4 ms·

And why would that be a good thing? How would these "real" communities be superior to our current "unreal" ones?

by asdflkj 18y ago

stcredzero 18y ago
See Kunstler's "Places not worth caring about." This is worth seeing because of his stunning observations about how distorted our surroundings have become. He gets into a rant, but he's spot on! (Except where it comes to the "end of cheap oil.") http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121 http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121 I love sitting in courtyards and squares in my visits to places in Europe. I loved sitting in the courtyard of the Student Union in graduate school. I loved sitting in a cafe on Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati, which by US standards, is a very European street in that town. It's relaxing. You can meet people by accident and find yourself invited to dinner or chat with old friends. Sometimes, you even get laid. Maybe you can do all of those things online. I find the interpersonal bandwidth and the quality of the experience superior in real life. A lot of people may find this sort of experience foreign in the US. In the US, the rampant use of the automobile has caused the loss of much of our public space. Now, it seems like all we know how to build are public spaces where no one normally wants to be. We have to entice people there with some event. There are places that are conducive to community, however, where people are actually drawn to in order to be together. Places near where people live, that you don't need to pay to get into.
- asdflkj 18y ago
  I'm all for real life and for meeting new people, but it's important to make a distinction between meeting a particular kind of people and meeting random people. There are already many cities and neighborhoods in the US where particular kinds of people gather and meet each other. On the other hand, your average inhabitant of a "regular" place in the US (including all of suburbia) is someone I want to keep as far out of my mind as possible. "Real communities" would make this task much harder.
  - stcredzero 18y ago
    This says a lot about American society -- that we no longer have enough of a civic life to promulgate manners. If there were more "real communities" with a sense of both tolerance and manners, there wouldn't be any need to avoid the "average" American. Such places exist in Europe. That they don't exist here indicates that it's a peculiarity of the US, and not of "real communities" in general.
- davidw 18y ago
  Here's my take on congregating in the central piazza in Padova: http://padovachronicles.welton.it/articles/search?q=spritz http://padovachronicles.welton.it/articles/search?q=spritz Absolutely superior to anything similar I've ever experienced in the US.
gills 18y ago
I wasn't bashing on virtual communities. The discussions here are more interesting than the ones with my neighbors. I just think it's good to know who lives on my street, and the folks I don't know are the ones who drive in and out of the garage in the SUV and never say hello. It's their right to do so, but I think it weakens the community.

And why would that be a good thing? How would these "real" communities be superior to our current "unreal" ones?

by asdflkj 18y ago

And why would that be a good thing? How would these "real" communities be superior to our current "unreal" ones?

See Kunstler's "Places not worth caring about." This is worth seeing because of his stunning observations about how distorted our surroundings have become. He gets into a rant, but he's spot on! (Except where it comes to the "end of cheap oil.") http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121 http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121 I love sitting in courtyards and squares in my visits to places in Europe. I loved sitting in the courtyard of the Student Union in graduate school. I loved sitting in a cafe on Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati, which by US standards, is a very European street in that town. It's relaxing. You can meet people by accident and find yourself invited to dinner or chat with old friends. Sometimes, you even get laid. Maybe you can do all of those things online. I find the interpersonal bandwidth and the quality of the experience superior in real life. A lot of people may find this sort of experience foreign in the US. In the US, the rampant use of the automobile has caused the loss of much of our public space. Now, it seems like all we know how to build are public spaces where no one normally wants to be. We have to entice people there with some event. There are places that are conducive to community, however, where people are actually drawn to in order to be together. Places near where people live, that you don't need to pay to get into.

asdflkj 18y ago
I'm all for real life and for meeting new people, but it's important to make a distinction between meeting a particular kind of people and meeting random people. There are already many cities and neighborhoods in the US where particular kinds of people gather and meet each other. On the other hand, your average inhabitant of a "regular" place in the US (including all of suburbia) is someone I want to keep as far out of my mind as possible. "Real communities" would make this task much harder.
- stcredzero 18y ago
  This says a lot about American society -- that we no longer have enough of a civic life to promulgate manners. If there were more "real communities" with a sense of both tolerance and manners, there wouldn't be any need to avoid the "average" American. Such places exist in Europe. That they don't exist here indicates that it's a peculiarity of the US, and not of "real communities" in general.
davidw 18y ago
Here's my take on congregating in the central piazza in Padova: http://padovachronicles.welton.it/articles/search?q=spritz http://padovachronicles.welton.it/articles/search?q=spritz Absolutely superior to anything similar I've ever experienced in the US.

gills 18y ago

I wasn't bashing on virtual communities. The discussions here are more interesting than the ones with my neighbors. I just think it's good to know who lives on my street, and the folks I don't know are the ones who drive in and out of the garage in the SUV and never say hello. It's their right to do so, but I think it weakens the community.