Bashing Jacksonville gets a little old

[Wacca Pilatka]

Jacksonville may do a bad job of marketing its history, culture, and other virtues, but it has plenty of virtues (including a remarkably rich and vastly underrated history).

Unfortunately, as has been covered quite thoroughly and effectively on this site, it seems to have a remarkably low opinion of itself, seemingly internalizing and embracing the ridicule it receives and believing it has little to offer.  

I don't tend to put much stock in the cleverness of sportswriters, but sometimes I wonder if at least a few of them perceive this about Jacksonville.  The exponential barrage of negative articles seems geared to get the people of Jacksonville to conclude their city is worthless and that the Jaguars will inevitably leave for someplace more glamorous.  It's like a mass PR campaign to con people out of supporting the hometown team.  Certain sportswriters scarcely can conceal their glee at the thought of the team's relocation.

[Anti redneck]

We want Jacksonville to be a party town. We do not want Jacksonville to be boring any longer. Jacksonville has been boring for long enough. That is the image we want Jacksonville to have is a party image. Does anyone really think that Jacksonville can be known as this big major city but have the small town image at the same time??? Guess what.... That's the image that they have been trying to portray for years and it does not work! As the saying goes, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Jacksonville obviously thinks it can. I would take heed to what this writer says, because he's right. Personally I am tired of all of these cities surpassing Jacksonville and here we are still the same. Nobody here wants to bring any type of real tourism in here, but then they complain when people talk smack about Jacksonville. Please just keep an open ear to these critics. It's time for the mentality of this city to change. It really is. Jacksonville is a Florida city, so let's start thinking like one.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Except that Jacksonville doesnt have an 'average' history.  We don't even have an 'interesting' history.

We have a fucking remarkable history that makes this place one of the more unique stories of the East Coast.

The genesis of the Black American Cultural experience began in LaVilla and Sugar Hill. James Weldon Johnson, A Phillip Randolph, Zora Neale Hurston, Eartha White, Bess Coleman, The Afro American Insurance Company, Hank Aaron, the Negro Baseball League and a host of black thinkers, writers, musicians, poets, innovators and millionaires are Jacksonvillians.  

This is the birthplace of Soul, the cradle of the Blues, the home base of Southern Fried Rock.

Women voted here, while they were still being arrested for smoking in Boston.  We had the largest municipal trolley system in the United States, and were one of the most famous Progressive Cities in the Country in the Progressive Era.

The Astors, Duponts, Morgans, and Flaglers made cold fortunes in this town, and our port innovated processes that revolutionized shipping the world around.

Even in vice we have a few trail blazers.

We don't even have run of the mill prostitutes in this town.  While the eastern seaboard had Sidney Biddle Barrows, whose primary distinction for being a madame was that she had been a debutante, Jacksonville's most famous madame Cora Taylor Crane was married to a living legend of literature, Stephen Crane, the author of The Red Badge of Courage.  She was friends with HG Wells, and Joseph Conrad, a member of the Fabian Society, and the first woman in western history to report from the field of battle during the Greek War.

This is in addition to the father of Gay pornography, Wakefield Poole having come here.  Like Cora, he didn't just distinguish himself in the field of vice with his ubiquitous invention, he was also a member in good standing of the Ballet Russe, and a longstanding voice on Broadway.  His friendship with Andy Warhol was close enough that his video montage of the Factory was played during Warhol's wake.

We had an actual german invasion on the shores of Ponte Vedra, and gave aid and comfort to every species of pirate in the region for more than a hundred years, including the nascent film industry.  

Don't have a history?

Give me a freaking break.

+1 doesn't begin to cover it.

How many cities have an architectural style unique to their region, were the breeding grounds for influential genres of music, served as the battlefield for two European powers' control of a territory, and witnessed the transformation of the film industry?

I'm sick of seeing people claim Jacksonville lacks history or distinction.  It's all part of that self-doubting internalization of the slings and arrows of other Florida cities and outsiders.  Stephen as usual put it far more eloquently and thoroughly than I could.

