Recently, the Met Gala occurred on Monday September 13th. The Met Gala is an annual fundraiser where Hollywood’s stars, influencers around the world, and anyone who is anyone attend. With individual tickets starting at 30K and table tickets costing 275k, of course the wealthy are able to attend. It’s also pretty safe to say that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became one of the biggest talks from that night. AOC wore a white dress with “Tax the Rich” embroidered in red. Republicans started to attack Ocasio-Cortez for wearing a dress that included a message she has been trying to spread for a while.
Many people, whether they were left or right-leaning, started to call her a hypocrite for attending the Met. Knowing what the prices are, I would have also done the same. Except for the fact AOC didn’t buy her way in, she was invited as a representative of New York. In fact, many officials are invited. AOC also didn’t even buy her dress, she borrowed it from designer Aurora James. While researching, it became more interesting to me when I found out that James hadn’t paid off her debt in a few states. She now has been served 15 tax warrants since 2015. I believe that it is important to not idolize politicians and hold them accountable for what they do or what they have done. Which is why I believe AOC could have done more research on the designer before choosing to wear her dress. At the same time, I don't think that automatically makes AOC a hypocrite.
Aside from all the drama, I do agree with AOC and her wearing the dress. We do need to tax the rich more. Before discussing my opinions more, I’d like to share what rich means according to a survey done in January 2020, before the pandemic. “In January of 2020, survey participants felt it took more money to be rich—$2.6 million—but less to be financially comfortable—$934,000” (How Much Does It Take To Be Rich?). Billionaires across our country should pay more taxes. In fact, since Trump’s tax cuts, the top 0.1 percent in the U.S. pay up to 23% in income taxes, compared to the 24.2% that the middle class pays. It doesn’t seem fair to me that people who don’t earn as much as billionaires pay more. If we were to tax the rich more, we could use that money to fund important things. The cost of life-saving medicines could be lowered, the cost of surgery could be lowered, the government could give more financial aid to college students that need it, and the money could be used to better schools across the country.
What do you think about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” dress?
Do you think it was a good thing she made her message clear by wearing the dress to an event full of wealthy people?
How do you feel about AOC wearing a dress made from a designer who has tax warrants in a few states?
photo credits: https://www.insider.com/aoc-defends-met-gala-appearance-tax-the-rich-dres-borrowed-2021-9
Sources: https://nypost.com/2021/09/18/aocs-tax-the-rich-dress-designer-aurora-james-is-a-tax-deadbeat/
https://www.newsweek.com/met-gala-ticket-cost-money-raised-1627921
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/style/aoc-designer-tax-the-rich-dress.html
Replies
This is a great topic choice and very well written! I really like how you educated people on the topic! Super Job Angie!
I think that the dress is not a good idea because it is desplaying negative energy towards most of the people at that event. I also think that the dress is not a good idea because I do not think that the rich should be taxed because they work for their money and it doeasnt belong to anyone else.
I don't quite understand what "negative energy" is being directed to the rich people at the event. Everyone needs to pay taxes. That's how the government is able to fund different things like public medicare, transportation, veteran benefits and other things. Of course, everyone including rich people should be ale to keep some of their money because they did earn it.
I think it is brave that she shows her opinion.
I think it was a good thing because it is her opinion and minds and I think it is good when people stay for that what they think it is right.
I would just wear it if that would be also my opinion.
I also agree with you. She knew that she wanted to gain attention towards what she believes in and she did it by wearing the dress.
I think her dress definetly made a statement for the greater good and definetly made headlines. But, the amount of money she spent to get into the Met Gala and for a table is ridiculous as a senator. I believe her wearing that dress in front of a bunch of wealthy people was a good idea but it definetly wasn't the right place to wear it. Plus, her wearing the dress that was made by a person who has multiple tax warrants in different states definetly wasn't good on her part and should have done more research on the designer.
Like I mentioned before, AOC isn’t a senator, she’s a representative of the 14th district of New York. Those are two different government jobs. And she also didn’t buy her ticket or table. As an elected official, she is a guest of the museum, therefore she didn’t buy her ticket. She also didn’t buy her dress in case you were wondering if she spent money on that too. I believe that it was a great place to choose to spread her message. She knew that she would bring attention to taxing the rich and that more people would want to find out what that means exactly. After the event, there was a surge on Google searches for “tax the rich”, meaning the dress did its job in raising awareness. I do agree with you that wearing a dress designed by someone who has tax warrants in different states wasn't the best idea.
i think the dress is ridiculous. Although, the thing that I find most ridiculous is the fact that we are treating senators as celeberties. Get the senators out of the met gala. they do not belong there. Also, it cost 35,000 dollars just to get into the met gala. Now she is talking about taxing the rich? She isn't a celeberty and neeeds to stop acting like one.
I disagree. First of all, she isn't a senator, so it doesn't make sense that you're talking about senators. AOC is a representative of New York, specifically the 14th district in New York. She isn't acting like a celebrity, she's doing her job by being at the Met Gala. Elected officials are invited to the Met and are referred to as “guests of the museum.” Like I mentioned before, she didn’t pay for her ticket or table, she was invited. As a politician, she is able to attend fundraisers, which is essentially what the Met Gala is. The Met fundraises money that go to the museum’s Costume Institute.
I think she had a good idea, but, I don't think that her dress was a great way to spread the message because it was at a big event so that was not really to topic of discussion. I liked her idea though because she wore it to an event with a lot of wealthy people.
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