It's very "in" right now to hate on San Francisco. It's a Nietzschean sort of thing, hating things you are secretly are afraid are better - which is why California is so unpopular.
Isn't this more or less identical to anti-immigrant sentiment at the national level, and isn't that something that's rather politically unpopular in SF? Isn't this a bit hypocritical?
I liked living in sf when I was there. One nice thing about moving is not having to feel like I care about all these little political battles people get outraged about. Something about that city attracts the most toxic and loud people like this. Every city has problems, but there is a lot of media and internet outrage about sf.
Lots of reasons why people hate SF. The homeless problems, the petty crime. The smell, the dirtiness, the shitty weather, the actual danger of stepping on human feces, the drug use.
To each their own, but I think it's important for people to get out of their headspace and see things from a more general perspective as well. There are very good reasons why people don't like SF and unless people who love the city acknowledge those things, change is likely impossible.
I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say that there aren't a literally infinite number of people that want to live in San Francisco. Case in point, me. I hate San Francisco and avoid going there whenever possible.
Because, in certain peoples' minds, anything that makes San Francisco look bad means that "Trumpists"/"alt right"/"Rethuglicans" have won. The attitude is infinitely more widespread on Reddit and Twitter, of course, but it's here too.
It's not hatred, merely open minded progressive concern about newcomers with a different culture immigrating, changing the ethnic balance of SF and (indirectly) causing job loss. /sarcasm
I think a big part of the SF hate is that it's ostensibly a liberal place, when it's really a conservative city. It has horrible housing policies and isn't actually racially equal when you look at the wealth distribution within the city. I think SF's external perception makes it a target for vitriol from right wing people on the internet.
SF has lots of problems to be clear, especially on the east side of the city.
It took a minute before I realize this was a San Francisco article; all the numbers and discussion are specific to that one area. (I'd suggest reflecting this in the title.)
There must be some truly special about SF to be so hated...and yet apparently so loved.
Most of my ire (as a non-resident) is because I am forced to sometimes spend time in San Francisco, and it is a worse experience than nearly any other city I've visited in the world, which are many, most of them in vastly poorer and more generally corrupt societies, that somehow manage to be more functional and cleaner than SF.
Speaking anecdotally I think this has some truth in it. A lot of people I know seem to loathe San Francisco and only put up with it because they’re required to live here for a job.
If that’s the true reason for an exodus, then I hope it benefits the city to have residents that want to live here.
There seems to be a lot of anger in your comment, but it all seems to boil down to "my reasons for living in San Francisco are more valid than others'".
TBH I am from the Bay Area, work in SF, and I have never seen ire like that directed at SFFD before. I wouldn't take this example as representative or common.
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