I was buying radishes at the farmers’ market yesterday when this pretentious ass, you know the type, the kind who buys his veggies at a farmers’ market, tells me I’m cutting in front of the people standing beside me. Now, it turns out that there were two different lines depending on method of payment and the other people realized they were in the wrong line and switched over; though it wasn’t a big deal since the cashiers didn’t seem to enforce the distinction on check out. Anyway, this complete freaking idiot, the pretentious jerk who warned me about cutsies, sees the check out open up in the other line and proceeds to…cut in front of the people in that line.
Classic.
It’s my pet peeve, this hypocrisy thing, although I must say it isn’t so much the existence of hypocrisy, it’s just the inability people seem to have in recognizing or admitting it. I’m a feminist from a philosophical point of view, but I’d have to be pretty un-selfaware not to detect my misogynistic tendencies. Ditto the issue of race. One of the reasons I moved here, to this house in this neighborhood 10 years ago was that I couldn’t imagine doing anything else or living anywhere else given my stated beliefs.
It was thrilling then to read, on my birthday no less, essays calling out hypocrisy (especially of the left, the left of which I am a part) regarding four of my current pet issues: climate change, immigration, “affordable housing”, and America’s illegal and immoral aggression all over the planet. The enormous impacts on our cities of these issues are obvious with the possible exception of the “illegal immoral aggression” thing, but I think the financial effects of 800 bases on foreign soil and a budget nearly equal to that of the other 95% of the population of the planet has an impact, not as much of an impact as the illegal immoral use of a missile blowing up my house and ripping my family members’ bodies to shreds as collateral damage (Tulsi Gabbard 2020), but an impact nevertheless.
On the issues of climate and housing, turns out if we build more housing, but it’s designed in an auto-oriented style then it will have a negative impact on the climate. What, what, what!?!?!?! Who knew? So the way in which we inhabit the land has an impact on our energy use and that relates to our carbon footprint? Whoa. So we could all change our incandescent bulbs to LEDs and, like, it isn’t going to accomplish anything unless our society allows externalities to be priced in to the cost of the way in which we live? The hell you say! Someone else can’t just do something differently so that I can continue to do what I’ve always done? Screw you then!
I was having this discussion with a friend and I pointed out that his habit of traveling by air kind of negates his bicycle use in terms of carbon footprint, later I acknowledged that my “excess house” certainly puts a crimp in my climate change bona fides. (But not before he outed me to his female companion as not necessarily supporting the equal pay argument of the USA Women’s Soccer team. Misogyny? I don’t think the curling team, men or women, should get what the soccer players get, and the lady figure skaters should get more than the men. It’s not gender, it’s the revenue stream each sport creates.)
How do I rationalize it, and is it hypocrisy? There’s an element of hypocrisy that’s roughly equivalent to what my wife and I refer to as admitting that “our generosity knows bounds”. Do I care about the poor and the wretched? Sure. I donate to worthy causes. All that I can? No. I could live in a room at the Y, eat at the soup kitchen and donate almost my entire salary to charity. Of course, that extreme sacrifice would have very little overall impact on the problem, but I would be sacrificing quite a bit.
So I rationalize doing what I’ve done living here by noting that most of the money I’ve spent on this house has been spent on improving energy efficiency. When the old roof needed replacing I paid for a white reflective one, I’ve insulated the attic and the basement from floors to walls to ceilings. The list goes on, I’ve written on the topic before and I’ve continued to the point that I’d say the house uses 1/4 the energy it used to. The next step would be to rent the basement apartment and either sublet rooms or make the place into 3-4 separate living spaces. Will I do that? If I have to. My “generosity” knows bounds.
Of course, just as I start to feel as though the whole world is getting on board with this anti-hypocrisy thing I read about a protest…in Northampton of course, about “closing the detention centers” on the border. Cool. How many random totally undocumented visitors are you willing to take in at your house in Florence I wonder? How many children in your child’s classroom? If you really think that totally open borders are a great thing, why don’t you live anywhere near a border or in a community with a huge percentage of refugees? Sure, the stories of the refugees are so poignant and heart-warming and they are such wonderful people; then why aren’t you relocating to live as close as you possibly can to where they live?
I know why not: because that’s the hard work. Confronting the difficulties and complexities surrounding culture and accommodation when things stop being just “poignant and heart-warming” and become part of the daily struggle to deal with realities of the conflicts that will arise.
I have a rental property in a desireable location. When it became available in between tenants a neighbor approached me. A friend was desperately in need of a place to live in a very tight housing market. She explained that her friend was an amazing person, super clean, ultra quiet, charming, worthy of the rental in every way, and would be a fantastic addition to the block and great to have around. Unfortunately she was only able to pay about a third of the prevailing market rate. Would I do her a solid and rent to her at a price she could afford?
