CorpCounsel t1_j4lrv6j wrote on January 16, 2023 at 4:55 PM

Reply to comment by Honeyblade in Came across this bumper sticker and I actually like it, too! by LegitimateMarzipan58

This is the single most common point that comes up when someone posts this sticker for its monthly discussion - that it tends to appear on yuppie cars that are parked at night either outside the city or in a private garage attached to a luxury condo. It is a way of virtue signaling by someone who has vastly more resources than the average Baltimore resident and therefore is able to make the choice between living here or elsewhere.

It is the idea that it is easy to say "I actually like it because I am able to afford a way to avoid the most basic problems of the city." Its a bumper sticker because the only folks advertising their choice to live here are people who can afford and regularly use cars - someone who rides the perpetually late and stalled busses isn't going to say they "actually like it" when funding is again diverted from transit.

It also heavily implies choice - that you could live and work elsewhere, but you choose to. That is great, honestly, I mean I choose to be here and I have resources to live elsewhere, but most Baltimore residents will be born, raised, live, and die within a single neighborhood. These people don't make a "choice" to "actually like it" because the city is where they live, so they deal with it whether its good or bad.

"Actually like it" also implies the ability to compare Baltimore to other places, and again - that means you have the resources to move and live in other places. Every time this sticker gets posted, there will be comments saying "I used to live elsewhere" or "Came here for work but now I love it!" because truly - to make a value opinion is to be able to have a point of reference for another part of the world. This is why people living in remote areas are often perfectly happy with their lives despite the simplicity - sure, they spend hours cooking because they don't have grocery stores, and sure, they only have a few outfits because washing clothing is tough without a modern washing machine, but they are perfectly happy because they don't have anything to compare it to and that is just what daily life is for them.

For many people, this sticker isn't inspirational, its actually just an example of the problems faced by the city.

Honeyblade t1_j4m6l0m wrote on January 16, 2023 at 6:25 PM

I appreciate your comment here - but the sticker was created as backlash to Trump calling Baltimore a "shithole city" if I recall correctly. I think a lot of the people who probably put that sticker on their vehicle do it as a point of pride. I don't ever think it was intended to be "inspirational" as you put in your post though. Just, that there are good things here, that people who don't live here don't see, because FOX news is busy demonizing this city. I don't honestly know the demographic of people who put this sticker on their car, but I can tell you that I feel like the message of it is that there is more to this city than what outsiders think.

CorpCounsel t1_j4mazzi wrote on January 16, 2023 at 6:52 PM

Oh yeah, of course. I think it comes from the best of intentions, but I also understand why a lot of folks roll their eyes at it. I've also taken to task some of the Fox articles that get posted here, including the ones about the Mosbys, for the same reason. They write "MOSBY ACCUSED OF $1,000,000 FRAUD" but really it is just because she said she was living full-time at a property valued at $1,000,000 on her mortgage application. Is it wrong? Yes. Should she be held accountable? Yes. But she also did something that many property buyers do to avoid taxes - lie and say its a full-time residence. I'd bet most my salary that Trump has frequently bought property and put on a mortgage application a different purpose than what it was actually used for. It wasn't some grand scheme to defraud Baltimore, it was a common scheme to avoid a few thousand of federal taxes.

My neighbors have this sticker on their car, and they are both well paid, well educated white people that live in a nice neighborhood and commute away from the poorest parts of the city, but truly, they also could move their office to Timonium or White Marsh or Columbia and don't and they are out doing charity work on the weekends and supporting city owned businesses. Can they truly understand the average Baltimore resident's life? No, never. Are they good citizens and is their pride in our city a good thing? Absolutely!