San Francisco tech nerds: Poor people are "trash" and need to "stay out"

[Antonio the Sixth]

Disgusting. That's certainly not the San Francisco I've known.

[DINGO Joe]

Sure this Greg Gopman is a douche, but maybe it's not out of elitist bigotry, but out of fear--he fears his future competition.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/leo-the-homeless-coder-finished-his-app--and-you-can-download-it-right-now-195026043.html

See, once angel investors realize they don't have to shower people like Gopman with cash and fancy office space to create new product, instead giving the homeless cheap coding lessons to do it, then Gopman will be on the street with them--just another commodity. 

For a slightly different perspective on the homeless coder:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/leo-the-homeless-coder-finished-his-app--and-you-can-download-it-right-now-195026043.html

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Obviously, this is an unproductive complaint about the homeless problem in San Francisco and this guy is a monster.  But, the solution isn't scapegoating the annoying rich people. 

But, let me remind you residents of Mt. Pious, homelessness does actually create social problems that annoy people.  It's annoying to have a homeless man stink up your subway car.  It's annoying to have people panhandling on the streets.  It's annoying to get mugged or stolen from.  Those are legitimate annoyances and I think that's what the guy is responding to.  If you went to downtown San Francisco or Portland, Oregon most of you would be annoyed too. 

The solution though is not to banish these people.  What we ought to do is provide mental healthcare, drug treatment and a better quality of life for poor people.

I rarely get annoyed at the homeless in Portland...

[Beet]

If these people didn't think what they did made them superior human beings they'd lose all motivation to work 150 hours a week.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Hell, I was robbed by a homeless person, and even I don't mind them. I'm sure this d-bag has held plenty of fundraisers for Nancy Pelosi too .

[Indy Texas]

Sure this Greg Gopman is a douche, but maybe it's not out of elitist bigotry, but out of fear--he fears his future competition.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/leo-the-homeless-coder-finished-his-app--and-you-can-download-it-right-now-195026043.html

See, once angel investors realize they don't have to shower people like Gopman with cash and fancy office space to create new product, instead giving the homeless cheap coding lessons to do it, then Gopman will be on the street with them--just another commodity. 

For a slightly different perspective on the homeless coder:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/leo-the-homeless-coder-finished-his-app--and-you-can-download-it-right-now-195026043.html

The homeless coder strikes me as yet another glaring example of the extent to which our childhoods determine who and what we become. Some people would like to assume that man is homeless because he's lazy or isn't smart and therefore doesn't deserve things like a roof over his head. And what happens when someone actually gives a sh!t about him and gives time and money towards helping him develop intellectually? He proves Edmund Burke's assertion that the most basic human sentiment that we all share is curiosity.

Compare the homeless coder to Bill Gates. When Bill Gates was growing up in his well-to-do suburban family, the parents at his middle school purchased a computer for the students to use - in the 1960s when this was no small financial task. Young Bill discovered that programming BASIC  and Fortran was actually pretty fun. But what if Gates' parents and his friends' parents weren't wealthy professionals who could afford such a lavish investment in their kids' futures? In all likelihood, if Bill Gates had instead been born to an assembly line worker at a Boeing plant, Bill Gates would today be a 58 year old aerospace factory worker worried that his job his going to get moved to South Carolina and that his union pension is in jeopardy. Someone else would have created something more or less like Microsoft and Bill Gates would be just another schmuck.

[Cassius]

If these people didn't think what they did made them superior human beings they'd lose all motivation to work 150 hours a week.

This, in essence, is what it all boils down to. Thinking everybody is equal is good and all, but when it comes down to it, its actually a fairly dismal and disconcerting viewpoint.

[Beet]

If these people didn't think what they did made them superior human beings they'd lose all motivation to work 150 hours a week.

This, in essence, is what it all boils down to. Thinking everybody is equal is good and all, but when it comes down to it, its actually a fairly dismal and disconcerting viewpoint.

Well yes. We should all delude ourselves into thinking that superiority rests in whatever will get us running hardest against the hamster wheel.

[Foucaulf]

Another topic on which partisan IDs break down! This is great.

Some context on this issue: it's amusing that this Floridian tech kid is referring to San Francisco as  "our city," since Silicon Valley people like him are also suspect among residents for driving up house prices. And it's silly to demonize homeless people like this, since the problem is precisely how their situation and methods to cope with it creates a vicious spiral.

OP is also not talking about Facebook, Amazon and the big companies that have IPOs. The ones he and the bloggers ridicule are the ones seemingly picked at random by venture capitalists, so flush off of the return on a good investment that they can take risks. The problem is that the market is saturated, which hurts especially if the one stream of revenue is advertising. The result is companies bleeding money on publicity and other trivialities without any signs of a userbase.

I wouldn't think calling Silicon Valley people ”yuppies" is a stretch: they have their certain worldview, they are fixed to certain areas (to catch that venture capital) and they're paid very well based on ambiguous indicators of human capital. The result is social instability. If Atlas cares about instability in Latvia and Ghana, I don't see why it should ignore U.S. cases.

