The Cultural Civil War of San Francisco
The threat of tech and the onslaught on cultural identity
Recently my facebook has blown up with status updates, article postings, and snide comments about the state of San Francisco, mostly from friends and associates who live there.
For those of you who are not informed about the cultural civil war happening inside San Francisco, it essentially goes like this: There is a perception that Silicon Valley culture is bleeding into the San Francisco culture, and not only dismantling its identity, but also driving up the prices for rent. This has been propagated further by the existence of company shuttles, which make living in the city all the more convenient (Take a look at the “tech bro”).
The part of the city that is said to be the most under attack is “the Mission”- you can think of it as the area around the 16th street/Mission St BART (the bay area train) and Dolores park. Traditionally the Mission has been known to be a sort of raw area where people from all walks of life reside. It also has traditionally been a rather low income area, with all sorts of colorful figures. This has all begun to change however, as people from tech fields and silicon valley have begun to move in. There have been evictions of previous inhabitants of the Mission in order to make room for wealthier tech saavy entrepreneurs (see here).
Case of the Google Glass
While I am not directly affected by what goes on in this scenario, an article about a man who had his “google glass” stolen and broken caught my eye (see here). Well, I should be clear, it wasn’t the article so much as it was the response:
The article in tl;dr form was this: A guy had his gadget stolen and broken on the curb, he posted about it and received a great deal of backlash on twitter, and he came to realize that the people are very frustrated with the tech industry and everything that represents it (like Google Glass). This was not all too surprising, but the response and comments on facebook appeared to be quite different from the “showings of sympathy” that I expected.
The response was actually quite hostile, as if it was his fault.
The whole argument seemed to be incredibly broken to me, as it resembled the “putting the blame on the rape victim” argument: You probably teased him by wearing revealing clothing and therefore it was your fault that you were raped. The same can be said for this: You were wearing Google Glass in the Mission, therefore all the blame should be on you.
Really? Should it?
There’s two components to this: The man made himself a target, and the thief took advantage of an opportunity.
So its obvious that the man shouldn't have made himself a target. He should have known that the environment is such that if you walk out with a piece of fancy equipment, there are those who will probably steal it.
Yes, there is no argument there, he should have been more careful carrying around his half-grand piece of expensive equipment in broad daylight. He should not have made himself a target.
But then there’s the next component: Where the thief took advantage of the opportunity. Many of the people who replied with comments on facebook had the assumption of: “These people will steal, and we shouldn't expect anything better of them”. Which reminded me greatly of “The men will rape, and we shouldn't expect anything better from them”.
No. No. No. We should have higher expectations for our fellow man, and we shouldn't say that “The thief couldn't help it”. The thief definitely could have just walked away, and even though the opportunity showed itself, he could have easily not taken it. But he did, and that was wrong.
This seems obvious, and yet there was such a response. Which highlights a great deal of frustration being felt by the inhabitants of the Mission. Its perfectly understandable why the evicted, and the ones who fear eviction are angry, but then there are those who believe that the identity of SF is being challenged.
The Cultural Invasion of the Mission
At the heart of this clash are a few components. The first of which is somewhat of a literal invasion: People are being evicted from their homes in order to make way for people who work in Silicon Valley. The second “invasion” is a bit less tangible. It revolves around a sort of diluting of identity for those who live in the mission: from a multicultural and diverse population to something that people consider to be “generic”.
In the center we have the aforementioned “Mission District”, which has historically been known for colorful displays and variety of people from all walks of life. The mission is also a hub of many muralists and music artists (see here).
The Mission is certainly a unique place, and often has its share of crime (If you walk down its streets, you will almost certainly run into a car which has had its window shattered recently), and the occasional mental patient. So its clear that people from all walks of life congregate to it. In a way, people of the Mission are saying, “Yes, our district is crazy, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous, but its OUR crazy, and we like it that way”. Its a celebration of all that is chaotic- both the beauty and the danger.
In comparison, many of those who live in the Mission view those from Silicon Valley as “generic”. They work 9-5pm jobs, spend an exorbitant amount of time on the computer, and belong to the mainstream culture with all the gadgets and gizmos that define “being hip” today.
Now, you might oppose my choice to use the word “Invasion”. But I assure you, it really does seem like that from a few angles. After all, many less well off inhabitants of an area are in a sense being forced out by a stronger more wealthy group. Additionally, the culture is changing as well.
The term is “Gentrification” which is essentially the process where an urban community begins to shift towards wealthier residents and inhabitants. The side effect is higher rent, and a changing of cultural values.
What to Think About It
But before we begin to try and judge right and wrong, let’s take a look at what may result from this:
First thing to note is that the Mission has a history. As with things with a history, there are traditions, and likely those traditions won’t outright vanish.
Second thing to note is that the people chose to live in the Mission knowing what it is. When you can live anywhere in SF, and choose to live in the Mission, that might be telling. It either suggests there is something about the area that is to your liking- and that you might even want to be a part of it. If we have attitudes like that, the culture of the Mission may not change nearly as much (assuming the Mission isn't wholly bought out and replaced by a silicon valley campus).
Granted, the culture will change, but it won’t necessarily be lost. Just like how traditions in grand cultures have changed to suit the times, the cultures of a district will change to suit the population. And that’s okay.
Third thing, it will indeed cause a migration of people to an extent. But unlike traditional invasions, people won’t die. It simply creates a further mixing of ideas and cultures wherever they migrate to.
In Short
The fact that people are being evicted from their homes is truly an unfortunate thing, and I hope that they find a place to settle soon. But as far as the Mission goes, I believe it will likely survive. The Gentrification process is essentially unstoppable, but the Mission has a great deal of history attached to it, so there will be remnants here and there. As far as the culture goes, well, the culture lies with the people and those people will mix their experiences with other areas.
