Then there is the “not my problem” theme. “I live in the suburbs” or “greater Minnesota” so Minneapolis is not my problem. We saw this in Aaron Brown’s column, in which he did a “what about my issues” for greater Minnesota (“We do live in ‘A Precarious State,’ but place-baiting won’t solve that,” Oct. 8). Greater Minnesota has serious issues, too, and deserves a documentary just like the metro area, except there is only so much time in one documentary.
But most concerning is what former legislator Pat Garofalo called the “strategy of denial.” Brown’s column reflected this — how he strolled safely from the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus to downtown Minneapolis. Eric Roper did a column for the Star Tribune (“Doomsday docs aside, Mpls.’ lush urbanity makes it a special place”) that literally talked about walking down a passageway of sunflowers in Minneapolis. With a picture of sunflowers and sunshine. He said:
“I’ll be biking up a protected bike lane and whiz past charming homes near quaint clusters of small businesses. I’ll be running around the lake and see sailboats framed beneath the downtown skyline. I’ll be at the annual alley dance party with my neighbors, a little toasted.”
The message was clear. Minneapolis has “lush urbanity,” not the crime and decline shown in the documentary. Well, only if you read through the literal picture of sunshine and flowers, then the picture of beautiful, well-maintained homes, then past the picture of happy people at a street festival, then pictures of joyous people wandering around downtown on a warm Saturday night, and then past the people lounging by the river did you get to the picture of drug dealers, people passed out on the street, trash, filth and garbage right on his protected bike lane. My friend in the Phillips neighborhood understood the real message – what is happening in your part of the city doesn’t matter because it isn’t what I experience. This was mirrored by many commenters from Minneapolis.
You see the same strategy of denial from columnist Evan Ramstad in the Star Tribune (“Crime isn’t our biggest problem,” Oct. 17). First, Ramstad brings up the question of who funded the documentary. Then he notes it has gone viral in business and right-leaning circles. Apparently he thinks moderates and the left are not watching it, which is depressing if true, because the issues in the documentary are real.
Crime is the one issue Ramstad talks about. He states: