We’ve sometimes found Chip Johnson straining to get his point across, but today, he lets fly with a pretty decent zinger. Addressing the ridiculous outrage among city leaders that an HBO pimp series will be set in Oakland, as well as the hope that it will turn out to be of The Wire’s caliber, he writes, “In ‘The Wire,’ politicians were narcissistic, self-absorbed and placed personal profit and political gain ahead of public policy matters – and there were no other kind. It revealed a Police Department whose top brass deployment strategies and investigative focus shifted according to the hot air rising out of City Hall. Does that sound like a familiar scenario to you? Hit a little too close to home?” Honestly, we’ve never thought of it that way. Oakland’s leaders aren’t worried that the show will denigrate Oakland’s underclass; they’re worried it will denigrate Oakland’s political class. Sounds about right.
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