So, Greg. You “have no clue” why all those homeless people and junkies are disturbing your pristine view of downtown San Fran? You’re not too smart, are you? You make no connection at all between economic, social, and political influences and their results? What a moron.
Silicon Valley rising star Greg Gopman took to Facebook on Tuesday to rail against poor and homeless residents of San Francisco, inflaming already simmering tensions between the city’s tech industry and low-wage workers.
Gopman, the CEO of the hackathon-organizing startup AngelHack, went on a rant wishing the “crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash” would segregate themselves and stop marring his experience of San Francisco.
In the comments, Gopman bemoaned how the “degenerates” of San Francisco “gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, [and] get rowdy” in an area of town he considers to be off-limits to them. In comparison, he offered a rosy view of more class-segregated cities, where, he says, “the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it’s a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests.”
Gopman deleted the post and apologized for his diatribe the next morning. “I trivialized the plight of those struggling to get by and I shouldn’t have,” he wrote. “I hope this thread can help start an open discussion on what changes we can make to fix these serious problems.”
The CEO’s comments came just a day after protesters blocked a Google commuter shuttle, decrying tech-driven gentrification and San Francisco’s increasingly unaffordable housing costs. As the uber-rich tech industry migrates north from Silicon Valley the city’s real estate costs have soared, income inequality has worsened, and many long-time San Francisco residents are suddenly being priced out of their neighborhoods.
While Gopman’s post was especially incendiary, he’s not the only one who has expressed the idea that homeless and poor residents are an unsightly burden on the city. Another startup founder, Peter Shih, sparked outrage over the summer by complaining that homeless people were ruining San Francisco for him. This disgust may soon spread past a few insensitive individuals and start influencing actual policy. San Francisco is currently considering criminalizing homelessness by making it illegal to sleep in city parks at night.
Let’s not leave L.A. out of this. Here’s some yuppie scum, making fun of a passed-out homeless man.
Social collapse is spreading enough to affect the Greg’s of the world. And people like me. I remember visiting SF and having to walk an extra ten blocks to get into the park near Golden Gate because the entrance where I got off the bus had about fifty heckling homeless men packing it.
The road to reacting against the homeless is a lot shorter and easier than fixing the whole society that created them. Which doesn’t change the fact that only one of those reactions actually helps matters.
The Republican Party is now waging a very public war against itself. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. On the one side are the establishment Republicans who get rich off taxpayer money. People like Greg Gopman. On the other are paranoid elected officials who believe that only they possess the “truth.” People like Palin and Ted Cruz. When the Christ was asked by Pontius Pilate “What is truth?” the Christ stood silent. (John 18:38) That’s a lesson that’s obviously been lost on right wing Evangelical Christian.
Well, notice that 68 people indicated they liked what Gopman had to say. For good or for ill, something struck a chord.
In “I Love L.A.”, Randy Newman observed years ago that some Angelinos were not at all sympathetic with the plight of the down and out:
“…Look at that mountain
Look at those trees
Look at that bum over there, man
He’s down on his knees
Look at these women
There ain’t nothin’ like ’em nowhere…”