Graffiti targeting the '1 percent' spray-painted in Atherton neighborhood

[ErikJ]

02/26/2014 06:01:59 AM PST

Has Atherton (in Silicon Valley) -- named the "most expensive ZIP code in America" by Forbes last year -- become the latest battleground in class warfare?

On Feb. 16, vandals spray-painted the message "F... the 1%" on perimeter walls, fences, garage doors, a gate and a car on at least nine properties in the town's Lindenwood neighborhood, according to Atherton police Lt. Joe Wade.

And on a street in front of one house was scrawled in black paint the words, "Kill People." As part of its investigation, the Atherton Police Department contacted other local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI, Wade said.

"We send out notifications to anybody we think might have information," Wade said. "They're (vandals) talking about the 1 percent, that's happening beyond our local reach. Sometimes the FBI will monitor protest groups and things of that nature."
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http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_25228566/graffiti-targeting-1-percent-spray-painted-atherton-neighborhood

[Hayabusa]

2. Desperate people

often do desperate things.

[Rex]

3. But the vandals are job creators! The scared uber wealthy will now hire a battalion of private

security! HOW CAN these unfeeling monsters be against job creators!?

[HappyMe]

4. Poor dears.

I can't muster up any sympathy.

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. These kids don't seem to understand how dangerous it is to directly go after the parasites class.

I hope they learn quickly without too much pain, and I hope the people that live around there help and support them.

[surrealAmerican]

6. This needs to be treated just as seriously ...

... as graffiti in poor neighborhoods would be.

[HangOnKids]

9. BAM!

Nothing more to add.

[msanthrope]

12. And you won the fucking Internets today! nt

[Fawke Em]

16. That made me happy.

Excellent comment!

[former9thward]

7. Petty vandalism.

I'm sure the 1% are shaking.

[HappyMe]

8. The people in that town might be.

Some of the icky, unwashed $10aires crept into their sanctum.

[former9thward]

11. Odds are much greater it was their teenage sons and daughters.

So they are already living in the sanctum.

[HappyMe]

14. Well then Biff and Fluffy

better watch out, lest they be left out of the will and the keys to the Escalade taken away.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. "A journey of a thousand li begins with one step." Lao Tse

[KamaAina]

13. The last time Atherton made the news, it was for routinely stopping Latinos

who dared to drive down El Camino Real from neighboring Redwood City.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10403892

This was likely done in the hopes that the drivers would be undocumented, and could be cited for driving without the license that they could not legally obtain. Now, at least, they can.

[SalviaBlue]

15. "In 2012, the median income of an Atherton household was $228,393"

A quick search shows that the annual income level of the top 1% is around $717,000.

The median income of $228,393 puts these people closer to the the 99% than to the 1%.

I have often thought that a lot of people who are high earners vote as if they were in the 1% but are actually closer in financial condition to the 99%. These people need to understand that they are voting against their interests. Many of them actually are the job creators (small businesses, professionals, etc.) that the billionaires claim to be. But they actually have to struggle to provide real services and pay their employees, expenses, and taxes. They would do better to vote with the 99% and encourage billionaires to pay their fair share rather than thinking they are in the same financial category as them. They aren't. A good test is: if there is a financial crash, do you have to change your lifestyle much, if yes, you are not the 1%.