Anti-Hipster Graffiti a sign of widening divide in Detroit neighborhood

**motz** · August-02-13, 09:29 AM

What does it matter as long as you're contributing to the neighborhood and have a good attitude? Keeping stuff clean, not littering, fixing up your house, helping your neighbors... as long as you do that stuff, whats the big deal?

**Wesley Mouch** · August-02-13, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by motz

What does it matter as long as you're contributing to the neighborhood and have a good attitude? Keeping stuff clean, not littering, fixing up your house, helping your neighbors... as long as you do that stuff, whats the big deal?

Tribal thinking is a natural human weakness. We do best for ourselves and our tribe when we trade and share with others.

Anti-gentrification is tribalism. Fighting against good from the outside is folly. Instead of fighting gentrification, communities would be helped more by learning how to profit from gentrification. We should all want our tribes to become the gentry. American gentry is bred, not born -- well mostly.

**Bham1982** · August-02-13, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Anti-gentrification is tribalism. Fighting against good from the outside is folly.

Well, if we're talking Mexicans, they've only been 1000x more positive to SW Detroit than hipsters moving in for a few years from Shelby Twp. Is there any hipster presence west of Clark Park? Nope.

**Kevgoblue** · August-02-13, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Tribal thinking is a natural human weakness. We do best for ourselves and our tribe when we trade and share with others.

Anti-gentrification is tribalism. Fighting against good from the outside is folly. Instead of fighting gentrification, communities would be helped more by learning how to profit from gentrification.

Thats one way of looking at it.
Maybe the original tribes are holding some bad feeling directed at the newcomers. They could likely wonder why it is that better stores and ammenties don't arrive until the newcomers are there. Why police presence and responses improve only after the newcomers are there. I imagine that sends a pretty negative message about the original tribe's worth

**Bham1982** · August-02-13, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by Kevgoblue

Thats one way of looking at it.
Maybe the original tribes are holding some bad feeling directed at the newcomers. They could likely wonder why it is that better stores and ammenties don't arrive until the newcomers are there. Why police presence and responses improve only after the newcomers are there. I imagine that sends a pretty negative message about the original tribe's worth

Except that the first "tribe" [[I assume we mean Mexicans) has no idea the second "tribe" [[I assume we mean hipsters) even exists. The only way Tribe 1 would see large numbers of Tribe 2 would be at Honeybee, maybe. And I don't think the bulk of Mexicans shop at Honeybee, which is expensive and isn't where they live.

**Wesley Mouch** · August-02-13, 07:53 PM

The OPs post suggests that graffiti is a sign of a 'widening divide'.

The media loves sensationalism.

We should always remember that radicals can be a 'sign' of the future -- but more often they are simply a fringe.

So a person or two spraypaints. And we react as if there's really something going on?

Probably someone just craving attention -- and probably a hipster.