San Francisco – paradise of norm criticism

San Francisco is one of the main showcases of the progressive movement, both in the US and internationally.

Many secular Europeans sympathise with the spirit of the city, which is perceived as anti-authoritarian, LGBT+ friendly and generally libertarian. Of course, the fact that it is stunningly beautiful and has one of the most pleasant climates in the US helps.

The iconic Golden Gate Bridge has been featured in countless films and TV shows over the years.

Recently, however, San Francisco has been plagued by several high-profile problems. For example, author Michael Shellenberger writes in his book San Francicko: How progressives ruin cities about how the number of homeless in the city has exploded over the past two decades and now accounts for 2.2 per cent of the population.

Recently, San Francisco has been plagued by several high-profile problems

This is happening at a time when homelessness in the US has declined overall. But the politicians running San Francisco, who are spending a lot of money to tackle the problem, are guided by the idea that social exclusion is primarily the consequence of racism and social injustice.

And when the problems are perceived as structural rather than individual, it is difficult to assign responsibility.

Influential left-wing organisations such as the American Civil Liberties Union have consistently protested against proposals to end the misery. Pressuring someone into detoxification, or resorting to forced treatment of the mentally ill, has been described by these and other groups as state-sanctioned abuse.

In fact, even the drug trade has been defended – people, it is said, must be allowed to choose whether or not to use drugs. Instead of coercive measures, money, food and clean syringes have been distributed to drug addicts, with the consequence that they have become more and more numerous and have attracted people with similar problems from other parts of the country.

Of course, views on crime and punishment also play a role here. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests – where one of the most widespread slogans was Defund the Police – many American cities made dramatic cuts to their police budgets.

In San Francisco, the cuts in 2021 totalled $120 million. But just as quickly as the cuts were made, politicians have begun to reconsider their decisions. It has become clear that crime, especially drug-related crime, has become increasingly uncontrollable.

Nor have the shelters set up in vacant hotel rooms been a success story. A survey of 16 such shelters – which progressives claimed were the solution to the homelessness crisis – produced the following disappointing results: of the 515 residents, 25% had died, 21% had returned to the streets and 27% had left for 'unknown destinations'.

The remaining 27% had moved on to relatives, friends or other tax-funded accommodation.

But progressive experiments are not limited to issues such as homelessness, addiction and crime and punishment. Up until last summer I had relatives in the neighbouring city of Oakland and they have many strange anecdotes to tell.

Several of them involve face masks related to the covid pandemic. A central part of the progressive worldview has to do with ‘virtue signalling’. Not only is it important to be good and on the right side of history, it is equally important to signal your superior values to those around you.

In San Francisco, as in many other Democratic Party strongholds, this meant wearing a mask during the pandemic. Not because the medical profession insisted on it. But because a liberal stance on the issue was associated with the Trump administration.

A central part of the progressive worldview has to do with ‘virtue signalling’. Not only is it important to be good and on the right side of history, it is equally important to signal your superior values to those around you problems

That's why people were not content to wear face masks when they were indoors or in crowded places. No, in San Francisco's surroundings you constantly encountered strollers, cyclists, joggers and lone motorists wearing this accessory outdoors – often with no one else around!

This is also the case at school. My relatives' 14-year-old daughter was one of the few in her class who insisted on coming to class without a mask.

While this was formally allowed, it did not stop the teacher from giving a ten-minute sermon to the class on the blessing of face masks, much of which involved eye contact with my 14-year-old relative.

And I haven't even mentioned the most significant area of all: LGBT+ issues. It's no secret that San Francisco is associated with the LGBT+ movement, as it was one of the pioneers in this field.

After all, we are talking about the place that has been called the 'gay capital of the world'. But for ordinary citizens, it has become difficult to keep up with the trend.

On Facebook, the US has 58 different gender identities to choose from, and recently a lot of them have been given their own flag. A classmate of my 14-year-old relative confessed to her friend: ‘I can't tell the difference between all these flags. But if I tell the others, they will say I am homophobic. Can you help me?’

The girl's concern about being exposed for her lack of LGBT(QIA)+ knowledge is justified. A lot of people are looking out for each other these days – it's part of the condition of vortue signalling.

Many adults have been scolded by their children for not choosing the right pronouns for their friends. In addition to ‘he’ and ‘she’, there are now a whole bunch of them to choose from - including ‘ze’, ‘zir’, ‘hir’, ‘they’ and ‘them’. And it's deadly serious.

Another acquaintance of the family moved north to Portland, Oregon – another stronghold of the progressive movement, with a strong Defund the Police movement.

There, however, they encountered a rather unexpected problem when their son was bullied at school. Not because he was new, but because he insisted on defining himself as heterosexual – something that did not go down well in a school where more than two-thirds of the students were members of the LGBT+ community.

And no, this is not just isolated to certain schools. It is well known that more and more American youth (out of inner conviction or general solidarity) define themselves as LGBT.

Therefore, when my relatives sent their children to separate sports camps last summer, the first day began with a pronoun round. The family's 9-year-old had to explain both which pronouns he wanted to be addressed with and who he normally fell in love with.

When another boy in the group said that he was in love with both a girl and a boy, he received encouraging support from the leader, who also declared that if any child saw this as strange, it was they who were the problem. And all this was discussed before the children could talk about what they were there for – climbing and kayaking.

The older sister had a similar experience. She ended up being interrogated on the abortion issue  at a paddleboarding camp. When she turned out to have the 'wrong' answers to some of the questions asked, she was quickly ostracised from the community.

This is a snapshot of how progressive ideology can be expressed when it is allowed to flourish without inhibiting fences. Incidentally, it is from these environments that the queer-inspired norm criticism used in today’s Scandinavian schools and preschools has drawn much of its inspiration.

In the pioneering Swedish works on the topic, several of the authors refer to Kevin K Kumashiro and Bic Ngo's book Six Lenses for Anti-Oppressive Education. Kumashiro was previously Dean of the University of San Francisco.

Today's San Francisco could rightly be described as a paradise of norm criticism. The only question is whether this makes the city more or less pleasant for those who live there. As for my relatives, they finally gave up – and moved back home to Sweden.

Olof Edsinger, secretary general of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance.