You may remember that last week I was making fun of Detroiters for going cuckoo over Jimmy Kimmel's comments about their fair city. On Wednesday some nutcase started shooting at the annual summertime fireworks display in Hart Plaza. He shot nine people. Luckily no one was killed.
But what are Detroiters worried about? Stopping violence in Motown? Reversing urban blight? Restoring some of the amazing vacant homes of Brush Park?
Guess again. They're worried about their image. Huh? Now's it tarnished? They're also making calls to ABC to make sure that Kimmel doesn't hurt their feeling anymore. Man. I'm embarassed to be a Michigander these days.
I am, however, proud to report that my fellow Tri-State Michigan transplant seems to be be fairing much better. I attempted to see a screening of "Farenheit 9/11" at three different Manhattan theaters this evening. Each one was showing it on at least three screens. The only shows I could've gotten a ticket for? The 12:20 a.m. and 1:10 a.m screenings at The Empire 25. Wow.
Posted by mikewolf at June 25, 2004 09:48 PMI don't think it's a question of "hurt feelings" -- I think it's a question of Detroit wanting to minimize bad publicity. I suppose you could criticize that as misleading, but all cities do it, don't they? It's just that some cities (like Chicago) are better at marketing than others. Detroit was 2nd in murders per capita in 2002 (behind DC) and 3rd in 2001 (behind DC and NYC*), but it sure does take what seems like a proportionately large amount of grief. The thing is that the jokes and such don't accomplish anything, except to dishearten the people in Detroit who are trying to make things better. The comedy isn't punishing the bad guys -- it's just making the good guys' jobs harder.
*I'm including 9/11-related deaths here as murders, despite the fact that NYC (and DC) apparently don't want to treat them as such, unless it's for purposes of getting more anti-terrorism dollars.
Posted by: Joel S. on June 27, 2004 03:38 PMOh, I completely agree, Joel. In the absence of any effort to create anything generating good publicity, though...
Posted by: mrw on June 27, 2004 04:38 PMYour boy has a new blog at his website. He's only got two posts, but I thought you'd like to read them...
www.michaelmoore.com/words/diary/
How did I find this before you? I have no idea...
Posted by: Meredith on July 12, 2004 05:39 AM