Just like anything, in blog comments you have to hunt through a lot of garbage to find the good stuff. Here’s some good stuff, from reader zinzin:
point is, tags are permanent, and odds are, regardless of content or wittiness, odds are they’re an affront to someone.
on the one hand, that’s life in the city. on the other hand, so is prostitution and hard drug peddling. not the same, but who’s to say what bothers whom?
in a close, dense community like the mission, better to be respectful, and careful.
You may read the whole comment for more context, but whether you agree with zinzin’s stance or not, there’s wisdom in that closing line. Be cool, people.
“on the one hand, that’s life in the city. on the other hand, so is prostitution and hard drug peddling. not the same, but who’s to say what bothers whom?”
interesting comment on sex work…some of us support the freedom to participate in sex work, whatever its forms. i love how the mainstream demonizes it as if it were the most disgusting crime on earth. The fact that it is illegal is disgusting misogynism at it’s best.
“in a close, dense community like the mission, better to be respectful, and careful.”
the day i can walk down the street without being harassed by men maybe i’ll think about that statement.
And so it goes… as long as things look “clean” everything will be ok.
You could say the same thing (as zin’s last sentence) about the city as a whole. We’re all crammed up against each other, so a little consideration goes a long way.
It bugs me when people say “IT’S A CITY. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, MOVE OUT” if I object to, say, public urination or my neighbor blasting Cannibal Corpse at 1 a.m. Yes, I know it’s a city, but that doesn’t give you free rein to act like a complete asshole and have no consideration for anyone else around you.
if you don’t love SF, leave it.
That’s right. This is America. Love it or git
And speaking of respect in the city….I just want to know this: who is the fucker who just dug out the flowering plants we planted last week in front of our house on Capp St.between 22nd and 23rd? The plants were there when I left the house at 1:00 p.m. and gone when I returned at 3:00 p.m. There’s just a big, sad hole now. Tag my house but don’t rip out my plants! I bet the $35.00 dollar bush we planted to brighten the street is either on the back of some fly-by-night gardener’s truck or being sold for a couple of bucks worth of dope. Ok…rant over…..going out now to find a plant with really sharp thorns and needles to put in its place.
I can put up with just about anything in the Mission. Loud music, annoying drunks, homeless people, yuppies, I really don’t give a shit.
Except for these four things, which drive me up the fucking wall:
1. Hipsters trying to insult one another by calling each other “hipsters.” It’s like hearing a gay fellow say “that’s so gay.” It just doesn’t work.
2. People who use the word “Trustafarian.” It’s like you’re jealous, but you want to sound derogatory, so you insult someone for their (perceived) wealth. Having money doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you LUCKY.
3. The skanky blondes who take over the good bars on Friday and Saturday nights. Actually scratch that. It’s not so much the girls that bothers me, it’s the hoards of guys who are always trying to get with them. If you want herpes just go to Craigslist and click “casual encounters.” That will make the regular bar patrons a lot happier.
4. Bitchy sidewalk graffiti. I enjoy sidewalk graffiti in general, it’s a fun use of public space. But the graffiti that tells people to move out or whines about how expensive living here is is stupid. Nobody ever solved a serious social problem with bitchy sidewalk graffiti. Ever.
Okay, that’s my list. I’m glad I got that off my shoulders now, and I think we can go back to getting along and hanging loose.
Or if that doesn’t work, let’s head to Dolores Park and have some pot brownies together and just chill. Aight?
Trustafarian is descriptive term, not necessarily always pejorative.
@katie – i should clarify a thought on “prostitution”. i’ve got a few friends in the sex business, and my personal view, prostitution should be legal, and it should be organized and regulated. women (or men) who choose to peddle their bodies should have every right to do so, and i have no moral issue with it whatsoever.
imho, we should look to amsterdam, or even LV, as a model. in these places, it’s a profession, it’s regulated, it’s safe for the practitioners, who are organized, and it’s not the symbol of degradation and blight that it is on my block – where it poses a danger to people.
that point isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact. the ho’s walking up and down my block have very dangerous people with them (they’re called “pimps”), and the prostitution activity in the mission definitely creates an atmosphere that’s not so cool in my view, for my life, on my block.