[Wacca Pilatka]

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2006-dec-what-if-jacksonville-suddenly-woke-up

Yep.

[fsujax]

Stephen...great post afew post above. What do we have to do to take advantage of all this great history? It just seems lost in time. I do support the Jauguars, though!!!

[Wacca Pilatka]

I am convinced that the Jaguars are an economic and psychological plus (I know, surprise, surprise) and believe the negative psychological and national-image impact of losing them would be substantial.  But I was in love with Jacksonville before the team.  It is and has been an amazing city.  I love the Jaguars because I love Jacksonville and not vice versa.

[Coolyfett]

PS: We really don't need or want people moving to our city who have no appreciation for our history and non-flashy ways of conducting business or living, and we don't need to spend time, effort, and energy convincing people who don't fit in to our city that our city is so great they shouldn't bash it, but should mover here.  I get soo frustrated too when people make fun of Jacksonville, but I am starting to realize our whole city is actually kind of exclusive and many people know they don't belong here, but they wish they did because of the location, the water, the scenery, and the weather.

Many people like to be the "big man" on their street or their block, and Jacksonville is not like that at all.  People here are usually the complete opposite and don't care who is the richest or coolest person on the block, so people with that attitude won't find what they are looking for here.

For the record Atlanta is a pretty similar city people-wise to Jacksonville and it catches about as much grief from the media as we do.  Anything wrong with Atlanta the media will continuously harp on without mentioning any of the positives, and it's probably because they wish they could fit in with Atlanta's ITP society where everyone also knows each other and history is abundant.

Simms I know you & I both live in The Plastic Peach and both have roots in the Backwards River and most of what you said I totally agree with. So + 1 on that. I think I am one of the types of people you are referring to with the Big Man on Campus statement. Its funny because I can think deep enough not to be offended. I like flash, I like cool trendy stuff, I dont think everyone should be hip or posh, but I do like for the option to be available. Jax & Atl are so similar its not even funny. Sometimes the statements I hear in Atlanta are the same thing I would here in Jacksonville. I find I get along better with people NOT from Georgia, same as I did in Jax, Im a Navy brat and got along better with other Navy brats, people from Jax I never really saw eye to eye with a lot of them. I wouldnt go to another city and bash it for the sake I feel Im powerful enough to hurt it. A lot of these media guys think they are powerful enough to persuad the masses to hate the COJ. They had this agenda for years

[cityimrov]

I still think the history in Jacksonville, while important in it's own way, are still things that the world really doesn't care about to put it in a history book.  Due to our size, our history may be slightly above average, but there are hundreds of cities in the United States - thousands in the world.  Millions throughout the civilization of mankind from Cairo all the way to Rome all the way to New York.  It's hard for me to say if our story fits in the upper echelon of human history.  All cities in this planet have a history, the question is how does this history of Jacksonville compare to other places around the world?  Does this history have a place that generations upon generations of people through the world should learn it vs other areas?

From the reactions to this thread, the one thing I do see Jacksonville has is - insecurity.  Jacksonville is what Jacksonville is.  Attacking sports writers isn't going to change the city, changing the city will change the city.  

[stjr]

History of any city, culture, or community is important.  The history of the world and mankind as we know it is the sum total of ALL local history.  History is integral to the very identity we cherish both as individuals and as a community, locally, nationally, and globally.  To diminish that history is to diminish our own self esteem and self worth as we are the embodiment of that.  A shared history is also what both binds us together and bonds us to the the place that we live.  Without it, one place becomes indistinguishable from another.  We are all just "passing through" with little loyalty or affection for our "home".

I seldom visit a city or other place for any amount of time that I don't take the opportunity, via the internet or other resources, to consider their history.  It gives me an immediate appreciation for the area and allows me to better immerse myself in the experience of my visit.  Often, such history leads me to the most interesting and instructive cultural and geographic sites as well.  When I leave such a place, I feel an everlasting attachment and affection for it as I have come to know it and appreciate it.

