Rembert Explains America: Detroit vs. Everybody
I really enjoyed the lines about how he believes the rest of America wants Detroit to fail. I guess it appealed to that part of me which falls for the nobody-respects-us cliche. Although in this case I think it's fair to say in this case that you don't have to invent the disrespect.
The Transformers surprise was a nice touch too.
Then I was disappointed that, despite the anti-ruin-porn thing, he basically focused on ruin porn. And empty places. It undermined the whole first half of the essay.
August 11th, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^
...for some to openly root for Detroit to fail so as to confirm their preconceived notions of why the city is in the situation it's in.
Those people suck.
August 12th, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^
I'd argue that's not the only reason. I think, along similar lines, coastal types also root for Detroit's failure to confirm their preconceived notions of the supposed superiority of their own locales. It's a fairly true stereotype that the coasts think that anything in between is a rusted-out, worthless backwater. If Detroit is awful, they can point there and say, "see?"
Maybe that's another way of saying the same thing.
August 14th, 2013 at 1:13 PM ^
I think it also has to do with the synonimity of "Detroit" the city with "Detroit" the US Auto Industry. There is a lot of stigma (rightly or wrongly) about the US Government's involvement in GM and Chrysler's bankrupcies. Many people dislike what happened and actively root against and/or don't support those two companies, which I think can lead to people rooting against "Detroit".
That said, I am biased but I think that cars now are better than they have ever been, and Ford, GM, and Chrysler are all putting out some absolutely great products. The notion of "foreign" automakers is a lot smaller too, Toyota's US Tech Center is in Ann Arbor, and next week I'm going to visit 4 customers (I work for an Auto Supplier) near Detroit: 2 US OEMs, a French based supplier, and a German based supplier. All of them are located in Metro Detroit. Oh, and US auto sales might hit 16M again this year, which is pretty much the normal, pre-recession number. People seem to forget that the US Auto Industry pulled the US out of the post-9/11 recession (0% for 60) and that they are doing a great job of pulling the US out of this one too.
As a very amateur photographer, I always wanted to go after some ruin porn, but my moral compass never let me do it. It's just too sad and even if I wasn't going to try to monetize the photos, something just seems wrong about it.
That said, I got this book for XMAS a year or two ago:
http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Moore-Detroit-Disassembled/dp/8862081189
So maybe I'm a bit of a hypocrit.
I fail to see how 'ruin porn' is a moral issue. Detroiters, and possibly others in failing areas, are really sensitive about because obviously. No one else need feel guilt over the issue.
August 8th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
I wouldn't feel comfortable/right taking my $600 camera into someone's former house to take pictures of how shitty its become. And I really wouldn't feel comfortable selling those pictures.
Maybe "moral" isn't the right word.
August 11th, 2013 at 6:26 PM ^
...is ethical. I support the way you dealt with your dilemma.
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