// halle.tc

Bill O’Reilly recently characterized San Francisco as “secular progressive” who are all crazy, homeless, pot-smokers.  In this short clip, they paint the city as dangerous and lacking values, noting that “almost every single neighborhood has a dark underbelly that seeps into regular society”.

Are you kidding me?

I’m a bit defensive about the way they portray the city I call home.  Not only did they fail to highlight any positives about San Francisco, but they obviously went into this with a mission to make our liberal city appear scary and reckless.

Not only is the San Francisco Bay Area a diverse and dynamic region home to strong creative, technical, and professional classes, but it also turns out San Francisco is a bit smarter, wealthier, and safer than O’Reilly’s video would suggest.

Some quick facts that O’Reilly failed to mention:

• San Francisco ranks second in America’s most educated cities, with 50.1% of the population holding a college degree or higher (second only to Seattle at 52.7%).
• According to Forbes, SF is the third richest city in the US (behind San Jose and Anchorage).
• San Franciscians are pretty healthy, too.  Of the 50 largest metro areas in the US, San Jose ranks the healthiest and SF is the second healthiest area. Ranking factors include health status, nutrition, exercise, mental health, and life balance.  We also have the lowest obesity rate in the country.
• In contrast to the disgusting city depicted in O’Reilly’s, San Francisco is one of the five cleaniest cities in the US.
• We’re also generous. San Francisco ranks 4th most charitable city.

On an optomistic note: perhaps his video is good for San Francisco, and will keep all the closed-minded, fearful “traditionalists” far from our peninsula.