Rorschach Test
I like to walk the dog along Crissy Field sometimes. It’s part of the usual rotation around various scenic parks in the city. San Francisco has an abundance of beautiful beaches, forests, and rocky hilltops that provide a heavy dose of nature within walking and biking distance of civilization. A ten minute drive can transport you to a pretty good equivalent of rural Japan or Maui.
This 100 acre stretch of beach and marsh habitat was once a military airstrip and industrial depot tainted with residual toxins. What appears to be completely natural is actually entirely artificial and was constructed at significant expense.
A big chunk of the money to do this work was supplied by the Haas family through its charitable fund. You may know them indirectly as the heirs to the Levi Strauss fortune. Old Levi arrived in San Francisco from Germany in 1850 and created a profitable business manufacturing durable pants made from tent canvas. Prospectors searching for gold in the California hills bought them by the thousands and the pants caught on with the rest of the country. You might be wearing jeans from his company right now.
In order to get home from Crissy Field I can either go around the edge of the city along the flats by the water or I can go over the hill in Pacific Heights (also known by some as Specific Whites.) It’s an upscale neighborhood with gorgeous views and some of the most expensive property in the country. That’s when I noticed an unusual amount of police vehicles, news camera crews, and security tape at a particular intersection. I was tempted to take some quick photos but decided against it when I noticed the collection of large black vehicles and suited men with earpieces and dark glasses. When I got home I checked to see what it was all about. An intruder had broken into the home of a prominent member of congress and attacked her husband with a hammer in their bedroom in the wee hours.
I reached out to several people I know around the country in Florida, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, et cetera to discuss the event. I got wildly different interpretations - and not necessarily from radical folks. One version was, "This guy is a mentally ill hippie with a drug problem from Berkeley." Another was, "This is just the kind of lawlessness that happens in a lefty liberal city where they've defunded the police." Others said, "This guy is a nut job fascist feeding off QAnon conspiracy theories." Still others were sure it was “A gay tryst gone wrong.” More than a few believed the entire thing was staged by, “Desperate Democrats trolling for sympathy in a tight election” or “Clearly a Republican plot to overthrow the government.” Personally I’m absolutely certain the intruder is the secret illegitimate grandson of Lee Harvey Oswald and Ethel Rosenberg. I dare you to present evidence to the contrary!
These events are a form of mass Rorschach test. A psychiatrist pours some ink on a piece of paper and lets the blob dry. The random and completely meaningless image is then presented to patients and asked what they see. One person might see flowers or a butterfly. Someone else might see genitals or a smashed skull. People see what they want to see.
