I have always loved San Francisco. It is one of the few places on this earth where no picture can do it justice. The real thing needs no enhancement. However, thanks to decades of Democratic leadership, it is rapidly becoming the “Pity by the Bay.”
We had season tickets to the San Francisco Giants for over 25 years. But then in 2020, I decided to give up my tickets. There were three main reasons for this decision. One was that the Giants were playing horribly. A far change from the team that won three World Series. Another was that because of this poor performance, the Giants were scrambling to sell tickets. I found my self sitting next to someone who had paid half the price I paid because of price slashing by the Giants. I was disgusted that a season ticket holder was expected to pay more than someone who bought a ticket 24 hours before the game. But the final straw was the rapid deterioration of the environment around the ballpark. For over 25 years we had a nice, pleasant walk to the stadium. But in more recent years, homeless people started camping out everywhere. It became impossible to walk to the stadium without being confronted several times by someone begging for money. At times it was actually scary to walk to and from the stadium.
The timing turned out to be brilliant, because it was in March of 2020 and about a week later, COVID 19 hit. The Giants played in front of empty seats. I often wonder how long I would have waited to get a refund if I had renewed my tickets.
Several years ago, San Francisco self-righteously decided it would boycott conservative states that did not embrace “San Francisco” values. At last count, that was up to 30 states. But there was a problem. It turned out that while none of these 30 states needed San Francisco, San Francisco needed them. Just recently, the Board of Supervisors quietly reversed this idiotic decision, because nothing was gained, except high costs and inconvenience.
Bud Light and more recently Fox News both embraced the woke movement with disastrous results. It turned out that Bud Light needed those disgusting redneck right wing conservatives more than they needed Bud Light. The stock price fell like a stone and there has been an immediate and probably permanent drop in Bud Light sales. Then Fox News fired Tucker Carlson without considering the significance of firing someone with a huge audience.
Something really big is happening and it will change our world. The experiment of punishing firms for failing to go woke has been a massive failure. For example, Chick-fil-A was boycotted by the liberal left because it was considered to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community. The result of the boycott was that Chick-fil-a had to put up with record sales. While the woke community assumes that everyone with half a brain shares their values, the reality is the exact opposite:
Chick-fil-A boycott: How did liberals forget to cancel the chicken chain? (slate.com)
Bed Bath and Beyond arrogantly and self-righteously decided to stop selling “My Pillow” products. Perhaps it is a coincidence, but Bed Bath & Beyond recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Closing several stores was not enough to save the company.
Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy after years of declining sales (nbcnews.com)
The real message here, ignored too often by politicians in both parties, is that if the people who work for a living stop buying things, you stop selling things. No matter how much the “woke” community embraces your decision, there either aren’t enough of them to matter, or they just aren’t the people who buy things. Either way, Margaret Thatcher was right when she said the reason socialism always fails is that eventually they run out of other people’s money.
There are other things happening, ignored by the MSM. People aren’t exactly lining up to buy electric vehicles (EVs). They also aren’t moving north to escape global warming. It turns out that instead of fearing climate change destroying the world, we should fear those who are using the irrational fear of climate change to promote self-righteous, progressive, and frankly stupid programs guaranteed to fail.
While we all should reject racism and we should avoid discriminating against people just because they are different, we shouldn’t forget that sometimes the most important factor to consider is pure competence. This is easy to explain. Would you feel safer if you needed critical heart surgery if the doctor was less experienced and unqualified but was transgender. How about the person flying that airliner.
I used to do a lot of public speaking and I Often posed a simple question. “Suppose you were in a car, and you wanted to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles. About five hours later, you noticed a sign saving “Welcome to Oregon.” You asked the driver why you were entering Oregon, which is north of San Francisco, when we wanted to go to Los Angeles, which is South of San Francisco. The driver arrogantly says, ‘You don’t understand, I have been driving very carefully, within the speed limit. I have obeyed every traffic sign. My driving has been superb.’ But you reply, but I wanted and needed to go to Los Angeles. It doesn’t matter how carefully you drive if you are headed in the wrong direction.”
The entire country is headed in the wrong direction, and that is becoming increasingly obvious. One shocking example of that is the “Pity by the Bay.” A place where a 22-story glass office building is on sale for $60 million. A couple of years ago, the price would have been $300 million. It turns out a million-dollar view is worthless you are distracted by an entire city rushing full speed ahead in the wrong direction.
TDM