Chicago Still Sucks

Special thanks to a commenter on my Why I Think Chicago Sucks post, who also comments over on my Anti-Chicago bud JR’s blog.  I found the links that RealR had provided, talking about how the crime in Chicago is so bad, the Governor wants to call in the National Guard.   And here you thought we were all just a bunch of paranoid wimps scared of the big, bad, city!  You should check out a video that JR found, showing how one family on vacation to Chicago got a rude awakening one evening when a .45 bullet whizzed through their room and into the room next door.  And this was in the heart of the tourist area, not some slum.  Statistically, crime is up in Chicago – and all those who want to berate us for criticizing the city can’t argue with those facts. 

Nat’l Guard choppers to fight crime in Chicago 

Gov. says Guard, state police may help in Chicago  

Ill. Gov: Chicago May Get Troopers, National Guard

That being said, you may have read my recent post about a little troll problem I had over on my Chicago Sucks post.  He showed up in May, then left after mild type-lashing, only to return about a week ago.  He was respectful and fairly courteous to me personally, but started lashing out against my commenters.  Well.  We can’t have that!  Eventually I asked him to leave and pointed him to WordPress where he could make his own blog and love on Chicago and hate on us all he wanted.  Know what?  He took me up on it, and then invited me over to his blog!  In the process of outing himself though, he’s lost a lot of his credibility, in terms of bashing us Chicago non-lovers.  He’s not been all around the country, as he claimed.  He’s never visited those places he claimed were inferior to Chicago.  He’s a 20/21 year old college student (big surprise!) who moved to Chicagoland just 5 years ago from Indiana and at present, just comes back during summer breaks.  But, he loves Chicago.  I say, “Give it time.”  I used to like Chicago too.  But I was struck with the level of character it took for him to reveal himself in such a way, and invite me over to see.  Most trolls don’t do that – they insult and run.  Franktown owned up to his “trollness” and I admit, I kind of feel like chucking him on the shoulder and saying, “Good one, kid!  You stepped up!”  There’s hope for him after all!

So with that in mind, I’d like to ask you to step on over to my friend JR’s blog, ChicagoWithdrawal.  He’s a nice young man, and he’s not just about Chicago.  He’s also got some interesting dietary, musical, and political thoughts too. 

And while you’re at it, say hello to Franktown too.  He’s new to the blogosphere – in terms of having his own place.  He made a big post asking me for a truce, and I have agreed.  And I’d kind of like him to see that just because we don’t like a lot of the crap that goes on in Chicago and its surroundings, doesn’t mean we’re jerks.  We can be friendly.  Sure we can!