It shows her dancing on a rooftop with friends.
asserted
her → show → friends
Everyone on Twitter has an opinion about it, after an anonymous account suggested in a widely circulated post that it showed what a "clueless nitwit" she was.
uncertain
she → have → nitwit
AOC is just starting her first term in Congress, Twitter is a hotbed of histrionics, and this video may actually be a secret time capsule, harkening back to the carefree early days of social media and the Millennial Internet.
uncertain
video → start → media
As the video went around, few people stopped to ask why AOC was dancing on this rooftop.
asserted
AOC → go → rooftop
But I knew as soon as I saw it.
asserted
I → know → it
She was copying my friends.
asserted
She → copy → friends
In March 2009, someone took old clips of Brat Pack actors dancing, set them to a song by the art-punk band Phoenix called "Lisztomania," and posted the video on the then-4-year-old platform YouTube.
asserted
actors → take → YouTube
A group of friends in Brooklyn, my friends, decided to recreate the viral video on a graffiti-adorned Williamsburg waterfront rooftop, dancing the parts of Molly Ringwald and associated brats themselves and posting it with the title "brooklyn brat pack mashup."
asserted
group → decide → title
It soon became a viral meme.
asserted
It → become → ?
People all over the country, then all over the world, started creating and posting their own Brat Pack mashups, filmed from rooftops and other outdoor spaces in Houston, San Francisco, Scranton, Madrid, Moscow, Nairobi, Taipei, Amsterdam, and many more cities.
asserted
People → start → Houston
Most were amateur efforts, filmed by friends for the fun of it.
asserted
Most → film → it
My friends' video eventually topped 550,000 views, but most had far fewer views.
asserted
most → top → views
AOC's dancing video was part of the craze.
asserted
video → dance → craze
Although it went viral in 2019, it was actually shot in 2010 when she was a student at Boston University.
asserted
she → go → University
Few people noticed it at the time.
asserted
people → notice → time
Only after she became a member of Congress, and the video became culture war fodder, did it hit a million views.
asserted
it → become → views
When AOC, my friends, and everyone else made these videos, no one was monetizing this content.
asserted
one → make → content
The goal was to have fun.
asserted
goal → have → fun
People posted pictures of themselves "planking"—lying face down in weird locales, like the kitchen counter—just to be a part of a trend.
asserted
themselves → post → trend
They dumped ice water on their own heads and posted it, allegedly for Lou Gehrig's disease awareness but mostly just because it was the thing to do.
uncertain
it → dump → awareness
They posted old photos on #ThrowbackThursday, lists of accounts they liked on #FollowFriday, and the results of whatever BuzzFeed personality quiz was new that week.
asserted
quiz → post → FollowFriday
There were wedding, party, and conference hashtags, so everyone at an event, or following along online, could catch all the pictures and updates.
uncertain
everyone → be → pictures
If you ran into friends, made new friends, or just saw someone you vaguely knew at an event, you absolutely had to take and post a selfie.
asserted
you → run → selfie
Bloggers dove into this new medium with gusto, expending countless words responding directly to each other and dissecting each other's posts as if in some massive virtual writers workshop.
asserted
Bloggers → dive → workshop
Politicians either ignored or celebrated this new development.
asserted
Politicians → ignore → development
Some campaigns, most notably President Barack Obama's, seemed excited about using it to connect with young audiences who weren't reading mailers or watching cable news.
asserted
who → seem → news
It was driven by new technology (smartphones, social media), a new generational ethos (post everything), optimism, earnestness, venture capital, connection, and possibility.
asserted
It → drive → everything
By the mid-2010s, things had shifted.
asserted
things → shift → mid-2010s
What would come to be known as "cancel culture" started setting in.
asserted
come → come → culture
We started talking about Twitter's "main character of the day."
asserted
We → start → day
Social justice politics and MAGA rhetoric began drowning out mashup videos, funny animal memes, and bar bathroom selfies.
asserted
politics → begin → videos
Social media updates became "content" instead of just "my friends' posts."
asserted
updates → become → posts
But remnants of the earlier internet remained.
asserted
remnants → remain → internet
Even in the late 2010s, it still felt right to have a wedding hashtag and to post #Caturday pics.
asserted
it → feel → pics
Politics intruded, as lawmakers called tech CEOs in for hearings.
asserted
lawmakers → intrude → hearings
Yet social media still felt authentic.
asserted
media → feel → ?
Yes, professional influencers existed, but posting was still largely by and for amateurs.
asserted
posting → exist → amateurs
People talked to each other.
asserted
People → talk → other
It was sometimes performative, but very often real—an ongoing conversation among friends—and a place where genuine connections could be made.
uncertain
connections → make → friends
Social media as it once existed is dead.
asserted
it → exist → ?
…and 172 more, not listed.
The Aporia