First I talked to the friend directly. Did she know anyone who she could share the house with as a room mate so their combined incomes could support a market rent? Oh no. She couldn’t possible live with anyone. That would be an acceptable compromise to her lifestyle.
Then I talked to my neighbor and pointed out that she and her husband were rattling around in a five bedroom three bath house with an empty bonus room above the garage. They could rent space to the friend at a reasonable price. Oh no. That would be too weird taking someone in to their home.
I offered two ways to solve this particular housing crisis. No takers. But I’m the evil slumlord…. Shrug.
We do what we can. It was brought to my ears (I am an EVILLLLLLL zoning bureaucrat) that there is an (illegal) boarding house in my city. Not by a complaining neighbor-someone who actually wanted to “invest” in the “business”.
My colleague asked if we should sick code enforcement on them. My reply was….Not unless there is an actual formal complaint being made.
I hope this link will post. It struck me pretty damn hard when I read it this morning. Yeah
https://www.facebook.com/593539834366149/photos/a.593844801002319/860551180998345/?type=3&theater
That’s $282,875/yr. OMG. Are you kidding?! YES GIVE ME YOUR TIRED YOUR POOR YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATH FREE. I’m 100% sure I could provide better and safer care than our government is providing for that amount. I’d quit my day job in a heartbeat for damn near $300k/yr. And that’s PER PERSON. I’d buy and renovate every house on my street with that cash and hire tutors and get everyone pool passes and probably 1 on 1 escorts and do some mall shopping while we’re at it.
I mean. $775/day/person. I can’t even fathom.
I think many cities could do with more immigrants. I know that Akron, OH has a thriving immigrant population. We could use more. So no, not in my house, but our school district and our community has plenty of room for new residents. The mayor has actually announced a desire for a 25% growth in population over the next 30 years. I think that could only happen with more immigrants. We will welcome them.
That’s wonderful. Springfield is a similar community with a very large immigrant population for New England as well. The path forward then is to advocate for more legal immigration.
Claiming (I’m not speaking of you, but of the hypocrisy of the left) that only under Trump have children been put in cages(never under Obama), only under Trump have families been seperated(ditto), etc etc. is false.
I’m tired of the “Bush is a war criminal” but “Obama and Hilary aren’t” crowd too.
Beyond that I think, right or wrong, a Democratic Party which advocates for open borders not only loses the White House and the House, but will keep the worst of the worst in power in the Republican Party.
For what it’s worth I also think it’s easier to be for relatively open borders (legal or otherwise) in Akron AND in Springfield than it is in El Paso.
The problem with your argument, Steve, is that given climate change, given the reality of the failed states that the United States has played an important role in creating IN Central, given our new fangled trade policies, the push pressures from places like Honduras and El Salvador is immense. In Europe, climate change and similar disastrous histories of colonialism (and toxic religion) create even more pressure.
My question is: How cruel are you willing to be? Because I honestly see the Trumpian approach as the only effective one. Concentration camps. Corrupt marines paid to transport migrants. Endless Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Rape dormitories. These wonderful policies are already “working” as source governments are forced to come to ever spiraling agreements and the flow is beginning to slightly slow. Which shows how powerful the push factors are. Remember, MS-13 was created in AMERICAN prisons.
Even Saint Obama the Peace Prize President was quoted as saying “try to migrate, you will die”. (Shocking, isn’t it, that the sacred, saintly Obama would say such things).
And, agreeing with Tom a bit…many places are not overcrowded and would be enlivened by immigrants with new ideas. Heck, much of the tech industry out here was started not by Trump voters (be they the mythical white working class…or his REAL base, the affluent small city nabobs and religious nuts found in your nearest tacky gated community).
How far are you willing to go to “preserve” a Fortress America that can’t really feed itself, do the real work, or replace its aging population?
Me? I haven’t stated a policy preference. I’ve given my view of reality. You are preaching to the choir re American culpability.
My preference would be to greatly expand legal immigration with pathways to citizenship. And those who don’t enter legally (including those who aren’t legally requesting asylum) get sent back. We put forth the resources we can to make that process as humanitarian as possible, but in the end we must uphold the rule of law.
The reality IMHO is that Trump has maneuvered the dems into a position that won’t sell. They’ve responded to him in such a way that Trump can win over swing voters with fear mongering…and the actual on the ground result of what sounds like a call for open borders and for ignoring immigration law altogether will be 4 more years of even more inhumane treatment for immigrants and asylum seekers.
My point re hypocrisy is, as with so many on the left, they’ll talk a good game, like on school integration, but they’ll live in the most segregated districts they can…”for the children”. Ditto immigration. I live on a block with immigrants(not confusing Puerto Ricans with immigrants either) from Africa and Central America and Mexico. The post is about hypocrisy and how it undermines ideals I not only have, but live by.