I believe that such opportunities do much to motivate the wanderlust in us.  This in itself is a major economic development tool.  Unfortunately, Jax has lacked this appreciation, along with any long term vision, and has both ignored and diminished its history to the point that few appreciate what has transpired here.  This just cycles back to the lack of identity issue that started this thread.

Great cities do great jobs promoting their history (and, as Stephen noted, many of these cities have no more, and perhaps less, illustrious histories than Jax).  We must do the same if we are to climb the ladder we speak of.

[uptowngirl]

Keep them coming Stephen, this history is facinating, Jacksonville truly was a fabulous place and will be again!

[Coolyfett]

hmm.  He doesnt look terribly bright, though.

He's the one in the middle.

What! ha ha ha ha that is un sexy! Him bashing Jax is funny

[Clem1029]

Some of these history lessons are interesting in their own right...but beyond that, it's a big old "so what?" isn't it? In all the major cities with real or adopted histories that tend to have that "enjoyable" reputation, the history has been embraced as part of the culture. Jacksonville simply hasn't embraced it's history, and as such, the culture has developed accordingly, i.e., nonexistantly. The history is interesting for history buffs and such, but it seems to have zero bearing on the culture of the city. As an outsider who has been been here for 5 years now, I can't identify a Jacksonville culture, and if someone living here can't, how would we expect people looking in to find one?

[Coolyfett]

hmm.  He doesnt look terribly bright, though.

He's the one in the middle.

What! ha ha ha ha that is un sexy! Him bashing Jax is funny

I think the analysis offered upthread is giving this writer too much credit.

A lot of members of the sports media are lemmings who follow a trend.  It's trendy to bash Jacksonville because it's a smaller market, in the South, and relatively low-profile, all of which are anathema to the trend-makers in the sports press.  The negativity toward Jacksonville began during the expansion race, and after dying down for a while due to the Jaguars' initial success and the city's intense response, it re-emerged when the city hosted the Super Bowl and sportswriters in search for an easy story (as always) decided to pick on the smaller, Southern city without as many obvious tourist sites.  (Full disclosure, I am an outsider who regularly visits Jacksonville and thinks it has a lot to offer in the way of tourism, but in ways that are subtle compared to other Florida destinations and not at all well marketed.)  Not-easily-understood but easily mocked factors such as the tarps and the Tebow cult have contributed more recently, along with last year's ticket sales swoon that has led to this year's exceptionally impressive sales surge being more or less ignored.

Most Jacksonville criticism from the sports press comes from those who have never been there or have the slightest and most peripheral experiences with the city, and are just looking for an easy story to write.  It's not legitimate criticism founded in experience or fact, even if portions of it occasionally are accurate by accident.  I maintain that even if you took all these guys to Kingsley Plantation and the LaVilla Museum and Avondale and San Marco for a day and showed them the city's wonderful hospitality, they'd still write the same article because it's easy and the prevailing, expected trend to follow.  Those from competing cities in the region cannibalistically and enthusiastically follow along even if they know the city well.

Tony Kornheiser started this garbage when he wrote his Super Bowl column that he later admitted was written without having ever visited the city, and then he started piling on with the "unknown city, unknown players, unknown team" mantra whenever there was an MNF broadcast in Jacksonville.  And the lemmings followed.

It is EXACTLY the same criticism in all circumstances and has been since '93.  You can wine and dine them at Morton's and they'll still write that the best restaurants in town are Applebee's and Waffle House.

Tony is an idiot everything he says is always viewed with laughter....I can see this topic bothers a lot of people, but the dude who wrote it, is not attractive or hip or cool in any regard. I know style and this dude has none....so basically its a joke.

[danno]

How about Bashing Jacksonville Bashing gets a little old?

[danno]

Snip

Consider, for example that the City has had, in living memory, simultaneously a Gay or Bisexual Mayor, School Board Superintendent, Governor----all popularly elected or appointed with the approval of the people.

Please elaborate Stephen.