Arieh Smith is the man behind the YouTube channel Xiaomanyc. He’s a language-learning enthusiast who has often gone viral across YouTube for being the white dude who speaks back to Chinese people in Chinatown or in China in fluent Mandarin or nearly as fluent Cantonese. He’s lived most of his life in New York, but two months ago, he posted a video explaining why he was moving to New Jersey.
He’s not an NR-type conservative; he’s happy to trade high taxes if he feels he’s getting good public service in return. But his complaints about New York City governance — how bad the subways have become, how expensive MTA expansion has become, how bad public safety is, the mismanagement of immigration, the proliferation of illegal weed stores, and the violence that keeps his wife from venturing out on her own with their young child have a universal quality. It’s a very sad commentary for people who love New York City and want it to show America at its best. This kind of commentary resonates.
