[johnmflores]

For those expecting salacious NSFW subject matter, sorry to disappoint. "Porn" you may have noticed, has gone mainstream.

Interesting report about the reporting and photo-documenting of Detroit.

On The Media: Transcript of "Ruin Porn" (September 25, 2009)

An interesting reminder that what you leave out of the frame is as important as what you put in...

[fotaki]

IMO just a predictable way of using a media form to score a point.

Of course it can work the other way. Politicians are a good example of using the photo. media for their own benefit (viz, making something appear to better than it really is).

[normhead]

Detroit has been like that since I lived in Windsor back in the 60's. It's the perfect example of the failure of American politics. Americans moving out of the center of cities into areas that have good industrial tax bases to reduce their taxes, and have nicer neighborhoods, leaving the inner cities with no tax base and no money for urban renewal. Nothing speaks to the failure of Capitalism more than cities like Detroit and Buffalo and the like. If the free market actually worked, those inner city properties would have been bought and redeveloped. In Canada, as soon as the rich move out to their little enclaves, we ad them to larger cities, forcing them to pay their share of the taxes used to repair the neglected areas that made them rich. The problem in Toronto is trying to get folks to leave anything that might give the city a sense of it's own history. There are constant challenges to regulators whenever anyone tries to buy an old building and tear it down. Different regulatory structure, entirely different results. That's the wierd thing about the free market, it still requires regulation to make it work. So essentially, the free market only works when it's not free.

[Tom S.]

The "White Flight" from Detroit began right immediately after the 12th Street riot in the summer of 1967. Then a few years ago, the "Black Flight" started, when affluent blacks started moving out to the suburbs. Both created an abnormal amount of deserted homes and buildings. Detroit now claims that people are moving back, spurred on by falling real estate bargains (yes, there are still some nice homes there) and a desire to be near what the city has to offer in the way of sports, dining and theater. I think this may be wishful thinking.

[normhead]

I have a story for you about the riot.
Everything reminds me of a story.

My family is interracial, one of our black friends from Detroit used to be fairly affluent, always dressed in $500 silk suits (1967 money). Anyway, during the riot one of his suits was stolen from a dry cleaners. A few weeks later he saw a black man walking down the street in his suit. Apparently he pulled out a revolver, and asked the man for his suit back. Well exactly what he said can't be repeated, but it definitely used the "n" word. He left the man in his underwear on the side walk and took his suit back to the same cleaners.

[Coeurdechene]

I want really to go there...some amazing sites for urban explorers..and some good opportunities for different lifestyle...lot's of urban agriculture and permaculture, gardens...some good projects out there...(we do it here too but to a lesser extent, the urban decay here is big.. but not soooo big, it's more a concious gentrification plan, no sites that are abandonned in the same way as there...)

[Tom S.]

I have a story for you about the riot.
Everything reminds me of a story.

My family is interracial, one of our black friends from Detroit used to be fairly affluent, always dressed in $500 silk suits (1967 money). Anyway, during the riot one of his suits was stolen from a dry cleaners. A few weeks later he saw a black man walking down the street in his suit. Apparently he pulled out a revolver, and asked the man for his suit back. Well exactly what he said can't be repeated, but it definitely used the "n" word. He left the man in his underwear on the side walk and took his suit back to the same cleaners.

Ha ha ha - that's great! Of course today he'd be arrested.

[JeffJS]

[fotaki]

Jeff, very graphic images and so sad to see these lovely homes in such condition.

What's the future for these - more vandalism and decay ?

[pxpaulx]

Jeff, very graphic images and so sad to see these lovely homes in such condition.

I was going to say something similar. It is sad to see quite nice, mid-20th century homes fall by the wayside so quickly. After just returning from Italy where people still live in homes centuries old it makes these sights that much more saddening.

[Coeurdechene]

What's the future for these - more vandalism and decay ?

Probably..and the occasional arson by disenfrachised youths.
If private property wasn't so sacred in the states that would be squatters paradise and homes wouldn't get burnt, and slowly torn appart by vandalism and time.
Damn that city has lots of issues to fix...and if only it was some houses neighboorhoods..but you got abandonned schools too, in a big city with that rates in highest illiteracy rates of the states.

[RioRico]

So essentially, the free market only works when it's not free.

Markets (and all human interactions) need rules, else everybody cheats and steals. Rules need honest, fair enforcement. Even dogs have a sense of what's fair and what isn't. Social interactions need limits or they degenerate into chaos.

To keep this from getting political, I'll posit that eBay is one of the free-est markets around -- combined with Google for research, we get tremendous transparency. A seller posts items, bids are made, and when parties' interests and desires intersect, deals are made. That's the free market! And eBay has scads of rules that serve to KEEP the market free and unmanipulated. It's not perfect, as shills are still around. But it doesn't take too much effort to note patterns of bad behaviour. The eBay Commerce Cops actually do their job.

RTT (return to topic): Fotogs have been staging and framing misleading images since around 1840, I think. It's a tradition, like masturbation and pick-pocketing. Hey, painters do all that too! How to deal with that from supposedly journalistic enterprises? Transparency. Call them on it. From some, like Focks Nuuz, we have no expectation of truth and accuracy, but their distortions need to be exposed anyway. Like cockroaches, liars can't stand the light of day.

[JeffJS]

Jeff, very graphic images and so sad to see these lovely homes in such condition.

What's the future for these - more vandalism and decay ?

If history teaches anything, more than likely. That is until the next election cycle and a few of them get knocked down for the appearance they are doing something.


4600

[ve2vfd]

There is a pretty good documentary on vbs.tv called "Detroit Lives"

Detroit Lives VBS Full Length - Uneven Terrain | VBS.TV

It's hosted by Johnny Knoxville (don't let that deter you!) and is about creative people who are buying abandoned buildings for peanuts and doing their best to revive the area. It's a positive yang to all the ying "ruin porn" journalism.

Pat

[Tom S.]

JeffJS - I thought I recognized the area as Grand Blvd - then I saw the street sign in one of the photos. I used to take that home occasionally (especially if I-75 had problems!). It's a shame, because there were/are some beautifully built homes on that street.

Great photos, BTW!