Dear Rich People

SFist took a look today at @TechHateCrimes, which documents aggression towards “techies” in various forms, though nobody seems to be able to tell if it’s earnest or a parody. Meanwhile, we were alerted to this bit of analog social media conversation responding to the rich people of the city and the “Gentrifuckation”.

Beau tweets “Found on my way to the Women’s Building last night. Class tension on the rise in SF.” This, like some MM comment threads, could just be one person with a couple of different pens, or a legitimate call and response. No way to tell. Either way it’s graffiti and it’s a crime. I don’t condone crime. I also have problems with the way that this city caters to the rich and has not done enough to reach out to support the residents with less financial means, and is not reacting quickly enough to address the problems that arise when the income gap inflates as quickly as it is right now. People with a lot of money are able to commit crimes that have large scale repercussions and get away with them. The city is reacting swiftly to graffiti vandals, however, by moving to make sure they pay for the damages if caught. Which makes sense, sure. But is graffiti one of the big issues that we, all of us, are dealing with right now? It’s a big issue for property owners, that I understand completely.

I find it understandable that some people can feel like San Francisco doesn’t care about them, that they are not spoken for, not represented, and not cared for by their city. These feelings can leave some people with little hope and little trust that they will be able to truly advocate for themselves by playing by the rules. Unfortunately this drives some people to feel as though they need to write on a utility box to be heard. I wish that wasn’t the case.

21 Responses to “Dear Rich People”

  1. Grizzled Mission says:

    Twitter limits me to 140 characters.

  2. Glasshole says:

    If any hipster slacker touches me or my glass or says shit about me in any way I’m taking him down right then and there.

  3. fuckthatguy says:

    I hope you’re in earnest, Glasshole. ’cause the non-hipster techie hating masses will jump right in then & there to take you out. next glass wearing dude I see is getting a swift kick in the balls.

    • Nick Pal says:

      [read: next glass wearing dude I see is getting a sideways bitchy look and a bunch of heavy sighing followed by having to watch me kick dirt as I walk home with my sandwich.]

    • Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable says:

      Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Other Internet Tough Guy.

  4. Baretta says:

    In other parts of the world the poor who feel hopeless and marginalized or andor blow people up in the name of Allah. Getting all bent about some graffiti is wack. It’s a nanometer of pigment that can be erased. As things spiral out of control it will only increase.

  5. Leary says:

    All of it written by white kids who gentrified out other nonwhite people several years back and now want to pull up the ladder, of course.

  6. lucidbeaming says:

    Personally, I find this hilarious. It’s an anonymous comment block. All that’s missing is the avatars. C’mon, you could have made a little animal or doodle, or baby/pet pic. Making your anti-rich graffiti look like a website comment thread kinda defeats the purpose, right? They even indented to show a reply. Or, maybe it’s mastertrolling and the first sharpie schadenfreudist seeded the aesthetic to attract the attention of said richies, who I guess have lots of comments about stuff. I smell drunken trolls, somewhere, or, I haven’t changed pants in a week or so.

  7. Joe Shlabotnik says:

    No no no..this is America. Rich fuck you.

  8. umm says:

    In today’s America privileged white kids who went to art school are in a different ‘class’ than kids from the exact same social strata who elected to go to science-heavy universities.

  9. Uncle Roger says:

    I just wanted to say that this was a very well written post. Thank you.

    (The comments, not so much. Except for Nick Pal. Well played, sir.)