Rah-rah bullshit

Charles Pierce has a couple of paragraphs up about the Danziger sentencing. As with all preachy journalism about New Orleans by non-New Orleanians, there are some things in it that will undoubtedly elicit groans. There's a shoe-horned in Trayvon reference at the top. The whole first paragraph, in fact, is one of those reductive "What we all learned" we've developed a quick gag reflex toward over the years.

But despite the flaws, Pierce makes some useful observations including this.

Underneath the undeniably unquenchable spirit of the place, and underneath all the Chamber of Commerce rah-rah bullshit that is that spirit's tawdry public doppelganger, there remains a sense of abandonment and loss.

If I had to put my finger on the single most serious obstacle to progress in post-Flood New Orleans it is that we've allowed the "Chamber of Commerce rah-rah bullshit" to co-opt and commercialize what was momentarily a defiant civic spirit. One need only look at the sad turnout in our recent citywide election for evidence that our much hyped "grass roots" involvement in recovery hasn't translated to a more habitually engaged citizenry over the long haul. We do still manage to sell each other clever T-shirts from time to time which is nice, I guess, because it probably helps "buck the trend" or something.

Of course this was always inevitable but in the future I could do with a lot less of the self-congratulatory NOLA community bootstrap false narrative.

Now back to more Rah-rah bullshit.

We may not be Portland, Seattle or San Francisco, but Travel + Leisure places New Orleans just behind those bohemian cities as one of the country's hipster havens in a recent ranking

Update: See also, please this.