There’s a delicious San Francisco irony that on a huge day for the Democratic Socialists of America, our own highest-ranking DSA member is protesting the demise of a cat.
While Zohran Mamdani looks likely to be elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s contribution to the political moment is linking the tragic death of a bodega mouser to the evils of capitalism, the oppression of the plutocracy, and whatever other kitchen-sink left-wing gripes she can throw into her colonizer kvetchfest. All of this because a corner-store tabby named KitKat darted under the tire of a Waymo last week and met his tragic end.
It’s about as craven an act of opportunism as any San Francisco politician will commit this week. And lord knows, she’ll have competition.
Before going further, I should disclose a couple of awkward notes. First, I am a longtime dog lover and disparager of cats. I taught my daughter from a young age that dogs give love and cats take it. I also am quite fond of my own tabby, Scamp, whom my wife insisted on acquiring. That he is a lazy jerk who mostly yawns at me doesn’t stop me from having a soft spot for the little fella.
This is all to say, I understand KitKat’s owner’s pain when he told The Standard last week, “Honestly, man, it’s difficult. He was a one-of-a-kind cat. He brought joy to so many people.”
I also have similarly warm feelings for Fielder, a whip-smart policy wonk who impressed me a year ago with her willingness to work with incoming Mayor Daniel Lurie — even if she hasn’t translated that avowal into votes for the mayor’s policy agenda.
Yet just as Mamdani has shown his socialist stripes with proposals for free buses, rent-hike freezes, and government-run grocery stores, Fielder is demonstrating that she can turn almost anything, including the death of a kitty, into a referendum on capitalism and our billionaire tech overlords.
Outraged by KitKat’s untimely end, Fielder has called for allowing San Francisco voters to ban robotaxis. On Tuesday, she held a “Justice for KitKat” rally outside Randa’s Market in the Mission, the district she represents on the Board of Supervisors.
Fielder’s rhetoric somehow manages to combine cringe-worthy sentimentalism with doctrinaire class-conflict exhortation. “Waymo thinks that they can just sweep this under the rug and we will all forget,” she said in a social media video (opens in new tab). “But here in the Mission, we will never forget our sweet KitKat. We will always put community before tech oligarchs. And California should do the same.”
Fielder has some legitimate gripes against Waymo, which is owned by Alphabet parent Google. It’s a monopoly. It collects data on its users. Lurie got caught giving the company preferential treatment by allowing it to operate on Market Street without bothering to ask how the public felt about it or if competitors were also interested. Autonomous rideshare vehicles embody the twin progressive bugaboos of eliminating jobs for humans and siphoning riders from mass transit.
But to tie all this to a cat? That’s impressive, next-level shamelessness. (It’s also brilliant emotional manipulation. Multiple (opens in new tab) studies (opens in new tab) have shown that people have more empathy for reports of suffering animals than those of suffering humans. Never mind that human-driven cars kill a whole lot more cats, dogs, and people than Waymo ever has. Or ever will.)
Make no mistake, while Mamdani is tossing out red-meat socialist policy ideas, Fielder’s proposal is strictly performative, in the grandest San Francisco tradition. Other than hosting a memorial, rally, and (of course) press conference for KitKat, she plans to offer a resolution requesting that Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature pass a law allowing local voters to regulate robotaxis.
Resolutions are nonbinding by design. In other words, such statements are meant to make legislators feel good and look productive — but have no bearing whatsoever on policy.
Speaking of performative, Fielder has a telling ally in her outrage over the felicide running rampant on the mean streets of the Mission. The Chronicle reports (opens in new tab) that “Fielder has already drawn support from the Teamsters, who are wary of the threat that [autonomous vehicles] pose to professional human drivers.”
No shocker there. Do not underestimate the willingness of organized labor to link any issue under the sun to anything that might challenge the jobs of members. Even the death of a helpless putty-tat.
I once was as much a skeptic of autonomous vehicles as I was of cats. I was wrong on both counts. They both have their place, and at least one of them represents progress. We need to regulate AVs and tolerate cats. Neither is going away.