Detropia, it's coming to you...

zombiegirl

"When you see your neighbor going down, you have to think about yourself. And if you don’t go help your neighbor put that fire out, then that fire is coming to you. What happened in Detroit is now spreading throughout . . . it’s coming to you."



"I don't know if y'all understand, but... they shutting down schools. They shutting down... futures, basically."

Last week, I was able to see a local showing of this amazing documentary. It paints a haunting, yet optimistic image of a city in turmoil. From behind the scenes at a jazz bar, to following union workers as they struggle for livable wages, to investigating abandoned buildings and ruin porn, to commenting on the local artist insurgence who have discovered cheap loft space and a veritable utopia for the arts within the city... All in all, it's amazing.

I highly recommend checking this out if anyone gets a chance. By the end, I had tears in my eyes and the entire theater had erupted in a joyous round of applause.

Official website

Talisman

That looks really good. I wonder if it will be showing in any theaters near me.

Invincible_summer

I have to remember not to read the comments on Youtube...

But this looks like a very powerful doc.

Dakini

There are towns in California that have gone bankrupt. The police (what's left of a police service, maybe it's the county, now) are urging citizens to keep guns to protect themselves. Crazy stuff is starting to happen.

Jason

My friend's review of it for a local community radio station if anyone's interested: "Detropia"

Brian

Let me tell you this about Detropia:

It's about five years out-of-date as far as "bleakness". People who actually live here pretty much universally pan it as being myopic, one-sided, and disproportionate. Here is one look at it from a resident. Here's another. And another.

JohnG

The neo conservative fundamentalist loonies have won; that's all. :coffee:

zombiegirl

Brian said:

Let me tell you this about Detropia:

It's about five years out-of-date as far as "bleakness". People who actually live here pretty much universally pan it as being myopic, one-sided, and disproportionate. Here is one look at it from a resident. Here's another. And another.

Really? That's not how I felt walking away at all. I felt like it followed a pretty predictable, but still enjoyable, story arc of starting with the bad and ending with the good. I particularly enjoyed the commentary from the school teacher running the jazz bar. I started out with his quote because I liked his emphasis on community and banding together. When he said that, all I could think of was the likes of Mitt Romney and his whole, "let Detroit fail" crap.

A lot of it wasn't news to me, but it was still interesting nonetheless and I felt like it could be interesting for people outside of MI to see. But I do get that perhaps the blogger in specific was a little heavy on the ruin porn. It was a bummer that the plant the union workers were working for was ultimately closed down, but that couldn't be known when they started the documentary. It probably could have been better, but overall, walking out of the theater I felt pretty positive and optimistic about the endurance of people and community. Maybe I'm so overly optimistic it's poisoned my views, lol...

Theswingisyellow

JohnG said:

The neo conservative fundamentalist loonies have won; that's all. :coffee:

Both sides have caved to corporatism, the left and the right.
In fact the left and right no longer exist.
True liberalism is not shown in our current leader; drown strikes, illegal wars, indefinite detention, the ability to kill and having killed Americans without trial.....the list goes on. The only thing our resident democrat achieved was expanding the worst of Bush's policy. We live in country of corportism that both parties wholeheartedly support and are supported by.
The sad thing is liberalism is gone, any defense the common person might have had against the corporate rape of this country is for all intents and purposes is finished.
So we keep squabbling over wedge issues, that in the end mean very little overall, and watch as we slowly die as a nation.
My apologies for the rant.

vinlyn

Theswingisyellow said:

JohnG said:

The neo conservative fundamentalist loonies have won; that's all. :coffee:

Both sides have caved to corporatism, the left and the right.
In fact the left and right no longer exist.
True liberalism is not shown in our current leader; drown strikes, illegal wars, indefinite detention, the ability to kill and having killed Americans without trial.....the list goes on. The only thing our resident democrat achieved was expanding the worst of Bush's policy. We live in country of corportism that both parties wholeheartedly support and are supported by.
The sad thing is liberalism is gone, any defense the common person might have had against the corporate rape of this country is for all intents and purposes is finished.
So we keep squabbling over wedge issues, that in the end mean very little overall, and watch as we slowly die as a nation.
My apologies for the rant.

To begin with, I don't agree with most of your assessment.

But, if liberalism is gone, I guess that's because it was voted out. That's democracy.

Theswingisyellow

Vinlyn,
Please pick apart my assessment, I would be interested to know where you think I err, not for the purpose of starting an argument but for a better understanding and a counter view.
As for democracy- Hitler was democratically elected and so was Hamas-but that's just democracy.

vinlyn

Well, in your first sentence you say, "Both sides have caved to corporatism, the left and the right." Then in your second sentence you say, "In fact the left and right no longer exist." You can't have it both ways.

But to say that "the left" and "the right" has caved to corporatism...really, every person on the left has done that? Every person on "the right" has done that? Including you? Neither "the left" nor "the right" is a firm block of people.

"True liberalism". As if it is a rigidly defined concept.

President Obama never defined himself as a "true liberal". In fact, I don't want any president who is a "true liberal" or a "true conservative", because then they are not representing but a small group of people.

"Corportism" clearly was on the GOP side this past election. Oops.

"Corporate rape", and similar sentiments in your posting is really nothing more than a cliche.

But yes, you are right -- democracy doesn't always elect the best person or come up with the best solution...nor does any other form of government.

You also might want to read: http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/what-hitler-was-not-elected/

Theswingisyellow

Thank you for assessment.
Maybe my statements are too general.
I should have said both major parties have caved to corporatism.
I do feel on the national level, not in your average joe and jill, there is very little to distinguish the left from the right.
Corporations donote and lobby both parties extensively, to act like this is not the case is disingenuous.
I don't want a president on one extreme or the other either, but it would be nice to have one who didnt have the capacity to summarily wave my rights and detain me without charge or kill me if he saw fit. The patriot act and the NDAA certainly allow this, and has allowed this.
All the best,
Todd

Theswingisyellow

blu3ree

The cops who used to patrol my town had to move out to Pontiac because they can't pay for them so now in my town there's one cop on duty at night good thing I live in a quite town.

Revolution!
Thats what happens when gov officials take the peoples money and pocket it cough kilpatrick cough.