Sifting through the ashes of Rochester’s dumpster fire – Asia Times

You know you’re old when you have no idea who IShowSpeed is and why he is a big deal. For the old farts out there, IShowSpeed is a social media celebrity currently live-streaming (whatever that means) from Shanghai causing all kinds of handwringing — from accusations of being a paid China shill to celebrating his antics which, in effect, dances on Radio Free Asia’s grave.

IShowSpeed is just the highest profile of many social media content creators who have recently made China pilgrimages. The general theme of these videos is, “Wow, lookit all the tall buildings and cool stuff in China” with the implicit (if not explicit) subtext of, “We’ve been lied to.”

Chinese social media celebrities have been making a morbid mirror pilgrimage. Influencers are posting videos of JFK airport, New York City subways and San Francisco streets — and not exactly focusing on the positives. A perhaps not entirely altruistic social media influencer dispensed 100 McDonald’s hamburgers to LA’s skid row denizens.

The general theme of these videos is, “Lookit the dumpster fire that is America” with the implicit (if not explicit) subtext of, “America is one giant lie.”

Han Feizi is currently in Rochester, New York, which is his closest thing to a hometown. Rochester, New York, has all the elements to fill multiple “American dumpster fire” YouTube channels which, yes, is now a thing.

The city that Eastman Kodak built. The city that doubled its charmed existence with Xerox Corporation. The city that once had the most PhDs per capita in all of America. In the 1970’s and 80’s, Rochester in no way played second fiddle to Silicon Valley.

Resting on one’s laurels is the meanest thing that can be said of Rochester. How long did they think they could live off of film and photocopiers? To add insult to injury, Kodak and Xerox invented but failed to capitalize on much of the technology that led to their demise.

Eastman Kodak engineer Steven Sasson built a digital camera in 1975. In 1983, when Steve Jobs caught wind of Microsoft’s windows and mouse-based operating system, he called in Bill Gates for a high-decibel dressing down, yelling, “I trusted you and now you’re stealing from us!”

To which Bill Gates coldly responded, “Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”

Of course, this is all spilled milk. And it’s old news. By the mid-aughts, Kodak and Xerox were already shells of their former selves, done in first by Japanese competition (Fuji, Canon, Ricoh etc) and then by technological obsolescence. Interestingly, China had little to do with Kodak and Xerox’s demise.

Unfortunately, China was likely responsible for the demise of other manufacturing operations in Rochester from Delphi Automotive (formerly General Motors) to Bausch and Lomb. And to add insult to injury, Rochester’s most glorious export to Asia, pop star Leehom Wang, got waylaid by scandal (totally bogus).

The city has been licking many wounds. Han Feizi could indulge in American dumpster fire porn and gawk at potholes, panhandlers, street walkers and abandoned buildings. But that would be pointless nihilism. Let us instead sift through the ashes and see what remains.

To start off, Rochester’s Chinese American diaspora circled wagons around Leehom Wang. That is our 1600 SAT Mando-pop superstar from the best of families and we will not have his name trashed by an outlier on the crazy-hot matrix. Slowly but surely, Leehom Wang is winning back fans.

Second, Nick Tahou’s survives! This 107-year-old Rochester institution was nearly done in by Covid. But Rochesterians have rallied around the Garbage Plate that has fed celebrities, executives, addicts and hookers for over a century. Yes, its contribution to global cuisine is garbage… but it’s our garbage, so suck it.

But Rochester’s greatest contribution to humanity was never Kodak or Xerox. Visitors to Rochester never asked to visit Xerox’s Webster research center. What left visitors gobsmacked — every single time — was a trip to Wegmans supermarkets. I will not bore readers with written expositions; there are YouTube videos aplenty. I just want to brag a little.

When Beijingers rave about Hema supermarkets, I shake my head. When Seattle residents yap about Costco, Rochesterians shrug. Whole Foods is a joke. So is Trader Joe’s. Those are mere businesses, people, not humanist institutions.

The secret has since gone out. But just barely. Founded two years before Nick Tahou’s in 1916, Wegmans has expanded to just eight states with 111 stores.

Whole Foods was founded in 1978 and now has over 500 locations. Costco was founded in 1983 and has 890 locations. Kroger was founded in 1883 and is an embarrassment to capitalism.

The pitch deck writes itself. 111 stores? Are you kidding? Any joker on Wall Street can raise enough capital to open 500 stores. Top bankers can deliver 1,000 stores, easy. Walmart and Kroger need to be put through the paces. It would be the Wegman family’s gift to America!

With an introduction to the right people, a Hong Kong IPO, I could open 1,000 Wegmans supermarkets in China. I can get Leehom Wang to perform at store openings. This can be spectacular! Rochester can forget all about Kodak and Xerox.

This, of course, is not going to fly wth the Wegman family. Many a banker have had similar fantasies. The family seems to think they are running a Catholic charity as much as a supermarket chain and have some silly idea that unbridled expansion will negatively impact the mission (these are the same goody two-shoes who refuse to sell cigarettes in their stores).

The only thing Wall Street can do is sit on it and hope for prodigal future generations to take the reins.

Whatever. Maybe they are right. Kroger is embarrassing, after all. But they are embarrassing with 2,800 stores. The capitalist, though, is having a hard time getting over this contradiction. 

The US has become a dumpster fire of capitalism. Platform monopolies have enshittified the customer experience. Facebook and YouTube are chock-full of ads and just barely usable.

Apple’s ecosystem and Microsoft’s network monopoly has customers by the balls. Twitter is infested with OnlyFans girls. Amazon skims off of vendors and employees; does anyone not believe customers are next?

And in the midst of this blazing inferno, in the most waylaid city in America, exists this strange, strange entity of Wegmans supermarkets. 

Are they a beacon of capitalism? Or its antithesis? Have they provided the greatest retail experience known to mankind, or are they far underperforming their potential and, in effect, obstructing progress due to perfectionism?

If all American businesses are run like Wegmans, will the economy flourish in excellence and abundance or stagnate like artisanal Japanese shops?

These are unanswered questions on which Rochester’s (and perhaps America’s) future may depend. With IShowSpeed gallivanting around blinged-out Shanghai, showing the world the best China has to offer, it might be nice if Chinese influencers live-streamed a visit to Wegmans just to be polite.