Huffington Post is reporting on a San Francisco scare tactics video aired by Bill O’Reilly, yes the same asshat who wouldn’t mind if Al Qaeda attacked San Francisco.
Bill O’Reilly is scared. As a daring crusader on the side of “traditional America” in the war against “secular progressives,” O’Reilly fears that the “far left” will push President-elect Obama to embrace their values. As an example of the horrors that would befall us if this were to happen, O’Reilly offers up a surreal pseudo-documentary of San Francisco. O’Reilly sends producer Jesse Waters, whose sole journalistic value seems to be his utter lack of shame at chasing after and ambushing anyone O’Reilly points his finger at, to San Francisco because it represents ‘far left government’ at work.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
what a bunch of garbage. they did most of the filming on haight street. its no different than what you'd see in the village in nyc or on south street in philly.
there's two differences: san francisco has a temperate climate (life on the streets is much harder in nyc, so it's not a fair comparison) and people are more compassionate in SF (and that's not a bad thing).
this is just an angled piece of propaganda. scared to go out in the precideo? come on. why didn't they interview people in nob hill or pac heights? yes, SF has lots of little neighborhoods, rich and poor, that border each other. overall, that's probably a good thing–given the fact that people need some sort of model on how to live together in this world. sf does a pretty great job of that.
Bill is doing San Francisco an unintentional favor – keeping anyone who takes him seriously far, far away…
the difference between NYC and SF? Aesthetics, mostly. The 'ugly homeless' are out in the open in San Fran, and more hidden in NYC. Both cities are dangerous, and both have prostitutes and seedy neon clubs. Oh, maybe its easier to get away with smoking weed openly in SF, too.
That said, the griminess and homeless wore me down after living in SF for a year (especially after talking to many of them and finding out that most had a place to stay). I had no reason to stay, so I went back to LA. I would like to live there again, but only if I can afford a place with a parking spot for a car (I did the car-less thing, and it was ok for a while, but ultimately I need a car of my own to go places occasionally… zipcar didn't quite cut it).
Compassion is a good thing, and enabling is its dark side. You will find this in all aspects of life, that broad-based compassion can cause problems (as compared with targeted compassion). Let that thought sit on ya for a while….
Another interesting thing this piece fails to mention, is how moderate San Francisco actually is (contrary to popular belief): In this last election, we voted against decriminalizing prostitution, against various green energy / self-sufficient energy initiatives, we voted for bringing the ROTC back to campuses and against renaming our sewage plant after G.W. Bush.
Of course when you talk about “San Francisco values,” no one mentions these things.
I love the Presidio at night. Just watch out for the skunks.
Good video for all the average people who say, ok, yeah gay marriage isn't that bad. That's just another cog in the wheel. It's just one crazy idea after another with these transformational liberals. Global warming, nuclear freeze, gay marriage. Whatever. They just want to keep turning America into a San Francisco nightmare.
i dunno. i think it depends where you go. from what i hear there's even prostitutes in men's bathrooms in minneapolis airports.
driving into nyc via the lincoln tunnel, you're usually first greeted by a window washer. with bad breath. its a bigger city that developed with less land constraints, so neighborhoods are more clearly delineated.
everything in sf is cozier, so for that to work, it mandates tolerance. not enabling. i agree with you that there's a huge difference. but compassion doesn't equate with enabling.
Wrong wrong wrong. What a douche.
what year is this? seriously o'reilly's run outta steam… he forgot to mention the coyotes! what a boring sack of bitter shit.
And I've been bitchin about all the Scum Sucking Yuppies since the early 80s!
Ah well………
Note to self: Pickup a “I Heart Dark Underbellies” bumper sticker after work today.
The piece wasn't that bad. Its a look at San Francisco from a visitors perspective. When I come down to the city I see what they showed. San Francisco is not all pretty. I do regularly see more homeless people begging in SF than I did in NY.
It was a nothing segment. No valuable information was said. The people on the street are different in SF than they are in NY. You can't say it defames San Francisco when its the truth.
If O'reilly can so confidently tell the Daily Show audience (see recent episode) that a teddy bear is a panda, when it is in fact a teddy bear, I think it is patently insane to consider that people actually trust what this guy has to say.
“Every city has a tenderloin district….San Francisco has theirs in North Beach.” How about “the tenderloin” asshole. You have no idea what you are doing.
Jesse Waters compares San Fransisco to a being at a Greatfull Dead Show?
Like Jesse Waters has ever been to one. What a dolt.
He makes me so mad. And I'm certain he loves that.
Whats wrong with filthy bums, hookers, pot heads and junkies sharing the streets with the working people that enjoy spending their tax money to help them survive. SF has gone down the shitter. You losers deserve one another.
Oh, come on, man, that's the weakest attempt at trolling I've ever seen.
I just visited SF and stayed in the city for a week. I didn't see people smoking pot or hypodermic needles laying around. I didn't even see droves of bums wandering the streets. I thought the city was beautiful and rather friendly for a large city. I thought it was cleaner than either Philly or New York and will surely be going back at some point.