what's wrong with philadephia?

(link goes to eddie's post. also updated text.)

we're a horrible city filled with horrible people.

and look, there's even an interactive murder map! you can even sort by age and race! (would people would call me a racist if i pointed out that 211 of the 296 murders were black males? too late.)

all of us who have played simcity know that crime is a socio-economical problem and this whole murder pandemic thing will take many many many many years to correct (and full police department funding!). and there's a fuckton of causes and symptoms but no one magic silver bullet. let's see: our public schools are awful and our kids are apparently dumb. our police department is shrinking. we've got unemployment. there's guns everywhere. we have a street culture and mentality that embraces violence and police noncooperation. we have shitty civic pride, civic self esteem issues, and an inferiority complex to new york city. and our sports teams haven't won anything in forever and are downright disappointing all the time. one out of four philadelphians live below the poverty line. i also blame grand theft auto.

would more and better schools help? would more police officers help? would more jobs help? would citywide anger management and therapy help? would citywide internet help? would martial law help? would just one freaking championship help?

there's a magic affluent bubble around center city where none of those really affects those of us who live here. we read about the new daily death count online while sipping our chai teas and shake our heads before clicking on the next link blissfully ignorant of what it really means to us, if anything. meh.

the city is on fire, folks. and i can't wait for guitar hero 2.