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# Bill Bauer’s world must be dreamy
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bill-bauers-world-must-be-dreamy-editor/
- Published: 2006-03-29T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:24:08.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By Alan Toy Santa Monica*

I have a feeling that Bill Bauer is living in his own absent-minded dream world (SMDP, March 27, page 4). It isn’t a new feeling, but this time I am compelled to say “wake up.”

How nice it would be if race didn’t matter, but wake up, Bill, it does. So do eth-nicity, religion and, while we’re at it, class and, duh, politics.

Now perhaps they matter far less to those who happen to have secure (read dominant) places in all or most of the above-mentioned categories, but even white middle-to-upper class Christian (well, let’s just say, non-Jew, non-Muslim, non-Sikh, etc.) men have to come to their senses and smell the coffee sometime.

The reason why your Jewish friend is so sensitive about his and other’s Jewishness is exactly the point, which you make, but still seem to be missing. If you are in a position of current or historical oppression (or discrimination, misunderstanding, racism, poverty, genocide or whatever fits the bill) you are naturally going to have your defenses up. It is human nature and self-preserving to be that way. You are going to often come across as “hyper” vigilant and “overly” sensitive, especially to those like yourself, Bill, who are among the dominant group and who, for the life of them, just don’t get it.

Your failure to grasp this susceptibility is precisely what gets folks like professor Cerna worked up (SMDP, March 18-19, page 5). It is the same failure of understanding or empathy that has created “us vs. them” divides throughout history. It’s old hat, Sleepy Bill, and kind of boring, honestly. But here you go again, full of strong, manly indignation, circling your wagon, because the “natives” are getting uppity again. The problem couldn’t possibly have anything to do with social injustice or inequities or (oh the horror, not in our fair city) racism. No, no, to you the problem lies squarely on the shoulders of those who point their fingers at the situation and say, “Uh, we seem to have a problem here.”

Oh, and while you’re sanctimoniously pointing back with absolutely zero compassion and mea culpa-bility, why not take some sorry potshots at people who are homeless too. You left out the bleeding-heart Santa Monicans For Renters’ Rights (SMRR) crackpots this time, who have put up with such madness and are the cause of every other malady for the past 25 years, but I guess that would be too much unpleasantness to cover in one sleepy-time column. So, we’ll look for a ripping SMRR smear in your next harangue. Meanwhile, you just go on living in your dream world, Bill. It must be nice in there. All peaceful and cozy, all so … blissful. It’s just like floating on denial.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 29, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)