I doubt in this Instagram era the old Las Vegas marketing slogan, “What happens in Vegas, stay in Vegas,” bears truth any longer. In Miami, however we can definitively say there are no secrets. We have more social media influencers than iguanas. You can’t step out of your house without encountering a couple dozen aspiring paparazzi hoping to record every moment in human history. Celebrity legislator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez learned this the hard way last week.
Like trillions of other New Yorkers over Christmas break, Ocasio-Cortez fled the cold weather of the big city for the humid climates of our swampland. And last week she was photographed sipping a lychee martini on a sidewalk seat at the Lincoln Road eatery Doraku. No problem, right? She’s an adult enjoying an adult-ish beverage?
Except it was pointed out that AOC is a big supporter for mask mandates and other legislations to slow the spread of COVID. Instead of accepting this as an insensitive gaffe being out and about while New York and Miami are suffering through record COVID rates, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on her flouting of defying social distancing. On Sunday she was filmed hanging out at the jam packed drag show on Palace on Ocean Drive. She had no mask on and was hugging everyone at what could be called a superspreader event.
As this plague drags on to her third year, I can fully understand her need to hang out and party. It’s been a rough and monotonous couple years. But if you’re going to campaign for certain rules, you should live by those rules. If you think legislating social distancing and masking is better for society, don’t stand within six millimeters of strangers without a mask on.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez obviously isn’t the only hypocrite of the COVID era. Fat cat Florida governor Ron DeSantis lined the pockets of his top donor by pushing Regeneron as a government subsidized antidote for COVID. At the height of quarantine Dr. Fauci was out jet setting at baseball games and celebrity interviews when he was telling everyone else to stay home and socially distance.
In a weird way COVID is the perfect viral embodiment of the time we live in. A sickness whose spread allows us to blame and judge others, without reflecting on our own behavior.
