To the Artists That Don't Want to Be Workers
I'm so fucking tired of this "as small business owners and artists" mindset. Why are artists so afraid to be called workers? Why is the left so afraid of being part of the working class, despite advocating for us? A lot of the left treats the working class as something to be studied, and a lot of artists treat "worker" as a title they don't want. Well, I'm a fucking wage slave, son. That's the lot. That's what I was born to be under this arrangement. No illusions about it. Pull the veil off the face. I don't care about the moralism, the normality, the politeness as a means of ignoring the negative peace's tension.
I don't make money off commissions or contract work for private clients. I make my money collecting a check, clocking in, clocking out. "As artists and small business owners." Yeah, I don't belong to that class of artists, and that's a damn straight fact. We're the artists who steal the spray paint because the boss don't pay enough to cop it on the debit. Then we tag the spot up with whatever we got to say. We ain't paying for a permit. We ain't playing that game. It's any means necessary, because that check keeps getting thinner and thinner. "As artists and small business owners." Yeah, nah, miss me with that vendor fair bullshit.