I don’t much like to engage in Internet shaming, especially when it’s based on a single careless or thoughtless remark that leads to someone’s character being permanently smeared or their career ruined. But this letter, written by one Justin Keller, a startup founder with a blog and a Twi**er site, is beyond the pale. It’s directed to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr, and it’s a mystery why Keller, after being crucified on social media for what he said below, has still left the letter up on his site.

Nominally, it decries the plight of San Francisco’s many homeless people (there are about 7,000; lots of the homeless wind up in California because the weather is more conducive to living outdoors). Keller’s letter starts out seeming reasonable:

I am writing today, to voice my concern and outrage over the increasing homeless and drug problem that the city is faced with. I’ve been living in SF for over three years, and without a doubt it is the worst it has ever been. Every day, on my way to, and from work, I see people sprawled across the sidewalk, tent cities, human feces, and the faces of addiction. The city is becoming a shanty town… Worst of all, it is unsafe.

Then he recounts three incidents involving him and his family: 1) a homeless person leaned up against his parents’ car when they were visiting, and then fought with a bystander; 2) another homeless (and possibly mentally ill) person was shouting and trying to pull his own pants down as Keller and his folks left the city’s famous Tadich Grill; and 3) a drunk guy walked into a theater where Keller was watching a film with his girlfriend, making a ruckus and disturbing a lot of the patrons.

Well, yes, this is what happens in a city full of homeless people—some of them drunk, mentally ill, or on drugs. It’s a shameful issue whose solution is not easy, especially when some of those people actually want to be on the streets, or when services to the mentally ill have been drastically curtailed for lack of funds.

But that’s not what really bothered Keller. He’s not so much interested in this symptom of societal dysfunction as the fact that he and his friends and relatives have to look at it:

What are you going to do to address this problem? The residents of this amazing city no longer feel safe. I know people are frustrated about gentrification happening in the city, but the reality is, we live in a free market society. The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city. They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn’t have to worry about being accosted. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day. I want my parents when they come visit to have a great experience, and enjoy this special place.

Talk about entitlement! Read the part in bold again.  And what’s his solution? He doesn’t really have one, but he does want those homeless people out of his sight (the emphasis here is his):

I am telling you, there is going to be a revolution. People on both sides are frustrated, and you can sense the anger. The city needs to tackle this problem head on, it can no longer ignore it and let people do whatever they want in the city. I don’t have a magic solution… It is a very difficult and complex situation, but somehow during Super Bowl, almost all of the homeless and riff raff[1] seem to up and vanish. I’m willing to bet that was not a coincidence. Money and political pressure can make change. So it is time to start making progress, or we as citizens will make a change in leadership and elect new officials who can.

The “revolution”, of course, won’t happen, and if it does we won’t see revolts by the homeless, who are powerless. (The “footnote” after “riff raff” leads to an apology Keller added later, but that seems to be the only thing for which he’s apologized.)

Keller isn’t the first tech guy to go the Insensitive Route. As sfist.com notes:

And, before you ask, Keller appears blissfully unaware of those who precede him in the pantheon of SF infamy. That would be, namely, Peter Shih — who in a similar tirade was called out for statements like “just because San Francisco has the worst Female to Male ratio in the known universe doesn’t give you the right to be a bitch all the time,” — and Greg Gopman, who described SF’s homeless people as “degenerates” and “Hyenas” before repositioning himself as their savior. (Gopman was last seen on an “Eat, Pray, Love” style vacation from which he may or may not plan to return.)

Reader gravelinspector, who sent me this link, argues that such attitudes are the result of the entitlement bred into today’s college students. The letter, he said, is “a view into the mindset of ‘special snowflakes’ who object to things that offend them in their university time, when they move on to a life in the outside world. . . Quoth the snowflake, ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people.'”

Gravelinspector may be right, though perhaps Keller’s entitlement came simply from being raised as a spoiled brat. But remember, too, that some sociologists see the unfounded entitlement of college students as the product of those modern children who are raised by helicopter parents, infused with a sense of their importance and told that All Must Have Prizes. That is, Brats —>Snowflakes. After all, Keller was offended by the sight of the homeless, just as Princeton students are offended by the sight of images of Woodrow Wilson.

I’m not writing this to show that there are insensitive jerks in the world. Lord knows that Keller’s attitudes aren’t uncommon, and reactions like his could be multiplied a thousandfold. If I posted on them all, that’s all I’d have time to write about.

The point is what gravelinspector said: the entitlement of today’s young people may not stop when they leave college. In fact, I don’t think it will. Some readers say that when the “snowflakes” collide with the real world, they’ll get a rude comeuppance. But what if the snowflakes are so numerous that they become the real world? After all, college administrators, governments, and many leftist journalists are starting to adopt the viewpoint of The Snowflake. The Guardian and the U.S.’s National Public Radio are two instances.

I don’t know if the egress of Snowflakes into the real world will lead to a general infantilization of society. What I’m hoping for is progress along the moral arc, but that’s not necessarily what Special Snowflakes want. Many want attention and privilege for themselves despite claiming that they want it for others. (I am not claiming that this is always the case!). I’m at least a bit optimistic, for there will always be those dedicated to the real heavy lifting: the genuine physical effort it takes to raise the oppressed, marginalized, sick, and helpless.

h/t: Gravelinspector