Will be interesting to see if a single politician gets up and makes a peep about the Metropolitan Opera’s difficulties. Hell, if that theater were torn down for condos you probably wouldn’t hear a peep.
In its boringly clichéd but undeniably successful campaign to divide this country, the right wing has stigmatized government support for the arts as well as the simple fact of attendance at a theatrical event like the opera. To advocate the one, to admit to the other brings on accusations of elitism lobbed by the economic elite and their fully-owned, “democratically” installed operatives.
As usual, the Democrats, our erstwhile and ostensible voice of opposition to an increasingly extreme Republican party, do nothing but play defensive. They have been deafeningly silent and passive in the face of this vicious assault on a culture that encompasses all different forms of art, and a society that tolerates and celebrates diversity.