OaktownBear said:
SFCityBear said:
calumnus said:
Civil Bear said:
stu said:
247 has an article quoting Kuany: "I'm going to California" "I feel like I fit in there and Mark Fox is a really good coach."
Wait... Wut... Better than Smith?
Ha. "I fit in there" = Berkeley over the Palouse every day AND "Fox is a really good coach." He did not say "better"
One of the last times I was in Berkeley at night, I was walking down Haste St to my car, and heard two shots ring out. I turned around in time to see the guy drop. Don't know if he died. I'll take the Palouse any day.
Violent Crime Index based on FBI stats
Berkeley: 28.5
USA: 22.7
Palouse: 6.0
Property Crime Index
Berkeley: 64.6
USA: 35.4
Palouse: 11.2
As a long time East Bay resident and UC BERKELEY alum on a UC BERKELEY fan site I say feel free to"take the Palouse" by moving there. If crime rate is your only criteria for a good life, I feel sorry for you. Berkeley is one of the most desirable places to live around.
Living with people means living with crime. But most people choose to live a vibrant life around people and take the drawbacks in exchange for the good things that come with it.
Paying attention to words is one thing, but discerning exaggeration and implication is a skill, just like not concealing the implication so much that readers can't get it is another skill. In this case, you missed my both my exaggeration and my implication altogether, and I'll take the blame for not keeping it simple for you.
First off, my post was in response to a statement by calumnus that was untrue. He wrote that Kuany's statement of "I feel like I fit in there" was in his opinion equal to him preferring Berkeley, the school, the town, the people, the weather, whatever. That may well be true, but it was NOT WHAT KUANY SAID. He said he "felt like he fit in there", and the only "there" he had referred to was obviously California the school, California the basketball program, California the team, which has an opening for a player with the size and skill set they need, and need desperately. He said nothing about Telegraph Avenue, or any thing else at Cal or in Berkeley to imply that they had much, if anything to do with why he came here. Calumnus' statement of what Kuany was saying was just not true. In fact, I felt calumnus said was ridiculous, and for me outrageous. I responded with a ridiculous and outrageous post of my own, but I stated only hard cold facts about Berkeley. I did see a guy shot. I still don't know if he was killed or not, because even though I was the only witness, the police refused to tell me if the victim had survived, even days later. It was not reported in the press. Swept under the rug, maybe.
I made the outrageous statement about how I would choose the Palouse as an area over Berkeley just to illustrate how ridiculous calumnus' statement was. You can't or you should not read things into an 18 year old or anyone's statements just to further your own agenda, twisting the kid's words in the process. Just as calumnus read positive things about Telegraph Avenue into Kuany's statement, you read that I would choose the Palouse over Berkeley based on crime statistics. I never said any such thing. I was making a ridiculous statement to counter calumnus' statement, and point out that it, too, was ridiculous. Berkeley is not Nirvana, or heaven, except for some counter culture types who might not fit in on Montgomery street or in suburbia, or a rural area, where average folks have to work for a living. Flyover country, for example. I am moving soon, and I will choose a place by evaluating several criteria. One thing I will say in favor of living in a low crime area, is that I am older than you.I used to be able to take care of myself in a fight, or a mugging, or whatever. I have been mugged, stabbed, shot at. Now my strength, speed, reflexes have all slowed to where I doubt I could take care of myself, except by trying to talk my way out of a dangerous situation. As a senior citizen, I am now more of a potential victim than a risk for any would-be criminal on the street. In that sense, the Palouse would be attractive. But I am spoiled. it would be too cold for me for health reasons, and it would be too far from my family and great friends, not to mention good Chinese food.
PS: "Living with people means living means living with crime." Are you really that cynical about people and life? The people living in the Palouse are living with people, with few crimes, aren't they? It also depends on where you live in Berkeley. You can live up in the hills where where crime rarely takes place, and come down to Telegraph in the daytime for fun, or you can live in the flat lands of West Berkeley, where crimes are a dime a dozen. It isn't all "vibrant" and it isn't all crime, and it isn't all peaceful. It is just Berkeley, no better or worse than a lot of places.
SFCityBear