Over the weekend there's been some uproar re: the so called "Twitch Amendment" by AOC. Below is a screenshot of that very amendment. Yes it really is that short. She claims the amendment is meant to protect US minors from being recruited by the military via platforms like Twitch.

Problem is if you look closely at the amendment you will notice it never contains the word "RECRUITMENT". Not even the phrases "advertisement" or "propaganda". Yet in all of AOC's interviews & House floor speech the whole point of the amendment was to end recruitment of minors

The amendment doesn't even discuss AOC's prior proposal of having guidance counselors stationed at every recruiting event. Necessary just for mediating any potential fighting between anti recruitment organizers and military recruiters. Let alone explaining the student's rights.

The Twitch amendment doesn't define what "activities" entails. It does not define "e-sports" or clarify what the age limits are so the law can be properly enforced. No matter how much one may agree with the sentiment (including myself) the amendment is useless in a court of law.

If AOC really wanted to ban the military from recruiting minors online than why didn't she just insert the language Could it have something to do with the fact that 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬?

Below is the official enlistment standards by the United States. As you can see the minimum age allowed for enlistment is 17 (with parental consent). Supporters of the Twitch amendment also claim the military is targeting poor people for enlistment. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/united-states-military-enlistment-standards-3354015

In that same link you'll also find out that you can't enlist unless you have good credit & finances. Because of the credit/finance requirements it is also very hard for Gen Y & Z to join the military because of their student debt issues alone.

Given these and other criteria it makes no sense for the US military to waste time targeting poor people for enlistment. Let alone minors - which, again, is already a federal crime. Simply put the U.S. military is not a profession of last resorts for those with no other option.

There was a great opportunity for the Twitch amendment to address the more urgent problem of the US military allegedly censoring the public from asking them about US govt war crimes online. Interestingly AOC chose not to include any mention of that in her amendment.

If you want your lawmakers to speak out on US military censoring of the public or better recruitment standards you are more than welcome to. You don't accomplish those objectives by spreading myths about the US military (already sacrosanct). It just drives people away.