Ruins at the abandoned Packard Automotive Plant are seen on September 4, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (courtesy of Chicago CBS-2 affiliate)
“It regards itself as the temple of a new gospel of progress, to which I shall venture to give the name of ‘Detroitism’.”—British historian and MP Ramsay Muir in 1927
“Mayors come and go—it is the footmen that tie the knots and divide the bag—the longtime little men; bureaucrats, cockroaches.”—from Detroit: An American Autopsy, by Charlie LeDuff
Yes indeed, we are all Detroit. But once the swift demolition comes and goes, it will be as though it never happened and the collective memory heaves a sigh of relief and turns its gaze to the Tee Vee. After all, “Dancing with the Stars” is on tonight, right?
Except, at some tipping point, we’ll no longer be able to avert our gaze to bread and circuses, or shows about science teachers “breaking bad,” or zombies stalking “the walking dead.”
I’ve spent time in Gary, Indiana. It scared the bejesus out of me–when I read LeDuff’s stories about Detroit, it seems 10 times worse than Gary was when I visited in 2007. Back then, it looked like a bombed out city in the third world. Here’s the link from the trip back to Indiana and Hyles Co. It’s the story about a fictional campaign stop for the candidates for prez in 2008–Counterpunch, the international progressive news site actually ran it.
Candidates for prez don’t care about places like Gary, Detroit, Youngstown, or the growing number of places like them.