The Open Sewer of San Francisco

I remember 15 or so years ago reading a graphic novel set in a sort of near-future dystopian American large city, and I remember being unable to take it as seriously as it wanted to be taken because every crowded street scene always had, somewhere in the background, thugs and hookers having sex right on the main street in front of a small, cheering audience as the rest populace walked on by.

Well, that'll never happen, I thought. I could only suspend my disbelief so much, after all.

Turns out the only thing that wasn't prescient was an absence of camcorders.

Progress! Sometimes it's just really, really ugly.

Posted by Cameron at November 14, 2010 12:17 PM

And yet they seem to be completely incapable of learning from their experience.

Posted by Fat Man at November 14, 2010 1:40 PM

The consistent feature of the Right is their persistent underestimation of the hate from the Left.

Posted by Scott M at November 14, 2010 2:03 PM

San Francisco is the portrait of Nancy Pelosi in America's attic.

Posted by Jewel at November 14, 2010 2:28 PM

And I thought 'The City' was bad in the late sixties when I was a student at SF State!

This is the type of degenerate activity that occured in Weimar Germany in the early twenties. Remember where it led that nation. National Socialism to the extreme and genocide on a never before seen scale.

Posted by Terry at November 14, 2010 5:52 PM

1978 thru 1980 I worked in Oakland at the airport. Friday evening was my official "night out"; I would take BART somewhere in the Bay Area and have dinner, maybe look around a bit.

Mostly it was Berkeley, already bizarre but not yet totally insane. I rarely went to the City. It wasn't safe, especially in the evenings, and I am not a timid person -- until the last year or so I was happy to stroll through Mexico City at any time of the day or night, and through much of Guadalajara.

Sex on the street corners in San Francisco was already routine by then, as was human excrement in almost any fairly isolated spot. Women often wore voluminous dresses and took the top position, maintaining at least a semblance of modesty, but there was never any doubt what was going on, and not a few providers and receivers of fellatio were oblivious to passers-by, as the others on the sidewalk seemed to be. At that time, though, the phenomenon was mainly visible downtown. The Avenues, Sunset, etc. were still relatively livable.

Having seen zombie's work before, I didn't bite on the link. Simple extrapolation from what I recall is sufficient to raise my gorge. I've never been to India, but from the tales of those who have I would not expect to see the equivalent in Mumbai or Calcutta; I certainly did not in mid-90s Rio de Janeiro.

Regards,
Ric

Posted by Ric Locke at November 14, 2010 7:14 PM

After viewing that, I need a new word to describe the self-violation I feel.

Posted by Jewel at November 15, 2010 5:13 AM

Jewel, the most recent attempt to create a word to describe what thine eyes have seen is: "OMG!".

Posted by twolaneflash at November 15, 2010 9:05 AM

"San Francisco is the portrait of Nancy Pelosi in America's attic."

Nope. More like America's Outhouse!

Zombie just reminded me there are certain things that cannot be unwatched.

I need to take a shower... And maybe take some Alka Seltzer after this...

Posted by newton at November 15, 2010 10:08 PM

Hey...HEY! Are you questioning their patriotism?

Posted by Mumblix Grumph at November 16, 2010 12:44 AM

There's absolutely nothing wrong with San Francisco that can't be fixed with tactical nuclear weapons.

San Francisco? They owe a sincere apology to Saint Francis.

Posted by Helena Han-Basquette at November 17, 2010 8:22 PM

As there is a procedure for territories to become states to join the union, shouldn't there be a way for the reverse to happen? Not succession, for that would require the state in question to do something, and clearly the people of Ca are planning on sucking money from the rest of us.

California is a psuedo state, incapable of governing in a federal system of states independence and rights.

Posted by Ralph at November 19, 2010 6:13 AM