[CountryClassSF]

Thank goodness this guy was brave enough to speak the truth about this filthy freakshow city that I live in.

The headline in this post is a bit misleading, he wasn't talking about "the poor" -- I can go to poor communities in West Virginia and Mississippi and actually feel safe walking down the street. I DON'T feel safe walking down the street here in this 3rd world cesspool, because the so-called homeless here are aggressive and mentally ill.

I think you're going to see more of this as tech people continue to move into the Bay Area.  They're coming from normal places, and they are shocked to see what a 3rd world this place has become. I want to move.

I love how it's somehow a NEWSFLASH to people in this town that yes, most people don't like walking down the street and having to see freaks everywhere.

You all have to live here to see what this guy is talking about. All he's doing is observing his surroundings, and the communist "majority" is trashing him because of it.  Yes, the guy's probably a lib himself...

[Zioneer]

Thank goodness this guy was brave enough to speak the truth about this filthy freakshow city that I live in.

The headline in this post is a bit misleading, he wasn't talking about "the poor" -- I can go to poor communities in West Virginia and Mississippi and actually feel safe walking down the street. I DON'T feel safe walking down the street here in this 3rd world cesspool, because the so-called homeless here are aggressive and mentally ill.

I think you're going to see more of this as tech people continue to move into the Bay Area.  They're coming from normal places, and they are shocked to see what a 3rd world this place has become. I want to move.

I love how it's somehow a NEWSFLASH to people in this town that yes, most people don't like walking down the street and having to see freaks everywhere.

Wow, you are a terrible person.

[CountryClassSF]

I'm sorry you feel that way.  But, the broader point I'm trying to make is, he wasn't trashing the "poor." He was talking about the mentally ill majority here in the city. This city finds normalcy to be OFFENSIVE, and it's discouraged to act and blend in with the rest of society east of the bay bridge.

Try being a conservative in the most "Tolerant" city in America. Try it for a day.

[Miles]

I'm sorry you feel that way.  But, the broader point I'm trying to make is, he wasn't trashing the "poor." He was talking about the mentally ill majority here in the city. This city finds normalcy to be OFFENSIVE, and it's discouraged to act and blend in with the rest of society east of the bay bridge.

Try being a conservative in the most "Tolerant" city in America. Try it for a day.

Zioneer is a liberal from Utah; he might know a thing or two about that.

[Ban my account ffs!]

We get it.  You're another persecuted conservative, scared of the world, with a chip on his shoulder.  Dime a dozen.

If you don't like the place... move.  Preferably to West Virginia or Mississippi.

[CountryClassSF]

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No sorry, there's a difference when people like this (and Peter Shih from before) speak out and it makes the front page.  Liberals are all about shaming people in public. That's an Alinsky tactic. 

Think about it, some dude makes a comment about the tech industry, and it made the front pages across the city. What sane society would consider someone's opinion on where they live to be major news?

[RedSLC]

I'm sorry you feel that way.  But, the broader point I'm trying to make is, he wasn't trashing the "poor." He was talking about the mentally ill majority here in the city. This city finds normalcy to be OFFENSIVE, and it's discouraged to act and blend in with the rest of society east of the bay bridge.

Try being a conservative in the most "Tolerant" city in America. Try it for a day.

You do know that, contrary to what you think, not everyone who is homeless is a mentally ill deviant. In fact, a great deal of them are normal people who have been lost their homes due to unfortunate circumstances that hit them, and if anything, helping them get back on their feet and reintegrate, rather then driving them away, will only contribute to the economy and help the city sustain itself.

Oh, and about your second part, try being a liberal in Provo. Or in Cedar City, where a local businessman fired a couple of his employees solely because they voted for Obama. This works both ways.

[CountryClassSF]

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I made that point in my post, that that's why saying that Gopman made comments about the "poor" is deceptive.  Sorry, but I actually live here, and the majority of people on the streets here particularly in the downtown area on Market St are mentally ill.  I don't even think a lot of them are homeless, just loud and they have like a gang-sta type attitude or something. It frightens me to walk down the street sometimes.

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Well, as a fan of Utah County, I think you should feel very lucky to live in one of the cleanest, safest, most highest quality of life places in this country.

[RedSLC]

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I made that point in my post, that that's why saying that Gopman made comments about the "poor" is deceptive.  Sorry, but I actually live here, and the majority of people on the streets here particularly in the downtown area on Market St are mentally ill.  I don't even think a lot of them are homeless, just loud and they have like a gang-sta type attitude or something. It frightens me to walk down the street sometimes.

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Well, as a fan of Utah County, I think you should feel very lucky to live in one of the cleanest, safest, most highest quality of life places in this country.

First part: Do you have any proof to support either of those statements? If they're not really homeless, what possible reason would they have to pretend to be?

