"That's not the Philippines that's Detroit you idiot," Spoiler 216
Are you in the music industry? It was 1997 and I was in a cab, fresh out of London and heading to the Town Pump in what passed for downtown Detroit. It was a neat evening and, long story short, I moved. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
But what a culture shock, London to Detroit. It's hard to describe even now and it was harder then. Miles of abandoned or half abandoned city blocks, criss crossed by highways and an unrelenting ghetto of decaying, abandoned, burned out, crack den dystopia. And I didn't see the half of all 138 square miles of it.
Is there anything like it in England? I don't think so and feel that friends in the Old Country thought my email reports were tall tales. No, they weren't. Then again, no city in England has lost a million plus inhabitants in the last 50 years and gone from being the automotive capital of the world to... not. So you can excuse incomprehension.
Fast forward to today. I visit the onetime Motor City when I can and always have fun; it's good to see the city's downtown and immediate neighborhoods looking less blighted and no wonder. The burned out crack houses have fallen down and reverted to nature, leaving what was once a city open to agrarian white hipsterdom. Hey, go for it kids. And the result?
A small island of central civility in the increasingly empty shell of a once major city. Not dissimilar, when you think of it, to ancient Rome following the breakdown of western imperial authority. But will America's Motor City grow wings and fly again?
Sometimes a song is worth a thousand words.
Your Old Friend,
LSP
8 comments:
No, Reverend. The Motor City will not rise from the ashes, it will remain firmly planted in the soot and filth.
It is still run by radical liberal Democrats, who refuse to believe that the ruins all around them are their fault. They still point the finger at the evil white man, who took all their money and moved to the suburbs. White flight, I believe they still call it.
Detroit is doomed to be that little speck of downtown, surrounded by a liberal Apocalypse.
I've often said that Detroit needs to be nuked in order to have the population change necessary to have it rise like the Phoenix. Where are the Russians when you need them?
Only the inhabitants can make Detroit rise again. So - the answer is no.
Never been to Detroit, so I can't put forth a knowledgable answer.
Things change for better or worse, nothing stays the same.
You've got me there, Fredd! I see Detroit as an island of repurposed skyscrapers in a sea hipster farmland. The green restaurants downtown can get their food locally, a block away, farm to table.
The Nuclear Option! LL, you're nothing if not thorough.
#wearerussianbots #hrcvideo
Adrienne, I have to agree. Mind you, something like the reverse of white flight's happening so, who knows?
Detroit's a whole special category unto itself, Brig. I like it, in a way.
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