(btw, half assed attempts like Prop K really scare me, because they have no basis in reality, only in the usual crooked, hollow “progressive” rhetoric…and would likely INCREASE danger for street-working girls in the city. more of them, more pimps, more degradation. it’s a simple equation.)
y’all (@jimbeam or aaron) want to be snarky and critical about me calling for respect and care in a close packed hood are living in fucking lala land.
your pat line of “as long as things look “clean” everything will be ok” is a bullshit cop-out for lazy, self-satisfied boo hoo hoo-ing about the gritty days of yore…and that makes me fucking puke. my god, grow the fuck up and live in today.
personally, i DO love SF, and the mission in particular, and that’s why i have this attitude. my goal is to improve the hood for everyone, and my view is that hard drug peddling and ho’s & pimps walking up my block is bad for EVERYONE.
what’s your view?
guys, the revolution is about inclusive improvement of the hood for everyone, not clinging to selfish / judgmental notions of “clean” or “gritty”…or some dated view that the mission is some barbary coast leftover where anything goes and everyone gets to do whatever the fuck they want even if it fucks up someone else’s shit.
don’t kid yourselves, the mission is a family neighborhood, y’all. and IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN. it’s just that the latino families that have been living here since the 1940′s, for some reason, have never been given a voice or a choice…just because punks / hipsters / yuppies moved in over the years doesn’t change anything at all.
look around you. there are families EVERYWHERE. latino families, hipster families, yuppie families. even familes that don’t ascribe to any sort of stereotype. the mission is a fucking stroller paradise. this isn’t an opinion. it’s a fact.
point is, i’m game for making the hood better for everyone, even for jimbeam and aaron. you guys want to help?
oh, and thanks allan for the post.
@sangrocito – what’s the difference? tags or stolen shrubs? seriously…what’s the difference?
Zinzin, just being facetious… I love most forms of street art, guerrilla ads, sidewalk stencils, political and social rants expressed in public and almost any kind of creative street art,but I hate “tags”(fortunately my house has never been hit, but living in the Mission I’m surrounded by them). I just haven’t figured out how to celebrate one and suppress the other…..so I have to live with both.
fair enough. i admire your levelheadedness.
Dude… I was echoing Katie’s comments where people whine about graffiti and wanting things to “look clean” rather than focusing on the ways people are actually treating each other. It’s silly to talk about respect in terms of some street art compared to how human beings actually treat each other.
jimbeam – that’s fair enough in terms of relative import and impact. i agree.
but tagging someone’s house is “treating” a person in a disrespectful way. potentially a lot of people. and disrespect begets increased disrespect.
but i hear you, fwiw.
what’s up with these hipsters and trustafarians who move to the mission and walk all aggressively down Valencia street like they own it? I mean seriously! Why do these people do this, they walk down Valencia street 4 or 5 abreast and then cop an attitude when you say “Excuse me” just to pass by without stepping in to the curb or a building? Are these chumps compensating for the abuse and trauma they suffered back in high school by this aggro ‘sidewalk rage?’ My friends are starting to do performance art skits where they mock this behavior of self-entitlement.
Anyone who gets pissed off at the term “trustafarian” is undoubtedly a poseur trying to pretend that they are a poor, starving artist and is very angry at being exposed for faking the funk. I am os sorry to ruin it for the trustafarians, but ‘hip’ and authentic street cred annot be purchased or faked, so just give it up already or you will be mocked relentlessly. Money is not the root of all evil, but being a self-entiltled, pretentious douchebag nouveau riche phony will get you busted out every time. People who pretend to be ‘hip’, working class or lower middle class creative types just for street cred are very annoying to those of us who actually are. Please do not flatter yourself my assuming that everyone is jealous of money, that only works with people who value money over any and everything else. Capice?
The only thing more annoying than people who pretend to be “hip working class or lower middle class creative types” are the ones who insist they actually are,/i> “hip working class or lower middle class creative types”.