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.
