Sadly for some New Yorkers, not all raves are created equal. There were clearly those attended by the likes of Varmar, which were reported on sympathetically by the New York Times. A 2021 article on the ‘thriving’ illegal rave scene quoted a DJ whose SoHo party was shut down, although the police were ‘very kind’ and gave everyone time to leave before issuing any fines.

The NYPD were less lenient towards raves in Queens – where the plebs live. One raid on an illegal rave in 2020 led to four arrests and over a dozen criminal-court-appearance tickets for misdemeanour offences. Other gatherings of the non-privileged classes were treated similarly harshly. In Borough Park, Brooklyn, cops cited five religious institutions for ‘holding services with more than 10 people’. Each violation came with a $15,000 fine.

And let’s not forget about the million New York City children who were made to stay home from school for 18 months. This was due to school closures that the New York Times editorial board were ‘startled’ to find were ‘the most damaging disruption in the history of American education’.