I just had a very interesting conversation with my liberal thinking son who grew up in Seattle, graduated from Roosevelt High School then attended SUNY Purchase, the very liberal New York college, and who now lives in Brooklyn, the bastion of America's liberal writers and thinkers.
He told me that in NY he feels free but in Seattle he had constant reminders of how to conform, he felt a stifling of his personal freedom. All for the public's good of course, and, for his own good, of course. As one of several examples he cited the experience of arriving at a bus stop in downtown Seattle and seeing a 25 foot smoking ban zone sign added to a Bus stop sign.
A small thing perhaps, but it reminded him of the seven variants of the androids in the TV series Battle Star Galactica. Each variant had to act a certain way or it would be isolated from the society.
The social control scene in Seattle felt to him as if Seattleites had to act a certain way, as decreed by the establishment, or they would be isolated from the flock.
Perhaps there's hope for him yet.
Posted by SteveLondon at April 24, 2007 10:09 PM | Email ThisI think this is what is meant by the liberal "Seattle Nannycrats." They want to run our lives, tell us how late we can stay up on Friday and Saturday nights, take away our cars (and force us to ride stinky busses), all the while dumping millions into programs that don't work. Have you been in downtown lately?!? The skid row types are everywhere, and in addition to a lot of truant school kids, there are gang-bangers who were locked up in the 80s and 90s coming back to their old turf. It's not a fun place to work or live -- I understand why your son prefers Brooklyn.
Posted by: Patrick on April 25, 2007 11:27 PM