The art world has taken a beating over the last seven decades. Artists now work as gig workers, relying on the donations of wealthy art lovers to keep them afloat. Yet, twitter was all, well, a twitter about AOC's recent attire at the Met Gala in New York. You have probably seen the pictures posted all over social media by this point. It is interesting that the same people complaining about the dress spent the most time talking about it, and, by result, promoting it. It always amazes me when people who want to discourage a particular type of behavior try to do so by spreading it all over the globe via instagram or youtube. You would think that the best thing to do in this case would be, you know, not talking about it so goddamn much, but the conservatives have never been so great at political savvy. In the end, the negative coverage AOC got probably ended up boosting her following on twitter more than anything else. There were also some on the left decrying the fact that a successful woman got such a hard time for going to...gasp! A fundraiser! Some also referenced the fact that conservatives were shaming AOC. I am not going to spend as much time on that as I am on the fact that the event AOC attended was raising money for an educational institute. Artists rely heavily on galas and fundraisers because it is the only way we can make money anymore. That is all that is left; that is all that is allowed. Gone are the days where you could run a theater company or an art gala on a shoestring budget. People just do not appreciate art like they once did; in fact, they are beginning to dislike it just as the conservatives have planned all along. Because of this dislike of artists (all you hear people say as an artist is something to the affect of "oh, you're an artist, that's nice, when are you going to get a real job?"; this is my job ass hat, when are you going to get a real hat?) it is now virtually impossible to get an artistic job without heavy funding from wealthy intellectuals. Because of the outspoken nature of good art the only wealthy people willing to open their wallets for out of work artists are, in fact, liberal wealthy people. George W. Bush may have calmed down a bit in his old age, but he sure as hell isn't going to give me a grant to do Othello. But liberals will if they can spare the money. Often times they get nothing in return for this. I personally have benefited from this little known fact about the struggling art world for years. It has kept me employed and it has kept my family fed. So forgive me if I am not so willing to jump on the "let's all beat up on AOC for donating to charity" train or don't forgive me; I don't care one way or the other. The money raised from that event went to help struggling artists like me so I'm all for it. Of course it didn't have to be this way. Of course more people could have fought against the conservative assault on the arts during the Bush years. But those people chose not to. They chose computers and web design instead. Good for them. I don't need those people. But what I am not going to do is let those people ruin my life a second time. Nope, it's not gonna happen. Should they have worn masks? Yes, absolutely. Are the Americans who went to Lalapalooza and the Sturgis rally any better than AOC? Hell to the motherfucking no! So no I'm not praising AOC. What I am saying is that I have observed regular people breaking the rules on masking on an almost daily basis. Those regular people, the same people who would have me on the street were it not for congress members like AOC and other wealthy liberals, are in no position to judge anyone. This tactic of pitting the poor liberals against the wealthy liberals so you can steal congress seats in 2022 is not going to work this time around conservatives. I will see to that. Thanks to artist Isabella Mariana for the beautiful image! Be sure to look her up on social media.