Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., listen to Republican arguments against compelling Trump administration officials to turn over documents on family separations at the southern border, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Will the real AOC please stand up?

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) conducted an Instagram Live chat on Tuesday night in which she accused people who were avoiding Chinese restaurants during the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak of “straight-up racism.”

To recap, here’s what she said in full: “Honestly, it sounds almost so silly to say, but there’s a lot of restaurants that are feeling the pain of racism, where people are literally not patroning Chinese restaurants, they’re not patroning Asian restaurants because of just straight-up racism around the coronavirus.”

Watch:

.@AOC: "People are literally not patroning Chinese restaurants, they're not patroning Asian restaurants because of just straight up racism around the Coronavirus." pic.twitter.com/2tTabQCIdW — Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) March 11, 2020

In my post, I noted how this allegation was BS for a number of reasons:

1) According to a director from the Flushing (NY) Chinese Business Association, even east Asians in the community are choosing to eat at home over going out to eat at restaurants, including Asian restaurants. In other words, it’s not just white people who are avoiding Chinese restaurants. Black people, Latinos, and other Asian-Americans also eat Chinese food, but are making similar decisions to cook at home to be on the safe side. This is not “racism.”

2) There have also been concerns about eating at buffet restaurants where germs are more easily spread, which has caused MGM Resorts to temporarily close the buffets at some of their restaurants in Las Vegas. Many Chinese restaurants are also buffet-style restaurants, which is no doubt a big part of the reason why business has significantly dropped off. This also has nothing to do with “racism.”

3) Sales of Corona beer have even dropped out of a mistaken belief that the Wuhan coronavirus is somehow tied to the beer. This obviously has nothing to do with “racism” and everything to do with wanting to be better safe than sorry, even though people who aren’t buying Corona are making the decision based on the name alone and nothing more.

But fast forward a few days and we see that Ocasio-Cortez is singing a different tune. Now it’s ok to “eat your meals at home” and engage in social distancing because she says so:

To everyone in NYC but ESPECIALLY healthy people & people under 40 (bc from what I’m observing that’s who needs to hear this again): PLEASE stop crowding bars, restaurants, and public spaces right now. Eat your meals at home. If you are healthy, you could be spreading COVID. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 14, 2020

What does “crowded” mean? If you can’t stay 6ft away from other people, it’s too close. In general, when going outside try to stay at least 6 feet away from others as much as you possibly can. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 14, 2020

I honestly wonder sometimes if there are multiple people who tweet from her account, or if it’s just her and she can’t keep up with what she says from one day to the next.

Either way, it is not a good look. Not at all.