AOC was one of the most anticipated and watched speakers at the South by SouthWest (SXSW) mega-conference in Austin on Saturday. And she sure made a big impression.
In an hour long interview and Q&A session with a standing-room audience, she was as articulate and clear-eyed as anyone you have ever seen. Swinging from topic to topic, she hit the ball out of the ballpark each time — demonstrating a depth of understanding and an uncanny way of connecting to the audience with simple, insightful and powerful words. At times, she appeared to be some ageless sage handing out pearls of wisdom about life, courage and happiness.
TicToc by Bloomberg has done a nice job of providing video snippets of the talk, which we present below, followed by the full video of the session.
Fear, Courage and Climate Change
If you watch only one video, watch this one. It deals with a question by Bill Nye, towards the end of the session, on fear and climate change. AOC’s answer is like a 4-part symphony meticulously presenting not the science of climate change but how we the people can tackle it with wisdom, courage and with a win-win outcome for all.
“One of the keys to dismantling fear is dismantling a zero-sum mentality. It means the rejection outright of the logic that says someone else’s gain necessitates my loss and that my gain must necessitate someone else’s loss. We can give without a take.
We’re viewing progress as a cost instead of as an investment. When we choose to invest in our system, we are choosing to create wealth.
Courage begets courage.
Fear is designed to get you run away. Fear is not a plan, Courage is a plan. Courage is about the future.”
This will make you smile, but has a strong message.
Environment Justice
“We fix the pipes in Flint first. We fix the electrical grid in Puerto Rico first. And we fully fund the pensions of coal miners in West Virginia.”
Green New Deal vs Politics
Government + Corporations != Democracy
The Antidote to Ayn Rand
Empowering Women of Color
Automation and AI
She is a bit ahead of our times on this weighty matter.
How to have a conversation and to change a mind
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The Full Session
There is lot more in this full video on race, capitalism, corporatism, civic participation, and Democratic Socialism.
“We seek and prioritize profit and the accumulation of money above all else … above any human and environmental cost. To me that ideology is unsustainable and it cannot be redeemed.
All these things sound radical compared to where we are. But where we are is not a good thing.”
We may not all agree with everything AOC has said or done in the past, but she is proving herself to be worthy of our attention and a bit of admiration. She is not just passionate, fearless and articulate but there is little one can disagree with on the essence of her policy positions. She is shaking up the establishment and has the dinosaurs quaking in their boots. And our Democratic Presidential candidates can learn a thing or two from her.