Hundreds of unsheltered people living in tent encampments in the blocks surrounding the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco have been forced to leave by city outreach workers and police as part of an attempted “clean up the house” ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s annual free trade conference.
The action, which housing advocates allege violated a court injunction, was celebrated by right-wing figures and the tech crowd, who have long been convinced that the city is in terminal decline because of an increase in encampments in the downtown area.
The X account End Wokness wrote that the displacement was proof the “government can easily fix our cities overnight. It just doesn’t want to” (the post received 77,000 likes). “Queer Eye but it’s just Xi visiting troubled US cities then they get a makeover,” joked Packy McCormick, the founder of Not Boring Capital and advisor to Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto VC team. The New York Post celebrated the action, saying that residents had “miraculously disappeared.”
Hmm I wouldn’t say left vs right wing is equivalent to some videogame good vs evil slider. Everyone can be selfish, it’s not a ‘right wing’ trait. To enjoy a respite from feeling unsafe, having human defecation on the street, and being yelled at for no particular reason doesn’t make you a sinner.
It is true that left vs right isn’t the same as good or evil. However, the left wing tends to look for non market based solutions, using the government to address issues rather than relying on private interests. Left wingers can be selfish, but right wingers have selfishness explicitly embedded into their ideology of free markets and social Darwinism. Besides, prudent behavior isn’t the same as being selfish. Enjoying negative reinforcement isn’t bad so long as you recognize who applies it and what they want to accomplish.