By Diomassi Sissoko
Philadelphia is one of the biggest city in United States. It is full of histories of our nation. Starting by Liberty Belt to the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia is the home of many heroes of the world; like Benjamin Francklin, Betsy Ross and many other people who worked hard to make United States a great country. Today Philadelphia is more than the city of brotherly love. A city that is consider as one of the poorest, dirtiest and crime city in the United States.
Philadelphia is the second dirtiest city in the U.S. Any where you are in the city, you can see trash in the floor. People are standing next to the trash cans, but they prefer troy trash in the floor.
Philadelphians or any other people are scare to be out at late night at Philadelphia because they don`t want to be victims of any type of crimes. Last summer many people did want to come to our city because of flash mob. For example, one day I was watching the news and a store was robbed and when they interviewed a woman from that city, she said that she was surprised to see a negative thing like this in her city. She said that she usually see bad thing like this in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is consider as one of the city with the highest rate of welfare especially food stamp. In the beginning of the school of this year, Philadelphia Mayor, Michael Nutter was obliged to go to Harrisburg, so the city can have more money for the education budget.
In conclusion, Philadelphia deserves more than being a city with negative images. We, Philadelphians need to work hard and take care of our city, so it can keep the image of the City of Brotherly Love and become one of the richest city in the United States. This are some links where you can find more negative things about Philadelphia:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/youve-damaged-your-own-race-philly-mayor-blasts-teens-flash-mobs/
http://cleanupphilly.blogspot.com/
living in Philadelphia all of my life I must say I have seen some very disturbing thing in my own neighborhood and in surrounding areas. People are to blame for the way the city looks. And city officials are the ones responsible for not providing better means of periocic clean ups. Being a homeowner in Philadelphia I reep the benefits of having lower property taxes compared to our suburban couterparts. Their taxes are much higher which provides much more funding for cleaning more frequently. As far as the welfare aspect, I think that that is a combination of laziness, lack of oppotunity, and it even starts at home. If a person only sees poverty and handouts their entire life then its likely this kind of behaviour will pass down from generation to generation.
ReplyDelete"Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love or City of Bad Images?" is a great title that matches your blog post perfectly. Mostly every thing that the blog states i can relate to or i seen in the city of philadelphia. In every community somewhere in the city you can find trash in the streets, negitivite, and people who where involved or who have commited a crime. The flash mob example that you gave was dead on. Some things in the city of philadelphia as you were explaining definitely needs to be changed in this blog post is a good way to inform others about the images and the hard times the city is suffering from.
ReplyDeleteLet's remember to 1) cite our sources (especially when we through out numbers) and 2) to critically think about why things are the way they are. It's fine to think that something can be improved, but we need reasoning and evidence as to why.
ReplyDeleteTrue Philadelphia does have alot of history, and this is where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Liberty Bell is in Oil City Philadelphia, and there is alot of litter in the streets. Crime is at an all time high, and Philadelphia is not where tourist want to come visit. I agree. What can we do?
ReplyDeletePhiladelphia certainly is dirty, no doubt about that. But there's a lot more positive things about the city than it just being city of bad images. Outsiders might not see or understand that and criticize. Although many know that Philadelphia isn't entirely bad, which might be why we still have tourists coming into town to see the historical attractions and other nice places.
ReplyDeleteTo talk about the entire city being dirty though, it's the people's responsibility. Some of us simply don't care and so the city displays negativity. But if you see places like Rittenhouse Square or Queens' Village, you see that the neighborhoods look decent, clean, and considerably "rich" since majority of the homeowners there are a bit wealthy. Not saying all neighborhoods should look that way, but at least look more clean and tone down the violence. I just wanted to point that out.
There are good side of the city, but if people keep hearing the same thing over and over again, they are going to think bad things about Philadelphia. Over the years that I have been living in Philadelphia, it has gotten to the point that people don't want to live in Philadelphia anymore. I use to love this city, but now people have to walk and look over their shoulder to see who is behind them. Its like the people in the city don't care anymore.
ReplyDeleteI would agree n your blog that we Philadelphians needs to clean up. I have seen some people throw chip bags, or candy wrappers on the groud instead of walking 2 feet to the trash can. My three year old daughter have witnessed it as well and is even attempting to litter. Crime is another huge issue that needs to be decreased in Philadelphia as well. The crime rate is at its all time highest that its ever been. Some Philadelphia citizens have no care for our city. Its every man for himself.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post Diomassi; it is an interesting example of prejudice and the salience principle. For example, the lady that was interviewed says, “She was surprised to see a negative thing like a robbery in her city, because she usually sees bad things like this in Philadelphia.” Wow, that statement is a prejudice thing to say, because it is a negative attitude based on our Philadelphian society or our social group. Factually, the whole city or everybody that lives in Philadelphia does not rob stores. Furthermore, it is also a good example of the salience principle. We label people upon what first appears to us, for example, what we see on the news or what is noticeable first. In addition, skin color and age are salience principles, because we stereotype people based on what is obvious.
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