Elon Musk is both being condemned and defamed in a recent article about how he is seeking to save San Francisco (the city) from the Woke leftists that have destroyed it – made it the poster child for the zombie apocalypse.
Yes, San Francisco is inflicted with evil – indeed, about as many evils as the demoniac of Gerasene had demons (Luke 8:30f). But the evil is not destroying the city – it has destroyed the city. Compare it to what you will: Sodom or Gomorrah, Babylon, Nero’s Rome, whatever. The one city of ancient times it cannot be compared to is Nineveh. Why? When Jonah preached there, they repented.
Babylon by the Bay shows absolutely no sign of such an action. We can applaud Musk’s efforts without expecting him to succeed.
(I understand that we here at TPOL might be too cynical because we don’t believe there is any real possibility of San Francisco (people and government both) repenting of any of their sins: political, social, moral, or anything else.)
Indeed, it is hard (by any standard) to claim that San Francisco even is still civilized.
A civilization does not allow or have people who regularly defecate on sidewalks, in the middle of streets, in hallways and stairways and entry lobbies. Not without taking action to control prevent, and help them.
A civilization does not ignore people who steal provided it is less than a thousand dollars in value. And does not refuse to protect people against such parasites. (At least not those who do it in the stores and on the streets and in residences without a government badge or license. Which is one of the problems lovers of liberty has with governments – and civilization as usually defined.)
A civilization does not let itself be overwhelmed by mentally-ill squatters who prey on each other and anyone else. And does not refuse to protect the rights of the owners of land, buildings, and other properties against such exploitation – whatever its cause.
A civilization does not let perverted predators seek out and corrupt children as victims of their perversions in a public manner. Or even, if it is known, in a private manner.
Of course, this all depends on how we define civilization, doesn’t it? We are using a christian definition, but it is one that would probably also be seen as civilized even by ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome.
No doubt many libertarians will condemn me for stating the obvious.
The problem – the illness – that has killed San Francisco is uncontrolled evil. A denial of accountability, of responsibility, for any actions however heinous, that demean, abuse, and steal property and other rights from humans. Wokeness is a part of this. The so-called left-liberalism/progressivism and hedonism that have infested this city for decades is just part of it.
It is tied to the ideas that humans are nothing but another kind of animal, that there is no established standard of morality (not even the Zero Aggression Principle), and that we live for the day and get everything we can without consideration. Liberty is indeed “libertine” but might makes right. Whether it is majority vote (as counted, of course, by Stalin’s successors) or from the end of a gun.
San Francisco, at least in its present state of barbarism, is doomed. Good luck, Elon!
The Price of Liberty 
Further info on SF and other cities: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/america-s-biggest-liberal-cities-are-dying/ar-AA1cCnb8?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=12229791cebb4bd89e100b097d11de7c&ei=12
More and more businesses are abandoning the city and college graduates are rejecting job offers from there.
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“Destroyed” is an odd term for a city where the population has not only grown over the last year, but has grown faster than it grew in any of the previous four years, and where the median income remains in the 95th percentile for the state.
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Tom, assuming the data is accurate, there is more to civilization than population growth and wealth.
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In reality:
“San Francisco population declines again, hitting lowest level since 2012”
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-population-declines-17746756.php
“A Quarter Million People Fled the Bay Area Since Covid”
https://sfstandard.com/research-data/san-francisco-bay-area-california-population-decline-census-pandemic-covid/
“San Francisco Bay Area Housing Market Crashes, Prices Plunge 35% from Crazy Peak”
“Exodus Of Wealthy From Bay Area Leads To Drop In Median Income”
https://patch.com/california/san-francisco/exodus-wealthy-bay-area-leads-drop-median-income
“Pandemic exodus left Bay Area with largest drop in household income in U.S.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/09/san-francisco-bay-area-income-pandemic/
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Thank you.
Tom, can you provide citations for the info you posted?
Again, destruction of a city must be evaluated as more than just financial and population statistics. Perhaps in San Francisco’s case, these numbers are not the cause, but the result of destruction.
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“can you provide citations for the info you posted”
Macrotrends for population
I don’t remember where I grabbed the median income number, but PROBABLY from the St. Louis Fed “FRED” data site.
I haven’t personally ever visited San Francisco, but both my friends who live there, and “conservative” columnist Steven Greenhut, who lives in SoCal but visits San Francisco several times a year, say that the “destruction” claims are pretty much BS and that it’s a fantastic place to live if you can afford it (I tend to prefer country living, myself, but to each their own).
Tamara and I are hoping to visit it some time. One of my goals there is to dive into San Francisco Bay at the same spot Jimmy Stewart did to save Kim Novak in Vertigo.
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That is definitely neat! A great goal. Thanks for the citations, which will help everyone figure out the situation. I have not been to SF since 2015, and before that 2005, for the first time since I was stationed there in the early and mid-1980s. My opinion was that it has consistently deteriorated each time – and I lived there at the Presidio for four years total. My information comes from friends who have (in a few cases) lived there all their lives, and they are talking about living conditions and more and more closing of businesses and relocation of offices and even churches. Of having to step over human feces on the sidewalk to go into a store, of panhandlers, and of mass shoplifting from stores I recall from all my time there. And I admit to being influenced by videos of people living in RVs and tents along miles of highways in Marin County, and in tents and cars on former military bases (now national parks) in the vicinity. Including the Presidio itself. I agree with Steven and friends: it was a fantastic
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So far as I can tell, the mass shoplifting thing neither began in nor is limited to San Francisco.
Thieves will always take advantage of temporary technological advantages. The fairly new ubiquity of smart phones gave thieves an instant ad hoc “safety in numbers” advantage — use texting to set up and activate a “flash mob,” and instead of boosting that TV and hoping you can outrun security, there are 20 people stealing things and running at the same time, decreasing your chances of being the one they catch (if they catch anyone) by 95%.
Eventually someone will come up with a good countermeasure to make that harder. And then some enterprising thieves will come up with yet another new tactic.
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