Second part: First, I don't live in Utah County - I live in Salt Lake County - specifically Salt Lake City. It has all of the benefits you mentioned and more stuff to do than in Utah County and I can openly support democratic candidates. All of the positives, and none of the negatives.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

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No sorry, there's a difference when people like this (and Peter Shih from before) speak out and it makes the front page.  Liberals are all about shaming people in public. That's an Alinsky tactic. 

Miles tries to communicate that the person to whom you're talking might have some sympathy for how you feel; you reject this sympathy and substitute an irrelevant and more or less content-free tangent where you manage to bring up noted Pacem in Terris Award laureate and interlocutor of almost-Cardinal Maritain Saul Alinsky as a sort of demonic bugbear. Lovely.

[CountryClassSF]

I see. Well, you had said "Try being a liberal in Provo" so I assumed that's where you lived. It certainly seems like you're brushing off the fact that there are lunatics in the streets around here. Face it, you don't have that problem in the real Utah,, which is one of the greatest and safest states in the nation as you're probably aware. Yes, SLC area is more sympathetic to some aspects of liberal leftism, but it's nothing compared to around here. This place is on its own planet, and I actually live here, and I observe the things Gopman has observed. It's a dirty city that can't even clean the roads!

[RedSLC]

I see. Well, you had said "Try being a liberal in Provo" so I assumed that's where you lived. It certainly seems like you're brushing off the fact that there are lunatics in the streets around here. Face it, you don't have that problem in the real Utah,, which is one of the greatest and safest states in the nation as you're probably aware. Yes, SLC area is more sympathetic to some aspects of liberal leftism, but it's nothing compared to around here. This place is on its own planet, and I actually live here, and I observe the things Gopman has observed. It's a dirty city that can't even clean the roads!

Again, do you have proof that the homeless people of San Francisco are mentally ill or "faking" besides anecdotal evidence?

And what's this about the "real" Utah? Are you implying that SLC shouldn't be part of the state because it doesn't conform to the rest of the state politically? If so, then by that logic, all the conservative parts of California should be thrown out of the state for not being part of the "real" California.

[Miles]

Again, do you have proof that the homeless people of San Francisco are mentally ill or "faking" besides anecdotal evidence?

And what's this about the "real" Utah? Are you implying that SLC shouldn't be part of the state because it doesn't conform to the rest of the state politically?

SLC's status as a Pro-America city may be questionable.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thank goodness this guy was brave enough to speak the truth about this filthy freakshow city that I live in.

The headline in this post is a bit misleading, he wasn't talking about "the poor" -- I can go to poor communities in West Virginia and Mississippi and actually feel safe walking down the street. I DON'T feel safe walking down the street here in this 3rd world cesspool, because the so-called homeless here are aggressive and mentally ill.

I think you're going to see more of this as tech people continue to move into the Bay Area.  They're coming from normal places, and they are shocked to see what a 3rd world this place has become. I want to move.

I love how it's somehow a NEWSFLASH to people in this town that yes, most people don't like walking down the street and having to see freaks everywhere.

You all have to live here to see what this guy is talking about. All he's doing is observing his surroundings, and the communist "majority" is trashing him because of it.  Yes, the guy's probably a lib himself...

Why don't you get the hell out of SF then? It's pretty clear this city is far too awesome for a sad, pathetic little piece of sh*t like you.

[Mechaman]

Wow what a worthless thread who cares?

To be fair, I'm not sure what I was expecting when I clicked the title.

Yes, I am overwhelmingly surprised with the recent tone taken by this IndyTx guy.  I'm actually starting to like this guy.

[Zioneer]

I see. Well, you had said "Try being a liberal in Provo" so I assumed that's where you lived. It certainly seems like you're brushing off the fact that there are lunatics in the streets around here. Face it, you don't have that problem in the real Utah,, which is one of the greatest and safest states in the nation as you're probably aware. Yes, SLC area is more sympathetic to some aspects of liberal leftism, but it's nothing compared to around here. This place is on its own planet, and I actually live here, and I observe the things Gopman has observed. It's a dirty city that can't even clean the roads!

Then why on earth don't you leave SF? If you hate it's people and quirkiness so much, why don't you leave it?

Like SLValleyMan and Miles said, I live in Utah, and in a conservative city (West Jordan, a very conservative suburb of SLC). I dislike it here, there's nothing to do, it's generic to a fault, you can't get anywhere unless you drive (I can't), it's very conservative, and a bit stifling. Yet I love my state, if not my city. I like the people here, even if they're culturally and politically conservative. I would not consider West Jordanians or Utahns as a whole "freaks".

And I would consider all parts of Utah to be the "real Utah"; Provo, SLC, whatever. And it seems like you're implying that because SLC is diverse and politically liberal, it is not "real Utah". That's false. SLC has always been a part of "real Utah", and it's been diverse and relatively liberal since the 1860s. Working at a thrift store in West Jordan, I got people from SLC coming in all the time, counter-culture types, refugees from dozens of different countries, etc. I consider them all part of "real Utah".

So knock it off with your smug, self-righteous superiority.