Philly often gets a bad reputation.
Longtime Philadelphians know it’s rarely deserved — and, with the City of Brotherly Love about to be in the spotlight for some major events, now more than ever is the time to share the stories that make our city the progressive, and usually peaceful, place that it is.
Philly has long topped lists for having the “worst” sports fans, as that age-old imagery of Santa Claus being booed at an Eagles game or Phillies fans hurling batteries at an opposing player is evoked. Sure, those incidents paint sports-fervent Philadelphians with a bad brush, but the same outlets that continuously promote those stories are missing out on the countless times local sports figures, teams or fans show their benevolent side — fundraising for sick kids, hosting multi-cultural events or continuing to turn out to avidly support teams with magnificently lopsided losing records.
The good of Philly was again overshadowed by the bad this week, as a traveling robot met its demise in our city. HitchBOT, an experimental, hitchhiking robot out of Canada that was bound for San Francisco, was ripped limb from limb in Old City by an unknown assailant. And up came the stereotypes about Philly’s anger issues.
But just as quickly came the assistance. Local tech wizzes offered to reboot the bot and supporters donated to that cause. One person’s poor behavior shouldn’t dictate perceptions of an entire community.
The LGBT community knows that truth all too well; LGBT people have been practiced in not blaming all members of a religious denomination for one person’s homophobic attitudes or learning to bridge gaps as the learning curve about LGBT issues continues.
Story-sharing has become an integral part of that process. The more we put a public face to the LGBT community, the more baseless fears are overcome.
As the international community looks to Philadelphia next month for the papal visit, and next summer for the Democratic National Convention, hopefully media outlets and others will show the real stories of our city. Doubtlessly, there may be some negative incidents that will be associated with such large-scale events, but the good of Philadelphia, and Philadelphians, should be the real focus.
Let’s help put a face to our city — and show that the robot-bashers, Santa-booers and battery-throwers are few and far between.