L.A. Times Columnist To People Leaving California: Don't 'Insult' The Hellhole On Your Way Out
Are you packing up and leaving California because you can't get a burger without having your car stolen?
Just remember to not insult California after the U-Haul hits the Nevada, Arizona or Oregon borders.
That's the message that was published Saturday by Los Angeles Times' (which laid off 20% of its workforce on Tuesday) letters editor Paul Thornton.
“To the people leaving California: May the road rise to meet you as you seek better lives in new places. Now, can you please extend some goodwill to those of us who remain?” Thornton wrote in Saturday's column titled, “Commentary: If you want to leave, fine. But don’t insult California on the way out.”
SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 04: San Francisco mayor and California Lt. Governor-elect Gavin Newsom smiles during a ribbon cutting during the grand opening of the Lowe's store on November 4, 2010 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco mayor and California Lt. Governor-elect Gavin Newsom attended a ribbon cutting for the opening of a new Lowe's store in the city's Bayview district. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“More than 800,000 Californians moved away in 2022, and many thousands more left last year. Often, the departees, cash in hand from the sale of their $1-million bungalows, feel the need to express disdain for their home state, and even some anger too,” Thornton continued.
Imagine that, you're not allowed to harbor anger for what has happened to California where people shitting themselves on San Francisco sidewalks and shoving needles into their arms to the point where San Francisco is a ghost town.
According to big thinker Paul, you're just supposed to move on and not share your frustration over the policies and actions of politicians that have allowed junkies, drug dealers, armed robbers, murderers and all the other scumbags from the world of crime to do their thing. You're not supposed to be mad over being run out of a state you might've grown up in.
Move to Colorado and shut up.
Thornton tells a story about a relative who relocated and was advised by someone in the new neighborhood against bringing "weird California ways" to the new neighborhood.
“And which ways would those be?” Thornton writes. “Perhaps it’s our embrace of LGBTQ+ Californians. Or it’s our liberal politics, with the state Republican Party shrunk to irrelevance after its vicious attempt in 1994 to marginalize immigrants with Proposition 187.”
Yes, Paul. That's exactly what people are escaping and the inability to get an In-N-Out burger in Oakland without being carjacked.
“If you must leave California for Texas, Arizona, New England or anywhere else, don’t be a person who trash-talks the home of 39 million people,” Paul concluded.
Ok, Paul.