[lbo-talk] NYC as model of civic virtue

[Carl Remick]

[What nonsense to contrast the supposed cantankerousness of NYCers with the 
apparent fatalism of NOers.  In my long experience with NYC, New Yorkers are 
willing to put up with any amount of crap in terms of decayed infrastructure 
and poor public services.  In fact they pride themselves on it as a 
demonstration of how tough they are versus wussy out-of-towners.  As a 
result, New Yorkers are willing to endure the rule of a proto-fascist like 
Giuliani or a swaggering billionaire like Bloomberg with no complaint at 
all, as the city subsides into a vapid, touristy, Disney-esque parody of its 
former dynamism.]

September 26, 2005

Sometimes, Complaining Is a Civic Virtue

By JOYCE PURNICK

... [B]ack from assignment in Louisiana, ... [I have] some advice for New 
Yorkers: keep on kvetching. The people of New York are always complaining - 
about the schools, the housing, the traffic, the noise. We complain about 
everything, and good for us.

It keeps our politicians listening, and sometimes they hear.

In Louisiana there's a kind of collective resignation in the air. People are 
not accustomed to a lot from government, and they do not get a lot. Roy W. 
Fletcher, a political consultant and lifelong Louisianian, explained that 
political accountability was an alien concept in his state. "Everyone 
expects a handout, nothing else," he said. "It's 'how about a little favor, 
bro?' " ...

<http://select.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/nyregion/26matters.html?8hpib>

Carl