Come for the fentanyl, stay for the Narcan
But just in case the junkies missed it – they do nod out quite a bit – today the Times expands the suggestion to an all-out explicit invitation. In their Science section, they're proudly displaying a grotesque photo layout of Portland's druggies, which is is bad enough, with accompanying headlines and captions that – my word – shock the conscience.
“Portland is a homeless drug addict’s slice of paradise,” said Noah Nethers, who was living with his girlfriend in a bright orange tent on the sidewalk against a fence of a church, where they shoot and smoke both fentanyl and meth.
He ticked off the advantages: He can do drugs wherever he wants and the cops no longer harass him. There are more dealers, scouting for fresh customers moving to paradise. That means drugs are plentiful and cheap.
Saturday's piece, despite its appalling journalistic laziness, drew more than 2,200 comments on the Times website. A few Portlanders scolded the paper for daring to point out the city's profound problems. My reaction was, don't shoot the messenger. But today the messenger is behaving like, not to put too fine a point on it, a glorified click whore. It's certainly doing more harm than good. This is journalism? This is "Science"? And every 72 hours?
Ten to 15 years ago, the Times basically urged every hipster in America to move to Portland because of its potential to be a progressive utopia. A lot of hipsters took them up on it, biking their way to and from their perfectly-urban-planned apartment bunkers and voting for every quixotic left-wing candidate and ballot measure presented to them. Stick it to The Man! Although for more than a few of them, The Man was their grandfather who set up their trust fund.
Anyway, now that Portland is paying dearly for the hipsters' foolish choices, the Times has apparently decided to bring all the addicts here next. Maybe they're thinking that that will scare the hipsters back to New York, where Grandpa's money is missed. Okay, they won't be able to afford Brooklyn any more. But maybe Queens or Jersey City.
Shame on the Times. Shame, I say.
Click whore is a close high.
ReplyDeleteThe fans of the NYT won’t agree. But, fans often ignore facts about their heroes.
I’m glad they are doing these stories, which must make our local politicians a bit uncomfortable, knowing that now the whole world knows what a disaster they’ve overseen.
ReplyDeletePotland’s demise is obviously orchestrated.
ReplyDeleteLike they say the road to hell is paved in good intentions.
Delete....by its electorate.
DeleteIt’s becoming a spectator sport within the media coverage.
DeleteYes, I bet a huge swath of current and future fentanyl Portland street addicts and their pals are eagerly reading this NYT article. I work next to Pioneer Square and this article provides a very accurate snapshot of downtown. I even recognize one of the addicts who regularly lays on the sidewalk whacked out on fentanyl. Measure 110 is the dumbest law I’ve ever seen in action. Harm reduction might work in a smaller town with a functioning government and active community. Harm reduction is, and always will be, a disaster in this city.
DeleteBut we don't want to name names, that would be too revealing
DeleteNYC is falling apart faster than Portland, just a lot more of it to fall. So the Toilet Paper of Record (TPR) is just trying to get some of the riff raff to move to Portland so Widen can feel safer walking the avenues.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Columbus Ohio. Former Portland resident visiting Oregon in a rental car without Serius. Lars did give you a nice shout out for this post today Jack.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, you can think of the drug policies of the state, county, and city as helping assisted suicide to go mass market.
ReplyDelete