Losanjealous March 2007 Commenter of the Month: “Ric”

There are many ways one can take home the hardware for the Losanjealous Commenter of the Month Award. Usually one wins by making several comments of high quality over the course of a given month. This route is followed by cash bribes as the next most sure means to earn the title. But this month, however, neither was the case.

This month’s prize goes to a newcomer on the basis of one single comment. The comment, a Unibomberesque screed against all things Los Angeles, was issued on the final day of the month no less. “Ric,” which may or may not be his actual name, spewed anti-L.A. venom with a sustained intensity for an impressive 353 words.

You may be asking why we, as Losanjealous, pro-Los Angeles by our very nature, would select an anti-Los Angeles commenter and his rantings for the LCMA. To this we say simply, we respect opposing viewpoints. We know when we are in presence of genius, even if a particular genius stands against what we personally believe.

Ric, you nailed Los Angeles here. You called us out and made many valid points which you supported with sound reasoning. We are stronger for having to face the mirror you hold up to us and for that we thank you.

And so, much as a bomb squad dissects the components of an explosive, let us further examine the content of this comment by “Ric” in order that we may learn from it.

Ric wastes no time and starts right in with his central thesis:

Lost Angeles SUCKS!!,

He elaborates:

and at this point, I really don’t think much can be done about it as this place has sucked for sooooooo long!

For his initial shot across the bow, he attacks a familar sore spot, the early closing hours of our social establishments:

Los Angeles tries to represent itself as a 24 hour “happening” kind of city!, but, the only things that are open in L.A after 10pm are usually some cornhole nightclubs! Hollywood isn’t even a 24 hour entity.

Following his empirically verifiable statement, Ric moves on to a more abstract argument, venturing into hypothetical territory:

If you were to take Hollywood and Beverly Hills out of L.A, then this place would be like Memphis, or Arkansas or somewhere with a bunch of countrified, front porch jumping typed people!

From here, Ric moves into the sociological realm. Interestingly, he associates feeling of connectedness, or, rather, a lack thereof between individuals, with the geographical distance between various communities. The insight displayed here in making this connection between the interpersonal and geographical is pure genius and worthy of further elaboration in itself. On a side note: intriguingly, he labels this portion of his argument as #2, yet did not label the preceding as #1. What might this mean?

2)There is no real social cohesion in Los Angeles! It’s very hard to feel that you’re truly “CONNECTED” to anyone, or anything here! In L.A, you can have a grown person that has spend their whole life growing up in Compton and has NEVER been to Covina, or East L.A!, and really doesn’t want to go! Surely, people work around each other and sit on the bus next to each other!, but, when it’s over,you go back to your part of the world, and I will do the same!

Building on his assertion of an endemic lack of connectedness in Los Angeles, Ric makes the crucial interpretation that Los Angelenos do not want to know the other, painting us with a collective xenophobia. He calls this “You’re NOT my kind!, so,I don’t really want to have anything to do with you!” mentality, a memorable coined phrase sure to be used in the sociological and anthropological literature from here forward.

It seems as though people in L.A really don’t want to know what’s going on in each other’s neighborhoods, cultures,etc!, thus adding to the separatist “I’m BETTER than you!”,or “You’re NOT my kind!, so,I don’t really want to have anything to do with you”mentality!

Building on this discussion of the spatial distances of suburban Los Angeles, Ric naturally moves onto the topic of automobiles, beginning with a clever line, but quickly points out the irony that automobiles are in fact a means to distance ourselves from one another, status wise, even as they help bring us together physically.

3)Cars are built in Detroit!, but, they were born in L.A- If you don’t have a car in L.A, you are looked at like you are a NOBODY!! Hard to get jobs, dates, or anything else! It’s more than just a mode of transportation, it’s a status symbol!, and a way that folks can separate themselves from each other!

His next point is particularly powerful, all the more so for its brevity:

4)Horrible gang problems!

Having addressed man made issues, Ric spares us no pain in pointing out that L.A. is in fact God-cursed. A particularly painful point, which he shrewdly saves for a late round knockout punch in his polemic.

5)Very dry(It hardly every rains!, so how can the earth be cleaned?)dirty, and decrepit place!, especially downtown L.A!

Our politicians will not escape Ric’s wrath. #6 is devoted to them:

6)Seemingly clueless civic leaders!

For his parting words, Ric sets his sights on our Latino population, no doubt with an eye to the future of Los Angeles. He ends not with one last assertion, but in fact on a question – even more powerful, leaving us shaken to our very core as his words reverberate in our heads well after reading, the mark of a well executed comment:

7)You have a place that has a 70 percent Mexican population that pretty much overwhelms and decides the “culture” of the city! I know that L.A “USED” to belong to Mexico!, but, where does that leave other cultures in the city?