'Political satire or ignorant condescension?'
By John David Powell (06/27/08)
I like satire as much as the next person, having engaged in a bit of it at the expense of publicity-hungry nitwits. Yet, I don’t remember using satire to denigrate public employees as are some citizens in San Francisco.
Here’s what happened. Members of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco, a merry band of political pranksters, were downing some brews when they came up with the idea to rename their city’s award-winning Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant in honor of George W. Bush. They want the name change to take effect Jan. 20, 2009, which is Inauguration Day.
Supporters of the idea suggest San Franciscans participate in a synchronized flush to christen the renamed plant just as the new president takes the oath of office.
They have more than 8,500 signatures on a petition to put the question on the November ballot. One of the organizers admits the petition drive is a silly idea to some people, but adds that their grassroots campaign is the democratic process at work.
No argument there. In fact, we need more grassroots efforts, just not at the expense of hard-working folks, such as those who operate our sewage treatment plants.
I’ve never worked in a treatment plant, but I spent a couple of summers at the bottom of sewer mains in my hometown shoveling, well, stuff. Here’s a pop quiz: Do you know what a honey dipper is, and have you ever used one?
New York City describes what new sewage treatment employees can expect for their $30,000-a-year salary: working outdoors in all kinds of weather; working under high levels of noise; working in areas that may be damp, dark, dusty, dirty and/or acrid; using a respirator; and using equipment for fecal testing.
The wastewater treatment occupation is one of our nation’s most hazardous jobs. A 1997 study at Cornell University pointed out the primary route of chemically related health problems among sewage treatment workers came from inhalation, because many plants are not designed to prevent aerial dispersion of wastewater during the treatment process.
Treating our sewage exposes these workers to chlorinated organic solvents and pesticides, PCBs, asbestos, dioxins, polycyclic aromatics, petroleum hydrocarbons, flame retardants, heavy metals, and radioactive materials that may increase the risk of cancer or abnormal births for the workers or their families.
Earlier this month, six workers at a sewage treatment plant in Sicily died from breathing poisonous fumes.
San Francisco (where some residents apparently believe their sewage don’t stink) has nearly 900 miles of sewers, three treatment plants, 36 overflow points, four outfalls, and 17 pump stations, according to the city’s official sewage site. The proposed George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant treats an average dry-weather flow of about 17 million gallons a day and has a total capacity of 65 million gallons during wet weather.
In 2002, a National Public Radio reporter and his producer went into Cincinnati’s sewers as part of NPR’s series on dirty work. They descended 25-feet below the streets and, in hip waders, walked into a 20-foot-diameter pipe, part of a collection site, which spews what the reporter called “an unsavory mix of storm-water runoff and brown sewage.”
Cincinnati sewer workers told the NPR team they saw themselves as “environmentalists improving the quality of peoples’ lives,” even though others may find the work distasteful.
No. What’s distasteful here is the adolescent glee in which the petition organizers and fellow Bush haters in San Francisco and around the country revel.
One organizer, ignoring the obvious irony, said he believes most politicians are narcissistic and egomaniacs, and that it’s important for “satirists” like himself and the petition-drive organizers not let politicians define their own history.
A member of a Democratic online discussion board put it another way. If Bush had any sense of remorse, the member wrote, “he would die of humiliation and shame,” at having a sewage treatment plant named after him.
Is this arrogance based in ignorance or mean spiritedness, or both?
The White House refuses to comment on the petition drive, but who would blame the president for saying he is honored to be associated with folks who feel no humiliation and shame in their work?
The humiliation and shame rests on those promoting the petition.
John David Powell
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