My April Fools day stunt was a joke, but it was triggered in part by a mailer I received yesterday.
So, what is it with Santa Clarita’s irrational fear of the San Fernando Valley? What is driving the pathos below?
From another Citizen's For Integrity in Government Mailer I received yesterday
Anybody?
Invoking the specter of the San Fernando Valley ought to be like the Godwin’s Law of SCV politics. If you try to discredit your opponent by claiming his policies will lead to the San Fernando Valley-ization of the SCV, you should lose immediately, just like people who equate modern policies with Hitler should lose immediately.
Hey Frank Ferry- what is the SCV going to be like in 50 years? Ferry: I don't know, but I'll tell you what it's not going to be like, the SFV!
But that’s not the way it is. Indeed, the SFV canard is used so often because it works.
But why does it work?
It works because the canard triggers the lizard part of people’s brains, the fight or flight reflex buried in the id of the SCV’s collective consciousness. Think back to the days when the paint wasn’t dry on Old Orchard I; this was the era of white flight, the era of forced busing and civil rights, the era when whites were abandoning the city center in droves and fleeing to the fresh, newly built suburbs.
They were fleeing urban decay, traffic, and yes, minorities. They were Nixon’s Silent Majority and they had had enough.
Ergo, our local politicians invoke the SFV (ironically once known as “America’s Suburb”) to dredge up these same feelings that occurred among people my parent’s age 30-40 years ago. They invoke this to GOTV among the SCV’s likeliest voters, older people.
This kind of crap doesn’t resonate for me and many of my friends. That’s not to say we love the SFV, but that does mean we want local leaders who will define what Santa Clarita can be, not what we’re trying to avoid.
Get a clue!
Vote Boydston. He at least keeps this crap to a minimum. And Katz gets it too.
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