The Great San Francisco Bubble (FreeRepublic Mentioned)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | day, May 9, 2003 | Mark Morford

[nickcarraway]

It's that odd dumbstruck jolting feeling you get as soon as you step more than 25 miles away from this most progressive and funked-out and deeply flawed and self-consciously screwy of kaleidoscopic American urban metropoli: oh my freaking God, what is happening to the world? This is what you say. To yourself. Probably.

[r9etb]

I stopped reading after what -- the fourth? -- reference to gunlicking. Not to far past his lamentation regarding goat cheese and basil, at any rate.

I can't imagine there being anything useful in the rest of it, but perhaps somebody with a higher tolerance for torrents of self-absorbed crap will be able to tell me if there's anything useful here....

[r9etb]

er, make that, "not too far...."

[buwaya]

They really don't bother you and they are amusing at all times. Believe me it is not that bad.

Sometimes you can have fun with them.

I was at a pre-school checking it out for one of our kids when I fell to talking with a most liberal "sandalista' dad who had adopted a Guatemalan kid, whose name was Santiago.

You should have seen the fellows face when I mentioned it was a very fine name, being the ancient Spanish battle-cry.

[hattend]

Too Funny, I love it!

Send it to the 'Frisco (I think the locals hate that name) Chronical

[HamiltonJay]

ITS SAN FRANCISCO! You expected the author not to use euphamisms that included oral to phallic symbols? Please.

[MikalM]

The deviators from the Bell-curve in SF are mainly Chinese (based on school test scores, I keep track of these things), and Mr. Morford knows nothing about them.

Morford is a textbook example of the self-hating, ignorant leftist who rails endlessly against "right-wing white-bread" mainstream AmeriKKKa, yet has absolutely no idea how deeply cultural and political conservativism runs in those exotic Communities of Color that surround him. If he thought his friend in Italy got a raw deal, he should see how most Asian cultures treat women who get caught in similar situations.

[buwaya]

Somehow I manage to avoid most of the places you describe, and even the streetcars you ride, apparently.

I've seen the same or worse in Seattle, LA, Philly, New York, you name it.

[r9etb]

You expected the author not to use euphamisms that included oral to phallic symbols? Please.

Actually, I merely expected that a writer who claims to be telling us about the supposed "Font Of All That Is Culturally Good", would be able to write something interesting.

What a waste of pixels.

[HamiltonJay]

Different strokes for different folks, but SF's beautiful architecture, doesn't compensate for its deplorable conditions. You cannot walk anywhere in SF downtown area (and lets face SF proper is only like 5 square miles) without bums owning every bus stop, accosting you, the stench of urine, and graphiti.

Pimp mayor and his cronies bilking the city, tent cities all over the caltrain stations and public squares... its a complete abject dump. And that's not even getting into the crap that goes on publicly over by Castro.

[Dane]

Hey, we know it's a bubble. Most of us love the bubble, are exceedingly proud of the bubble, kneel at its gloriously flawed but still radiant altar. Anti-progressives want to burst that bubble? Have at it, honey. Go on and burst it -- all over the rest of the country. C'mon, you know you want to

Change the word "bubble" in the above italicized passage with "delusion" and you have the truth.

Welcome to the real world, Mark Morford.

[spodefly]

Morford makes liberals look bad, and these days, that isn't easy to do.

All I can ascertain from his writings is that he is scared ... very, very scared.

Oh, and here is his favorite gun:

[buwaya]

Poor places are poor places. I've been poor; those places in SF are much like the equivalent in Richmond, Oakland, LA, or Seattle.

I've also worked on Sansome; now on Market. Market Street and its environs and Civic Center by City Hall are what you are complaining about. Thats not even about 5% of the place, and not the prettiest even in architecture.

[tracer]

This screed-puff essay sounds and smells like a confession.

So, Markie-poo, take your gerbil-in-the-bubble and put the Golden Gate Bridge to better use than an escape route for the cracker party set which infests Moron' County.

Never have I a read a more blatant, arrogant and nausea-inducing celebration of perver/di-versity unadorned by a supernally vital Barf Alert....

[buwaya]

Its not 2/3rds of the population. The people he is talking about are at best 10% of the residents (though they do attract attention), and there aren't more than 1000 genuine "homeless" bums in the place, out of 750,000.

[vikingcelt]

"what was it about SF that drew so many hippies back in the 60's? why there instead of somewhere else?" Interesting question. I really don't know. I was there going to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and so was somewhat on the periphery of the whole hippie thing. People did come from everywhere though to be part of all that. It would be interesting to know some of the reasons why.

[vikingcelt]

Hardly as over the top as Morford. I'm glad that you think SF is nice. The last time I was there it wasn't.

[buwaya]

You are right about the Mayor. The oddity is in this town he is held to be a conservative.

And, really, I'm having serious cognitive dissonance going here. The place isn't that bad. Even at its worst its no different across the bay, like by Lake Merritt. There are no tent cities at the Caltrain station. Downtown is where nearly all the bums are, but geez, us residents don't live there, do we ?

[reformed_democrat]

I will always see her in my mind and heart and soul as she was...beautiful, sophisticated and proud...and though I can never go home again that once greatest of cities will live on in my heart and soul and memory...

I didn't grow up on the West Coast, but I did spend a considerable amount of time there in my late teens and early twenties. San Francisco was so beautiful it was heartbreaking.

It makes me very sad to see it now. There's nothing left of the shine it once had. Its what 42nd Street looked like before Rudy shut down the porn shops and strip clubs.

I don't think I'll live long enough to see San Francisco come back from the dead.

[Grampa Dave]

He sounds and writes like a terminal HIV version of Baghdad Bob!

This worthless city was attached to the teats of the Clintoons and Jake Reno. When that cash cow left office in Jan 2002, SF's economic free fall went into high gear coupled with Herr Davis's energy blackouts and the falling Clinton dot.com economy.

Worthless companies addicted to cash flows from DC and Sacramento are gone or going bankrupt. Sensible companies have left or are leaving. Unemployment from San Jose through San Francisco is rampant. Rental for offices is dirt cheap and you can get a real bargin if you want to go into this insanity.

The craziness of the streets with the bums and other diseased human garbage was amplified with the violent so called peace marchers. A couple we know, was in SF for a business meeting during the violent march street wars. He is in charge of where meetings are held and born/raised in SF. He will never go back for personal or business visits. Besides the annual meetings not coming back, he will pull the home office out of SF and move elsewhere. His wife and 5 other wives barely escaped injury when they got caught in scene with the anarchists. The anarchists are still on the streets walking around with no problem.

I will not go in for dinners, lunches or plays. More people are seeing it my way.

Boycotting San Franciso is part of my life style. The anti American/diseased maggots in SF are worse than the French are.

[cinFLA]

SF is relevant. The LP'ers go to SF NORML conventions to recruit new members.