“Selective Outrage” was a term made popular by the recent Chris Rock comedy special on Netflix, wherein he details “the Oscar’s slap” and aftermath for himself and Will Smith. His broader point from the comedy special is on-point too, as he showcases time and again the “selective outrage” (hypocrisy and faux-sanctimonious behavior) of select people, corporations, and even celebrities. His take on the brand Lululemon selling $60 “non-racist” yoga pants is a classic.
There is a similar behavior to “selective outrage” (which definitely occurs all the time in MoCo politics) that I’ve noted recently amongst select Montgomery County Councilmembers and definitely County Executive Marc Elrich. We can call it “selective ranking promotion” or maybe just “selective promotion”.
Whenever Montgomery County or an area of MoCo gets ranked favorably by a website or “business” publication, the retweets and self-pats on the back are non-stop by our taxpayer supported politicians. Witness:
Here is what the Fortune Magazine / fortune.com piece had to actually say about Silver Spring, and why they ranked it “#3”.
Of course, so much of this description is just not true – and it is clear it was written by someone (“KR”) who likely doesn’t live in the region. “Can easily commute to D.C. for work or pleasure” is not true. Roads are congested and traffic is always a problem into and around the city. Headed to Virginia for work (as thousands of Marylanders have to)? It’ll take forever and you might get stuck in bridge traffic for hours.
The Washington Metro system is often unreliable, the redline servicing Silver Spring can have weekend delays and track work, and now appears to be kind of unsafe. There was a recent shooting at the Wheaton Metro station that involved a high school student.
There is also an obsession with the site “Niche” and whatever it puts out. On the “Why Choose Montgomery County?” business hub site, the following is stated (screen shot below from June, 2023):
“Niche.com” is a Pittsburgh-based website and business that uses dubious methodology for its public school “rankings”. See for yourself (screenshot from https://www.niche.com/about/methodology/best-public-elementary-schools/) below. A full 10% of a school system’s “grade” has to do with “racial and economic diversity”. This would seem to mean that a really well-performing (academically and via teacher-grade scoring) school made up of mostly black American students near Atlanta, GA would be “penalized” in this ranking methodology.
Anyway, curiously or perhaps not-so-curiously, these re-tweets and promotions cease by the political class in MoCo when a whole host of other publications and think tanks put out various rankings. Here is a quick smattering of what these career politicians often don’t want to highlight:
(MoCo has three in the top-10 of the metro-DC rankings, and Fairfax County Public Schools hold eight of the top-15 spots in the rankings, compared to just four MoCo schools. All four MoCo school are in either Bethesda or Potomac, MD.)
Taxes? Maryland (and really MoCo, as it is the economic “heart” of MD) is ranked #7 as the “Least Tax-Friendly States for Middle Class Families” per financial news publication, Kiplinger.com.
And we cannot forget the rankings on state gasoline taxes. By the way, every member of the MoCo state house delegation voted to continue on increasing this regressive gasoline tax, with another tax hike to come July 1st, 2023.
Selective promotion – a MoCO politician’s favorite past time.
