“There are two types of people in this world: people who like Neil Diamond, and people who don’t.” – What About Bob
A man threatened me with a coffee cup and stole my wallet. I guess I got mugged.
There are two types of cultures. One of them looks a bit like this:
I was walking in Silver Dollar City® more than a decade ago. It was spring, and Silver Dollar City™ was an amusement park where we could take the kids and visit attractions, and even though they weren’t even teenagers, there were plenty of rides for them.
As we were walking through the park, a young blonde man of 18 or so ran up behind me. It wasn’t a sprint, but the easy strides of a high school football player in top shape – like Michelle Obama, the kid looked like a linebacker. “Sir, sir!”
I turned around. “Yeah, how can I help you?”
“You dropped this.”
What did Mike Tyson say to Vincent van Gogh? “Are you gonna eat that?” (meme as found)
The kid handed me two $20 bills. This is unusual, since normally I have to at least pull up my shirt for anyone to give me $40 so I’ll put the shirt back down.
I stuttered, “Th-thank you!” I felt in my pocket, and, sure enough there were two twenties that must have followed my hand out of the pocket like a structured thought sneaking out of Joe Biden’s head.
The blonde kid smiled, waved, and ran off before I could even offer him a fiver for his honesty. And, thinking about it, he might have been offended if I offered him money. I know I’ve turned cash down before for similar acts of honesty or help.
You don’t do it for the reward. You don’t do it for the glory. You don’t do it for the free shrimp and talcum powder. You do it because it’s the right thing to do. Period.
That’s one type of society.
This type of society functions pretty well. The prices (back then) at Silver Dollar City™ were much lower than at other attractions of a similar nature that I’d been to. The park itself was clean and tidy, and every local business was polite. Did they want our dollars? Sure they did, but they were great about wanting to come by them honestly. They wanted to earn my money.
That’s the way that Modern Mayberry is, mostly.
Sheriff Taylor retired to a farm, so he could see Barn every day.
But San Francisco? Wow.
I haven’t been there in almost a decade, but the pictures I’ve seen recently show a city that’s not in decline. It’s in free-fall. In Modern Mayberry I always lock my car doors because it’s a habit from living in big cities. In San Francisco? People don’t lock their cars.
People don’t lock their car doors (and many leave their trunks open) so prospective thieves can see that there’s nothing to steal without breaking the windows of the cars to rummage around themselves. The people have surrendered to the criminals.
Porch pirates are everywhere in SF, and steal whatever they can. People live on the streets in tents, and often defecate and do drugs in public, because, why not?
San Francisco is also leading the nation in stores disappearing or locking up all of their items. Why? Because mobs loot the stores, in broad daylight. If the thief is caught, they’re immediately released. The only solution for a store that wants to be in business is to sell you the item, go get it from a locked room, and then give it to you after you’ve already paid.
Want to watch Mad Max: Fury Road in the most realistic way possible? Go to San Francisco.
Lefties, I’m sure, have plenty of theories for why San Francisco is like this. White privilege. Institutional racism. Failure to provide mental health services. Lack of reparations. It’s Wednesday. Spin a wheel and pick an excuse. But every one of them is a lie. And I can prove it.
How?
Go look at the streets today where President Xi of China will be when he travels San Francisco. The homeless are gone. Crime is gone. The streets aren’t covered in poop and needles and Disney™ products.
If the city of San Francisco can do that for Xi, it means that they can do it. Even Governor Gavin “Plastic Man” Newsom said the quiet part out loud:
“I know folks say, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming into town.’ That’s because it’s true.”
A poll was taken by California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office which asked whether people who live in California think Illegal immigration is a serious problem. 29% of respondents answered: “Yes, It is a serious problem. 71% of respondents answered: “No es una problema seriosa.”
Guess he wants to impress people that don’t live there.
San Francisco doesn’t have to be like it is.
The only reason that San Francisco is a horrifying dump is because people want it to be a horrifying dump. As I’ve said before, the solution is obvious (We Already Know The Solutions). Criminals need to value the gain they make from a crime less than they fear the penalty for when they get caught. That’s it. The equation is simple.
We know exactly what we need to do to solve almost any problem. And, as is on display right now, the Powers in San Francisco know exactly what solution is required to solve this problem. But they don’t, or at least limit the solution to times when world dignitaries visit – the effort for just common people is too much.
I wouldn’t worry about it. It was a he said/Xi said situation.
Why, exactly do they allow a kleptocracy to fester in California?
- They don’t like guns. Guns have been the great equalizer
- They will ruthlessly target and destroy common citizens who defend themselves or their property because in their minds only the State should be able to wield force to protect itself.
- There is no punishment of the criminals, because they’re a favored voting group.
Probably the biggest reason is this:
- They want the people to be scared. They want the people to feel helpless, as if there’s nothing they can do and they don’t care how much money it costs you. They want to use this to get just a little more power.
