Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a freshman representative from New York who’s notorious for her ability to raise people’s emotions. This sometimes happens in her role of political leadership. But her conservative opposition is often incensed by her views on a wide variety of different topics. However, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently received criticism from another source. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, often simply known simply as AOC, has been on the receiving end of some very uncomfortable tweets from PETA. The organization’s name stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Like AOC herself, they typically have a politically left-leaning viewpoint. As such one wouldn’t expect them to come into conflict with AOC. And one certainly wouldn’t expect such a conflict to come about through pictures of an adorable puppy. Likewise, the naming of such a puppy would seem like an event worth celebration rather than heated words. Most especially for an organization centered around the ethical treatment of animals.
However, to realize why this was such an issue we need to look back to the moment when the freshman Representative for both The Bronx and Queens mentioned her new French bulldog. She mentioned online that she and her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, had obtained a new puppy. The purebred French bulldog seemed perfect in almost every way. The only issue with him was the lack of a name. AOC posted that she and her boyfriend were still searching for a name. The puppy’s personality was just starting to really come out as he adjusted to the new home. AOC notes that the puppy was playful and observant. Along with this, she gushed that he was a very sensitive and affectionate puppy. AOC and her boyfriend were considering a wide variety of different names. And the fact that the puppy was really developing his personality opened up a lot of new ideas. The duo was considering something related to either Star Trek or the local area. She also asked if anyone online might have any good ideas for a perfect name for the puppy. But naming ideas would soon come from an unexpected source.
People usually take note of a puppy. This held true when the AOC and her boyfriend took the then-unnamed puppy for a walk. A neighbor, hearing their discussion, chimed in with an idea of her own. The neighbor felt that the puppy might be well suited to a name related to art or artists. AOC felt like that was a perfect idea. She and Riley settled on one of their favorite design styles – Art Deco. This also fits their earlier concept of something related to the local area. New York is often synonymous with the deco style. Some of the area’s most iconic buildings, such as 30-rock and the Empire State Building, were designed around Art Deco aesthetics. The duo happily posted that they were going to name the puppy Deco in honor of the artistic style. Most people felt the name was cute. But PETA chastised the representative of buying a purebred puppy instead of adopting a rescued dog from an animal shelter. This came from PETA’s own president, Ingrid Newkirk. Newkirk also pointed out that the creation of breeds like French bulldogs introduces health problems into the species. AOC replied by stating that she hopes to train Deco into being a “community pup”. And, as she says, “first, naps”.
