{"id":113408,"date":"2025-10-29T12:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=113408"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:56:14","slug":"aoc-on-real-work-and-the-real-work-of-general-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/10\/aoc-on-real-work-and-the-real-work-of-general-authorities.html","title":{"rendered":"AOC on real work, and the real work of General Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
This portrait of my mother, carefully framed by my father using the finest imported hardwood, was an early harbinger of my impressive artistic ability.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I know nothing about this story beyond what I\u2019ve read in a Fox News article about it: \u201cRiley Gaines and Ocasio-Cortez trade barbs as conservatives defend the former swimmer in ongoing dispute: Conservative influencer Allie Beth Stuckey joins defense of Gaines after latest social media clash.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0I freely admit that there may be more to it. \u00a0Here, though, I\u2019m going to take it at face value and the Fox News report as substantially accurate. \u00a0This is the part of the article that caught my attention:<\/p>\n

In the latest exchange, AOC took another hit at Gaines, telling the new 25-year-old mother<\/a> to \u201cget a real job\u201d after her latest appearance on \u201cThe Ingraham Angle\u201d challenging the New York lawmaker to a debate.<\/p>\n

The University of Kentucky alum replied on X, \u201cI have a real job. I\u2019m a mom. It\u2019s the most important & rewarding job in the world.\u00a0 I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you\u2019d understand my positions a little better.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The contemptuous idea that motherhood and managing a household aren\u2019t \u201creal jobs\u201d has been abroad in the land in certain strains of feminism for a very long time. \u00a0That it demeans the lives and choices of a vast number of women both now and historically doesn\u2019t seem to faze those who hold it. \u00a0However, I liked this response:<\/p>\n

Allie Beth Stuckey, another conservative influencer, defended\u00a0Gaines\u2019 reply<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stuckey posted on X replying to a tweet by AOC from 2020 where she wrote, \u201cSex work is work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a mom & women\u2019s advocate isn\u2019t a \u2018real job,\u2019 but prostitution is,\u201d\u00a0the Dallas-born social media star wrote. \u201cGirls having access to private spaces and fair competitions isn\u2019t women\u2019s rights, but murdering babies is. Noted.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Andy<\/a>
The Preston England Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Andy Munzer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I frequently see the claim among disaffected members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the Church\u2019s highest-ranking leaders are \u201cin it,\u201d to a significant degree, for the power, wealth, perks, and glamor that allegedly go with their positions.<\/p>\n

Whenever I encounter such assertions, I think immediately of (among other things) friends of mine who were, at the time, members of the First Quorum of the Seventy.<\/p>\n