Charles Cooke of National Review Online ponders the latest baffling pronouncement from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I’m not entirely wild about all of those “He gets us” ads that are running on television at the moment, but I must confess to being completely and utterly baffled by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s claim that the one that ran during the Super Bowl was “fascist.” …
… [H]ere’s what Ocasio-Cortez said about it:
“Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign.”
Which . . . what? The ad, titled “Love Your Enemies,” was a minute long, and it showed nothing other than a bunch of black-and-white images of people arguing with each other, shouting at each other, and protesting in different directions. Having done that, it said: “Jesus loved the people we hate.” Then it ended.
Quite obviously, this was a reference to Matthew 5:43-47:
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” …
… There is nothing “fascist” about this. Indeed, the opposite is true: it’s extremely pluralist. If anything is “fascist,” it’s the alternative approach, which is resolving to hate your enemies because you just know deep down that they are wrong and you are right.
As it happens, there are no “fascists” depicted in the video (and if AOC believes that her domestic political critics count, then she’s even loopier than I thought). But, you know what? Even if there were some fascists shown in the video, it would still work as an advertisement for Jesus. I am not religious, but I am well-versed enough in Christianity to know that there is no exception in Christianity for the worst people in the world.
