Detroit vs. Everybody

In “Detroit vs. Everybody”, Rembert Browne, the article’s author, attempts to portray Detroit for what it really is. He acknowledged that he, along with most other Americans, associate Detroit with negative connotations. However, as the article went on he did his best to shed a positive light on the city. One part of the article that I really connected with was when he first arrived at the city and described it as looking like a third-world country. He placed images of overturned cars and empty streets in the article. This is representative of what many Americans truly do think of Detroit and I am no different. In recent years, whenever Detroit was on the news, it was usually about something very negative like bankruptcy, unemployment, or homelessness. As a result, I often associate the city with those things and I could actually envision the city looking like the images he included. It is later revealed that downtown Detroit was being used as a set for an action movie.           

            Throughout the article, Browne attempts to present an accurate view of the city for the reader. However, I do not believe he did a very good job. Instead of giving an accurate description of what he saw or experienced, he tried to turn things that seemed blatantly negative into something positive. An example of this is when he visited Belle Isle Park. It is a massive park, yet when Browne visited it, there was practically no one there. I believe that most people would view this as a negative and that they would want the park to be bustling with people of all ages. This is not the case with Browne, as he says, “The freedom to roam at your own pace, at your own volume, in as much space as you desired is something those in densely populated areas can only dream about.”

            In his article, Brown attempted to provide the reader with an account of what he experienced in his short trip to the city. However, I believe his own viewpoints distributed the reality of his experience due to his repeated attempt to portray Detroit in a positive manner.