You’re right, and it bugs me when people say things like “Or seattle”, my hometown, or any city. US cities get a very bad rap because our conservatives push “cities bad and scary” to small town/suburban residents, who are now terrified to go into cities. Furthermore they convince them that if you build transit or do anything for the city that the “problems” that are in the city will leak into their suburbs.
It boils down to one thing for me. These problems are real, but being able to say “City scary” allows people to shift blame to the city. Them being afraid that it could leak out to their areas proves that. It’s not the city’s fault. It’s society’s fault, and most people don’t like to be reminded that problems actually exist and our society we’ve built has real casualties. By having a homeless problem “in Seattle” or “in Dublin” it allows them to feel superior, like their town wouldn’t be the exact same if it suddenly 20x’d in size. They don’t need to think about homeless because it’s that city’s problem. Seeing homeless makes them feel things, and they don’t like that. It’s callous, it’s selfish, and it reeks of putting heads in sand as far as I’m concerned.
As for city dwellers, we’re surrounded by it every day. We empathize, we donate to our food banks, we do what we can - but most of all we don’t have the luxury of pretending the problems don’t exist. So when I see a post like this I roll my eyes. Keep your eyes down, don’t make eye contact, let them move on, and then think about donating to your local food bank or detox center. In fact, I think I’ll go donate to mine now.
You’re right, and it bugs me when people say things like “Or seattle”, my hometown, or any city. US cities get a very bad rap because our conservatives push “cities bad and scary” to small town/suburban residents, who are now terrified to go into cities. Furthermore they convince them that if you build transit or do anything for the city that the “problems” that are in the city will leak into their suburbs.
It boils down to one thing for me. These problems are real, but being able to say “City scary” allows people to shift blame to the city. Them being afraid that it could leak out to their areas proves that. It’s not the city’s fault. It’s society’s fault, and most people don’t like to be reminded that problems actually exist and our society we’ve built has real casualties. By having a homeless problem “in Seattle” or “in Dublin” it allows them to feel superior, like their town wouldn’t be the exact same if it suddenly 20x’d in size. They don’t need to think about homeless because it’s that city’s problem. Seeing homeless makes them feel things, and they don’t like that. It’s callous, it’s selfish, and it reeks of putting heads in sand as far as I’m concerned.
As for city dwellers, we’re surrounded by it every day. We empathize, we donate to our food banks, we do what we can - but most of all we don’t have the luxury of pretending the problems don’t exist. So when I see a post like this I roll my eyes. Keep your eyes down, don’t make eye contact, let them move on, and then think about donating to your local food bank or detox center. In fact, I think I’ll go donate to mine now.