[matthewmacleod]

It's a genuinely surprising feeling to live in a place, but see an absolute torrent of malevolent misinformation about it.

The "London has fallen" trope that has been prevalent on social media recently stank of some kind of deliberate manipulation. But increasingly—in part due to stories like this—I wonder if it is actually just all "for the views".

[afavour]

For what it's worth living in NYC often feels the same. There are people who live on Long Island - many just an hour or so from the city - who are convinced it's a hellscape here.

Even people with children who live in the city are somehow able to tolerate the cognitive dissonance of hearing their children talk about the lives they lead while also believing the city is crime-ridden and dangerous.

[rwmj]

Also the US politicians suffering from Khan Derangement Syndrome. He really is one of the most anodyne politicians around, obviously no one is genuinely upset about him.

[mhh__]

It's definitely being pushed by people looking for views but there is obviously some truth to it when half the businesses around Leicester Square are completely empty frauds.

[matthewmacleod]

No, there is not “obviously some truth to it”. There are any number of actual problems with London, including but not limited to a lack of enforcement against obvious frauds, and none of which are the related to the topic being discussed.

[graemep]

One of the "British" racist social media posters turned out to be Pakistani, another Sri Lankan: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025-11-16/kin...

Both in it for the money.

[gorpomon]

It's such a bummer to see such blatant manipulation, and even worse to see people buy into it wholesale.

[thatfunkymunki]

I've lived in Chicago and San Francisco, both places also victims of this type of narrative.

[tptacek]

I've lived in both places and I think the narrative is a lot more fair, in terms of day-to-day quality of life for, like, the median resident, about San Francisco than it is about Chicago. The narrative about Chicago basically doesn't connect with anybody's experience here unless they live in places like Lawndale or Englewood. San Francisco's problems are broadly shared by every neighborhood.

[thatfunkymunki]

my neighborhood here (excelsior district) is more or less like a more packed in version of where i grew up (south oak park). Comparing living anywhere in SF to living in Lanwdale or Englewood is absolutely wild, outside of some very isolated neighborhoods.