Quote Originally Posted by casscorridor View Post
Corktown Yuppie, I hate to get this off track from a topic, but your comments are very troubling. Yours is the type of attitude that will generate great animosity from native Detroiters toward newcomers.

The yuppie ideology is improving a neighborhood for himself, to ignore current residents grievances, to disregard their history, and to look the other way when they get forced out. The yuppie improves the physical aesthetics of the neighborhood by renovating housing and adding new grocery stores, coffee shops and retail stores. But all to serve himself, not existing residents. The yuppie is happy when the existing residents "move away or die."

They yuppie also has a skewed worldview, which is directly related to his privileged experience. "People don't build things. Machines do." I'm confused by this statement, are there not millions of people working in factories around the world producing things you rely on? They may not be in America, more likely a country in the global south where wages are low and workers can be easily exploited [[and increasingly in prisons right here in the good ol' USA). Although automation is growing, most things are still produced by human workers. Try living life without these hard-working people. I know the yuppie can't.

Things will continue to be produced by real humans far into the future, regardless of new innovations in automation. Capital is worthless without labor. Where do you think the wealth of America [[and the yuppie lifestyle) comes from? It came from exploitation on a mass scale, starting with the pillaging of native Americans and their land, continuing with mass enslavement of Africans, and now wage slavery. It would be impossible for a billionaire to "work" for his wealth, he must instead exploit someone else. They yuppie will help him, because he will be rewarded with a comfortable lifestyle.

This doesn't mean we must exploit others to have a wholesome, meaningful and comfortable life.You don't need a billion dollars for that. No, we can all have dignified and creative jobs and share in the labor to create this good life. We can all have good and plentiful housing, food, health and leisure, without any exploitation or oppression at all. We just have to take private productive property out of the hands of the 1% of the world, and redistribute the wealth so everyone has ownership and a democratic say in their workplace, their neighborhood, their government and the economy as a whole. But yuppie finds this too radical, he would rather donate to charity because it makes him feel good, it takes the guilt out of living his yuppie life when people are exploited all around him.

You say "either the people here will change their mindset, or the city will change when those people move away or die." I say, people here will change their mindset and knock the capitalist pigs off their ass, and rebuild the city and the world in a way that is just, equitable and democratic for all. They will let you join them, but only if you work and contribute like everyone else, rather than just leeching off other peoples work.

If you don't like it, take your yuppie ideology to a deserted island where there will be no people to exploit and no environment to destroy. The yuppie, in the end [[I hope) will choose to join the people.
That was beautiful. We need a "like" button on Detroit YES