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Nick is right. "Special interests" and "maneuvering" are inappropriate, slightly sneery ways to talk about a gigantic job sector that has been utterly devastated--especially because "Broadway actors" equals "already rich" to the uninformed. > https://twitter.com/westratenick/status/1285177859007553537
A couple of facts: Broadway gigs are great when they come along, but most New York stage actors make their livings off-Broadway--the lucky ones. Sometimes the pay is a little over $1000 a week. Sometimes it's much less. Almost nobody gets work 52 weeks a year or close to it.>
Second: You know how a lot of actors supplement their incomes in order to feed themselves and their families when they don't have jobs on stage? By working in restaurants and bars, the other field that the pandemic has completely destroyed.>
Third: Saying "actors" is a way of not looking at the entire industry, because people love to think that acting is for pampered babies. That's dumb, but also: Designers. Musicians. Ushers. Ticket sellers. Set movers. Union crew. Costumers. Electricians. Theater is a huge field.>
So what "special interests...maneuvering" conveys is one of two things: Either a very powerful lobby (this lead literally compares theater workers to MILITARY CONTRACTORS!) or artsy-fartsy slackers who want handouts. Both of which couldn't be further from the truth.>
Last: Trump hates the arts. To the arthritic hamster that runs his brain, they're one more thing that's mean to him, centered in cities he'll never win. He pushes for arts defunding every year. So labeling them "special interests" allows him to shrug away more middle-class lives.
