WUPH
By Mitch Berg
JD Vance’s visit to the Third Precinct brought out, if not the worst of the plagues facing today’s Minnesota, at least the most comical: the WUPH.
The White Urban Progressive Homer. Generally a 20-30-something male, employed in the non-profit, public or academic sector, part of the laptop class, single, socially mobile, mostly self-focused.
And they seem to obsess relentlessly about the zipcode they live in – or at least parts of it:
Because to a WUPH, “business” means “something they pay money to that supports their lifestyle”: restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bookstores…
…which are, let’s be honest, things I also love about living in the city.
But being a WUPH isn’t so much about the zip code you live in as it is about the zip codes you don’t live in:
Because behind every “All Are Welcome Here” sign is a person who really doesn’t like people who aren’t like them:
I mean, I get it – Minneapolis is a beautiful place…
…and has cool stuff to do if you have money and don’t mind (or mock any observation of) some of the risks of modern Minneapolis. I mean, I fell in love with the place once upon a time, enough to uproot my whole life and move there.
You know how they say the worst, most arrogant condescending New Yorkers are the ones that were born in Albany?
A get a little of that vibe from the WUPH – people who seem to think a place’s natural beauty and social amenities impart worth on people who live there is…
Which, to my New York example, is about as parochial as the Lutheran church gossips in the basements of the churches in Woodbury and Forest lake that I suspect so many WUPHs originally come from in the first place.Â
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October 16th, 2024 at 12:27 pm
I have only been in Minneapolis a few times since the summer celebrations of St Floyd of Fentanyl, but I have seen pics and videos and read reports that, compared to 2019, both Downtown and Uptown are virtual ghost towns today. How many restaurants have closed in Minneapolis in the last 4 years?
October 16th, 2024 at 12:37 pm
The retorts seem to be less “reports of decline are untrue” but more “it’s not that bad if you have money and go during daylight hours.”
Hardly an effective rebuttal.
October 16th, 2024 at 1:12 pm
Has that Minnehaha Liquor bldg, across the street from the 3rd Precinct been rebuilt?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/gui0ho/minnehaha_liquors_just_gonna_leave_this_here/?rdt=47479
October 16th, 2024 at 1:35 pm
Walz and the crap birds that run Mpls sat idly by as the “mostly peaceful protesters” burned the precinct station. That was 4 years ago. Word is the property will sit empty for another 4 or more years. I’d say the city isn’t in decline…It is fully declined. We left the rats nest 40 years ago. Let the DemonRats have the place.
October 16th, 2024 at 3:01 pm
Yea, Feldman you moron. Directly across 26th Avenue from that Target, is an empty building that used to house 7-Sigma and their 45 employees. They have moved out of Minneapolis, specifically that neighborhood, because of the indifference of the city leaders. So now, Minneapolis loses that tax revenue and is stuck with yet another empty building.
October 16th, 2024 at 4:37 pm
Someone tell that WUPH I can get a great smash burger with fries for $14-16 in my hick NC town after dark, compared to his women owned cocktail bar where that meal costs $24 and they don’t list the price of adult beverages. Yeah, we have a Walmart too, where everyone goes, rich and poor.
October 16th, 2024 at 4:51 pm
I am quite happy to no longer be working downtown Minneapolis. Last year, I hoofed it through the skyway to the autoshow.
Compared to 206-17, the prior time I’d worked downtown, it was dead outside of the Crystal Court at around 3 PM. There is your city in decline. Previously, there were a large number of people there even slightly later. Now, it’s a ghost town. Big skyway halls, and they are empty.