That’s it. The reason for the kleptonomics on the street is because it serves those who could fix the problem.
Me? I’ll take Silver Dollar City© and Modern Mayberry any day.
I once thought “Escape From New York” was an unrealistic portrayal of a future dystopian society. As things are going, it’s looking more like a near future prophecy.
Jess
Or, a best-case scenario?
Every time my kids have gone into the city we get to buy new windows on the car they are driving. Its a near perfect utopia of the left we can find in the USA. If they could only print their own money it would be better so they could give reparations in order to solidify lifetime votes.
Why, then, go into the city at all?
This is all intentional and the goal has always been the same: make people miserable enough that they will accept anything if it promises to make life a little less miserable. If forced to choose between an authoritarian police state and living in a lawless dystopia, people will choose the police state every time.
San Francisco doesn’t have to be like it is
…but it do. (h/t black science man)
San Fran is just the limit as n liberal policies go to infinity in the leftist calculus. Someplace has to be the worst, the left-most point on the livability bell curve, and SF holds that dubious distinction.
We loved the city so much when we visited it in the early 2000s that we looked seriously into the prospect of relocating there (my substantive field is software, so it seemed a natural fit). Although it was a keen disappointment at the time to realize that in no way could we afford it, I am ever so glad now that we couldn’t.
It is tempting to say that SF is gone for good and there is no coming back, but I grew up in the suburbs of NYC and saw the decay and rot there in the 1970s first-hand. Then came the Giuliani miracle in the 1990s, so I know it is possible to bring a major city back from the abyss. Will it happen in San Fran, or, for that matter, any of Cali’s sh!thole blue hives? Probably not in my lifetime, but I remain optimistic that it could eventually happen. All that is missing as yet is the will.
Truth be told – the only thing that’s preventing the MAJORITY of what ails our republic from being corrected – is the will of enough of the populace to do what’s necessary. Peacefully whenever possible, but when all other options have been exhausted, and with a thorough understanding of the potential consequences – using extreme prejudice; but only when and where required (reference McChuck’s post of 3:13p as to various possibilities).
You are correct through most of history. But northwestern Europe (recently) and Rome and Greece before it had a different experience . . .
The politicians and judges (but I repeat myself) who enable criminals are people, too, just like the criminals themselves. People with names. Faces. Home addresses. Cars. Families. Pets. Children.
They do. And I’ve seen a story or two recently that people are realizing exactly that.
(P)resident Abidin’ cleans up San Francisco for Xi, but couldn’t care less about cleaning it up for the sake of America.
Yeah, that about sums it up.
100%. He wants this. This is his plan.
I hope Gavin Nuisance won and has used talcumm powder for years
In very uncomfortable places.
“Criminals need to value the gain they make from a crime less than they fear the penalty for when they get caught. That’s it. The equation is simple.”
It’s not actually that simple. First, criminals need to understand there will be a penalty in the first place. SF has already eliminated consequences for many lesser offenses, thereby decriminalizing many acts. If it’s ok to crap on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant knowing that no one will arrest you? Then go ahead and crap on the sidewalk.
But here’s the thing: criminals are generally not smart enough to read legalese, so they only know which laws are currently being (un)enforced. They don’t know or care about the penalty for the others because no matter what that penalty is, they don’t want to pay it if they can possibly avoid doing so. So for the laws that are still being enforced, you get a crude calculus in the criminal mind. “How likely am I to be busted for doing this thing I know is illegal?”
Let’s take an easy one: spousal abuse. If you know your spouse will dutifully parrot “I slipped in the shower” to explain their black eye to anyone and everyone (including the cops), you can feel free to give them a shiner every now and then to remind them who’s boss. Do that same thing in the middle of the mall, and you’re in for a bad time. Doesn’t matter what the penalty for DV is. What matters is whether or not you get cuffed and printed.
It is that simple. Put them in jail. Bring back stocks. Cane them. It will go away in a month.
Spousal abuse: if she won’t testify, it didn’t happen. If she does, it might be.
If it is witnessed, and she wants to press charges, then it did.
Spousal abuse is overblown and plays on the trope that women are victims who don’t have legs and minds. If they won’t act, they’re part of the problem and don’t deserve a justice system to make things happen for them.
It’ll be back to “abnormal” within a week.
It will be. Until people start to make the hard choices.
And after watching this kind of nonsense for so long, I now don’t care when I see a tragic event in a blue city.
The national situation is eroding my moral compass.
That should scare me more than anything, but it doesn’t. A callous is forming over my morality.
Actually, I kind of root for it. Leftists fighting and stealing from Leftists? Let’s get the popcorn popping.
Speaking of guns, some thoughts:
https://drp314.substack.com/p/some-second-amendment-thoughts
Great essay! Yours??