Someone managed to put something in Hetch Hetchy that turned the "City That Knows How" into the "City That Knows How to Whine". Its effects are already being seen in our alleged political leaders, and their allied interests.
Seriously. No side is looking particularly statesman-like (statespersonlike?) these days, and it's mostly because folks are happy with firing off the missives, big or small, but cry like schoolchildren (schoolpersons?) when someone fires back.
How else, then, to explain the "mean people are picking on the Sensitive Mayor" meme anytime anyone dares to suggest Our Mayor is less than perfect? Mild critiques of his sometime galpal, a mere molehill in blogville, got blown up into a mountain - again because someone made a slight comment that perhaps she and Mr. Mayor were not 100% perfect. (What is this, Soviet Russia or something?)
Meanwhile, the Mayor and his allies have no problem dishing it out - remember all the nastiness spewed during the District 6 Supervisor's race? How many times have the Mayor and his staff resorted to name-calling when they don't get their way? Folks, you can't throw rocks and not expect rocks to get thrown back at ya. Deal, or get out of politics and something less acrimonious.
Don't for a minute think I excuse "progressives" from their share of the blame. Supervisor Daly's "outrageous" comments aren't as common as the mainstream media and gossipers would have you believe, but the meme wouldn't exist if it weren't at least somewhat true. Worse than that, however, is the cacophony of whining from the left about how "bad" the Mayor and his allies are - and yet after all the whining and gimmicks, folks are content to whine and complain, rather than have the nerve to stand up and do something.
It's time for someone to give out the cookies and the STFU juice, have everyone sit down and take a "time out," and then move on and do some work and put all this petty crap behind on all sides. No one is looking particularly good right now, in an era of slow MUNI, rising crime, unaffordable housing, and the flight of Anyone Not Rich,Single and/or Childless from San Francisco - all this talk about feelings and style is getting no one anywhere.
However, the biggest share of the blame goes right to those who have the tools to cut through the crap and give us, the voters, what we need - some cold hard facts and figures. I for one am sick and tired of hearing the whining and complaining from media corporation executives and their ilk at other print institutions about how horrible things are because of the Internet. We're supposed to feel sorry for big corporations because their monopoly status on the marketplace of ideas is no longer, and people can go elsewhere. Boo hoo.
Memo to the Chronicle, the Examiner, the Bay Guardian, and the Weekly: maybe if you used your supposed superior news gathering and reporting skills to give us something we don't get elsewhere - detailed and intelligent reporting of say, the Mayor's budget, Mr. Daly's alternative, and so on - perhaps we'd have a reason to pay for your papers or read your papers' ads again. That would put the stylistic shenanigans at City Hall in a distinctively bad light - and as we all know once you stop feeding trolls, they die off. We're not stupid people - we can make up our own minds. Just give us some facts, for a change!
I can read endless "opinions" online that are more diverse and better informed than a bunch of late to the game gossip columnists posing as reporters. We have enough - we really don't need any more (esp. in this town).
Instead, what we need are facts, figures, and for someone to cut through the chatter and get to the real issues. Maybe if you all did more of that instead of just writing what some political consultant told you was the "inside scoop," your papers wouldn't be firing so many people and losing so much money.
By the way, I'm quite aware of the irony of using whining in order to decry it. So don't bother pointing that out. :-)
UPDATE: Once again, you can rely on the Chronicle to blame "mean politics" on the Internet straw man.
Helpful hint, Chronicle folks: maybe the reason why people are so prone to these "scary" comments is because they are genuinely disgusted with government officials who place lining their own pockets, and those of their allies, over the public good. Or perhaps, they're upset at the fact that an overwhelming majority of people oppose a war that's draining our resources and killing our crediblity - yet to the press and the politicos, they're always referred to as freaks.
Chew on that one, and please, stop blaming the Internet for everything. The Chronicle's broken record on this is starting to get really old.
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, to name a few). The other is that it once again reinforces what I've learned about the infamous San Francisco/Los Angeles "feud" - while people in San Francisco are quick to rip into L.A., folks down south really like Our Fair City, unaware of said emotion-filled feud.
, which was pretty much entirely filmed on location in San Francisco. Sure, there were a few times they filmed near my childhood home in Burlingame, but who could tell?