[HN Gopher] The American Dream Is on Life Support in the Bay Area
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The American Dream Is on Life Support in the Bay Area
Author : lando2319
Score : 23 points
Date : 2021-12-28 22:36 UTC (23 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (hariraghavan.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (hariraghavan.com)
| Barrin92 wrote:
| >" _On the one hand, I think any rational individual would
| acknowledge that privilege has made for a rigged system. But on
| the other hand, in the spirit of deconstructing those imbalances,
| we've dismantled upward mobility for everyone -- not just the
| underprivileged.
|
| Instead of a definition of equity that raises the floor (a rising
| tide floats all boats), we've adopted a definition that
| institutes a ceiling on achievement:_"
|
| Despite repeating the "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps"
| motto literally ten times, it should be noted that upwards
| mobility is highest precisely in countries that implement
| policies the author laments (a phenomenon known as the 'Great
| Gatsby Curve'
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Gatsby_curve#/media/File...).
|
| The explanation is fairly straight-forward and intuitive, shorter
| ladders are easier to climb.
| caconym_ wrote:
| The bay area seems to have combined the pernicious conservatism
| of aging "liberals", the worst of leftist politics, and the
| bizarre, culturally illiterate excesses of SV tech and grind
| culture into a noxious stew I'm surprised anybody can tolerate
| for any length of time.
| SwSwinger wrote:
| Coming from a Southern US state, I expected that the Bay Area
| would be more egalitarian given the language. Instead, I've found
| that it's more like an idea incubator setup by generational
| wealth that people need to leave if they can't become nouveau
| riche before they want to build a family. Even when you win the
| lottery, your reward is living the same type of life in CA that
| you could in 45 other US states without pushing yourself. 1849
| Gold Rush. Same as it ever was.
| EarlKing wrote:
| "The Bay Area" is not San Francisco. There are plenty of places
| to go in the Bay Area that aren't riddled with crime and shit-
| strewn streets. I won't point them out, however, as the author
| and his fellow locusts would just show up and ruin those places
| too. Better they fly off to Miami (or Austin or whatever) so the
| rest of us can clean up the mess and restore some sanity around
| here.
| mercy_dude wrote:
| Not just Bay Area, pretty much any middle to big cities. Housing
| ownership dream is dead, cost of education has skyrocketed and
| healthcare is just a mess. That's everywhere. The only thing on
| top of that we have got in Bay Area is increasing petty crime
| rates with no consequences. But that is on Bay Area residents for
| consistently electing egghead politicians.
| tandymodel100 wrote:
| Well, public schools are still free everywhere. And in state
| public universities are still fairly affordable - the one in my
| hometown offers $1k tuition for the year now.
| cam0 wrote:
| I first started seeing these blog posts and Twitter threads
| documenting reasons for leaving SF at the start of the pandemic,
| and they tend to get a significant amount of
| engagement/comments/likes. I had never before seen anyone write
| such long and detailed reasons for something as routine and
| boring as moving cities. I can only imagine the reason for doing
| this is to increase their following on social media. Just stoking
| the rage-engagement machine.
| bingohbangoh wrote:
| You must understand that people have not liked SF for a long
| time -- at least five years if not further -- and feel "stuck"
| there for career reasons.
|
| The pandemic has made a lot of things (everything?) about the
| city much worse while opening up an avenue to leave. Thus, many
| people have taken it.
|
| As they're leaving behind a network, a likely fractured group
| of friends, and a never ending lockdown threat, it's created
| complicated feelings.
| AustinDev wrote:
| I lived in alameda for 1 year in 2010. Hated the whole Bay
| Area and left as soon as I could. For me it was just personal
| preference.
| Jensson wrote:
| > something as routine and boring as moving cities
|
| How many times in a life do you move across the country with a
| spouse? I wouldn't call that routine, you need to ensure both
| of you can find new jobs etc, and likely they are thinking
| about their future kids and where they should be brought up.
| When you move on your own, sure, but the more things you add to
| your life the harder it gets.
| programmarchy wrote:
| Most people have friends and family so uprooting oneself from a
| community and moving to another city is actually a big deal.
| It's a very cynical take to dismiss their complaints about a
| place they probably once loved as clickbait.
| pm90 wrote:
| I tend to agree.
|
| There's certainly valid reasons for wanting to move away. But
| these posts aren't really saying anything new, they tend to
| feed off of each other creating an online impression of SF as
| some kind of hellhole.
| gromitss wrote:
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