This article, linked by instapundit, is tendentious. Definition of tendentious:
having or showing an intentional tendency or bias, esp a controversial one.
Is all of America turning into Detroit? Hell, no. Not even close. The author cites a number of distressing problems in an attempt to prove that we are going down the tubes. In his zeal to make his point, he is mixing apples and oranges and throwing in a grapefruit or two and maybe a papaya.
The second most dangerous city in the United States - Camden, N.J. - is about to lay off about half its police.
I hardly know where to start taking this one to pieces: 1) Camden has been a hellhole for ages; 2) Some of those policemen are unemployables who are assigned to sit around the courthouse all day and never have any effect on crime; 3)This is an old game--those in charge want to make the citizenry feel their pain so that someone, somewhere, will give them more money; 4) Police in New Jersey are overpaid and have benefits the average working stiff would die for.
I could go on, but I'll let someone else have a go. Read the article.
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5 comments:
I did read the article. Wish I hadn't wasted the time. You give to much credit by limiting the analogy to fruit. It's not merely apples, oranges, and papayas: there are celery sticks, knotty pines, and saguaro cacti.
The saguaro cacti are a nice touch.
So Camden is reducing the number of police on the donut in order to save money? Is anyone talking about how community policing can take over? The DHS is going to be spying on us in Wal-Mart but they can't think to give citizens the abilty to monitor they neighborhood. PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE! In Star Trek, weren't the government agents the ones being monitored with their communicators? We need to turn this around.
Camden is a hellhole, but I still have fond memories of it. It's interesting how childhood paints even the bleakest of landscapes in rose-colored hues.
I love how we always get these articles decrying the decay of America's manufacturing base by writers who want to pin all of the blame on "outsourcing" while never bringing up the topic of increased environmental and bureaucratic regulation in the US. Both China and India, the two most famous "outsourcing" targets, have little to no environmental regulation regarding heavy manufacturing. Ever seen the slideshow of China's pollution? http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/
Or the National Geographic episode on India's shipbreaking industry?
http://natgeotv.com.au/programmes/salvage-code-red/editors-choice/ship-breaking/1
I just wish that writers would at least acknowledge the relationship so that a more honest discussion could be had. But then again honesty is something that is rare in today's media.
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