Ready for the Pros

I think it was the late Hunter S. Thompson who said that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Reading the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Fog City weirdness is apparently ready for the pros. As a partisan observer of the New College of California debacle in 2007 -- not to mention the Proposition K ballot initiative sponsored by pimps and brothel owners in 2008 -- I know from whence I speak.

Today's Guardian, in fact, has two articles about San Francisco weirdness: the Rally for Ross in support of the reinstatement of Sheriff Mirkarimi, who was removed by Mayor Lee for allegedly assaulting his wife, and the San Francisco Association of Realtors video attacking pro-tenant Supervisor Eric Mar.

Noted in the rally lineup is former San Francisco Supervisor and distinguished professor of the now defunct New College, Harry Britt, who, like Eric Mar, was a staunch supporter of the 1995 and 2007 student rebellions at New College. Mar, who in 1995 worked at the New College Law School, was one of the few employees of the college to risk his job to bring democratic accountability to the school.

Likewise, Britt remarked in the 1995 Bay Guardian expose of the loony New College president Peter Gabel, that if they failed to hold the corrupt, cult-like board of trustees accountable, it would mean the eventual downfall of the Bay Area flagship of radical higher ed. Prophetic words, indeed.

While weirdness in the abuse of authority is not unique to the City of Love, San Francisco does mange to exhibit its own special style of dealing with it. It's one of the reasons we love the place.