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Why San Francisco Is the New Renaissance Florence
waderoush writes "Despite legitimate concerns over sky-high rents, Ellis Act evictions, Google Bus traffic, and the like, the San Francisco Bay Area is perhaps the most prosperous, comfortable, enlightened, stimulating, and generative place to live in Western history. For satisfying parallels, you'd have to look to a place like Florence and a time like the Renaissance, argues an Xconomy essay entitled From Cosimo to Cosmos: The Medici Effect in Culture and Technology. Today's coder-kings are working to reinvent economic structures in much the same way Renaissance painters, poets, architects, and scientists were trying to extend the framework they'd inherited from classical Greece and Rome. And in the role of the Medici family, long Florence's most powerful rulers and art patrons, we have people like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Seth MacFarlane. Wait, what — Seth MacFarlane? Yes, the reboot of Carl Sagan's Cosmos starring Neil deGrasse Tyson (itself a tribute to the rise of science) wouldn't have happened without the involvement of a California media mogul. It's true that Silicon Valley can feel like Dante's Inferno if you're stuck in traffic on 101, or working 70-hour weeks as a code monkey at a doomed startup. But 'It would be unthinking, and ungrateful, to overlook the surplus we're reaping from the tech boom,' the essay argues."
You're just measuring prosperity by how far left the government is with its policies. That's hardly the only relevant measurement. The terms 'progressive', 'xenophobic', 'education', 'solidarity', and 'compassion' are so heavily loaded in your statement (and in the statements of most leftwing politicians) they are essentially meaningless. The left routinely violates the real definitions of these terms when it comes time to tolerate those that wish to live by differing views (that aren't on the white list). Suddenly, the dirty bootheels come out of the woodwork to 'reeducate' them away from their 'anti-social' behavior.
'progressive': is supposed to mean an objective net-improvement. in leftwing newspeak, it means 'more culturally marxist policy than yesterday.'
'xenophobic': is supposed to mean someone who fears a different culture. in left wing newspeak, it means someone who questions the law-given privileges to the castes labeled as oppressed. This ad-hominem is often hurled at people who question immigration policy. A related term used in the same way is 'homophobe'.
'education': Is supposed to teach people how to think logically and give them skillsets they need to function in reality. When left wing politicians use it, they're really referencing a system meant to indoctrinate politically correct views onto society's next generation.
'solidarity': oft abused by hardline communist governments. It's meant to foster a desire to serve others before the individual, which is laudable, except that in many cases, such governments are asking their citizens to give up unreasonable fractions their life's produce and effort, and in many historical cases, basic necessities as well.
'compassion': more shaming language. In its most extreme forms, the left wing politician uses it to shame citizens who refuse to give up just a little more than they did yesterday.