San Francisco as Calcutta

Posted: August 2, 2008 in Society
Tags: , , ,

NY Columnist Ralph Peters describes his tour of San Francisco and finds it wanting. Its homeless population gives him the distinct feel that he’s in refuse-teeming Calcutta. And Calcutta is ugly; ergo, San Francisco is ugly. “The greatest difference between the two isn’t the greater wealth of San Francisco, but the sense of the homeless as fellow human beings in Calcutta. From its asylum policies for violent illegal immigrants to its dog-biscuit “generosity” to the homeless, San Francisco’s a city of ethically oblivious hypocrites: 6,377 homeless, 776,733 heartless…As I walked the streets in the light of day, foreign tourists dodged the meandering, muttering homeless. I was ashamed of the image those visitors would take home..” Continue reading story  in the NY Post.

Of course San Francisco’s public arena is not one-dimensional. And we might refer to this second part of the post as San Francisco NOT as Calcutta. Take a look at this creepy public festival (Up Your Alley) in the heart of the city. Caution: this two-part photographic chronicle from Zombietime of a street sex fair is extremely sexually explicit, so you will first come to a disclaimer at the link.

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