Flutterby™! : Santa Rosa subculture

A friend on Facebook put up http://www.pressdemocrat.com/a...131226/articles/131229697#page=0 with the pull quote:

“Santa Rosa looks at itself as a small town, but it has big-city issues that aren’t being addressed,” Sampson said.

And I responded:

“I was shocked,” Dawson said. “That’s not how we behave out here. We police ourselves.”

Uh. Yeah. That explains the lack of litter and the respect for the artwork that I see demonstrated regularly along the Prince Memorial Greenway Trail, right? I mean, I don't want to sound all conservative asshole or anything, but "...If anyone was messing with me, he would have stepped in." suggests the guy was a part of a violent subculture, and “We had different priorities; I wanted more success” says that we have a population that's made some lifestyle choices.

I understand that there are people who come from backgrounds that don't give them the skills to integrate into our society, and I understand that there are those who suffer from anxieties and other medical problems that similarly make it a struggle and challenge to hold a job and keep a household together. I know some of those folks (some of 'em are Facebook friends), and I sympathize with their plight and think that society should be doing more to support them.

But my cursory reaction to what I see along the Greenway and the Joe Rodota Trail as I bike to work in the early hours is not so much "these people need help" as "these people need discipline and tough love".

Okay, maybe I do want to sound all conservative asshole.