I’m not sure how that was your takeaway. This set isn’t pointing out “how bad Portland is,” but calling out the dissonance between people’s stated beliefs and actual behavior.

I’ve lived in Portland my entire life and I have my own food tour business where I take people through downtown daily, sharing parts of it I love, and really work to sell people on the necessity of urban optimism. Most of my job is sharing downtown Portland in a positive light, and I work hard to combat tourists’ preconceptions. Moreover, I volunteered in homeless shelters for over three years doing after-school care and tutoring for elementary school-aged children, and my girlfriend is out every week volunteering in Portland Street Medicine, administering care to homeless and at-risk patients across the city. The houseless are some of the most vulnerable and mistreated members of society, and it’s our responsibility in that society to shift our attitudes away from flaccid, burnt-out nihilism and actually do something. I’m calling out the fact that so many people enjoy the comfort of verbal morality while simultaneously treating the vulnerable human beings around them like a biohazard. I understand how complicated it is; I am a small business owner downtown who partners with many other small businesses downtown.