they just all fell over each other to mock her.

I love how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has turned American politics into
a live action Footloose. People dancing!? Oh the horror! Where will it
end?

This COULD be argued into meaning outrage, but isn't quite as strong.

I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous. -Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

This is not about outrage.

After several conservative Twitter accounts resurfaced clips from the video this week in an attempt to mock Ocasio-Cortez, supporters rushed to her defense.

This is about mocking, not outrage.

Conservatives Try to Shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Dancing Video from College

This is about mocking, not outrage.

Conservatives Mock Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for College Dancing Video, Everyone Else Thinks it's Adorable

This is about mocking, not outrage.

Now you can still argue that the claims in the articles are exaggerated. It depends where you draw the line I suppose. I think we can all agree not ALL conservatives care about this. It's also fair to say that a number do. from a post by Youtube channel Conservative News. Original at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S04CGa44VP0