Hundreds of unsheltered people living in tent encampments in the blocks surrounding the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco have been forced to leave by city outreach workers and police as part of an attempted “clean up the house” ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s annual free trade conference.
The action, which housing advocates allege violated a court injunction, was celebrated by right-wing figures and the tech crowd, who have long been convinced that the city is in terminal decline because of an increase in encampments in the downtown area.
The X account End Wokness wrote that the displacement was proof the “government can easily fix our cities overnight. It just doesn’t want to” (the post received 77,000 likes). “Queer Eye but it’s just Xi visiting troubled US cities then they get a makeover,” joked Packy McCormick, the founder of Not Boring Capital and advisor to Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto VC team. The New York Post celebrated the action, saying that residents had “miraculously disappeared.”
I realize that, I was being completely facetious and ultra-Abbotty on purpose to make a point about how self-righteous these “get rid of homeless people” truly are.
Got it. I’ve met too many people that unironically hold similar opinions, even folks that felt that you shouldn’t be allowed to vote or be considered a “real” citizen unless you own land.
I know I’ve heard from far too many people who do really believe homeless people are to be swept aside. I live in Utah (the most baboon-butt red state there is) and I get tired of the self-righteous people saying homeless people are not important or worthy of help.
They do ‘clean ups’ here all the time where they dump the homeless into overcrowded shelters or prison, and then discard all their belongings, which are almost the only things they have left.
That’s the spirit of christian fellowship for you. I think of all the money we pay athletes and CEOs and yet we can’t find a way to help lift up people who are downtrodden often through no fault of their own. If you read my original comment again I think you’ll see the acid dripping off the words.