4 ms·

The USA in my youth? Maybe I'm idealizing, but there has been several definitive and marked shifts. Also, you can look at history. When we settled the west, the

The USA in my youth? Maybe I'm idealizing, but there has been several definitive and marked shifts. Also, you can look at history. When we settled the west, the people building the towns knew they were in it together, and built as community (not always and not always well, but there was a sense of it). WWII, "the greatest generation", almost all of society knew that if they united for a great purpose, they could achieve great things. Of course there were heros, but it was always the team/the group which mattered.

mjmsmith 4y ago
Red_Tarsius 4y ago
I agree and I should have used a different verb than "reach". "Maintain" might be more apt. Maybe I know what you mean: I feel that way when I'm driving through my old hometown. My grandparents used to leave the keys in the door – they would never do it now! – and it felt like everyone knew each other. The passage of time was marked by seasonal celebrations like Carnival or Easter. The entire town was involved in one way or the other: some people decorated the streets, others arranged the dancing stage, others prepared sweets and pastries. We used to play a lottery-style board game for Women's Day. In the past the local priest arranged for the construction of apartment blocks: their original purpose was to provide a cheap, temporary housing for young couples. Now it's just a memory. My elementary school closed down a few years ago. The grocery store, the bakery, the dance hall, the stationery are gone. The apartment blocks have become a long-term solution for migrants and low-income residents. There have attempts to revive the community but they didn't catch on.
sangnoir 4y ago
> WWII, "the greatest generation", almost all of society knew that if they united for a great purpose Are you including the soldiers who rioted in England due to the way black American soldiers were being treated by the host country? (That is, black soldiers were being treated as equals). Meanwhile back in the states, American citizens of Japanese descent were in internment camps. I guess "all of society" uniting entirely depends on who you define "society"
kansface 4y ago
> almost all of society knew that if they united for a great purpose, they could achieve great things. What purpose do we share?
- tremon 4y ago
  We all have a stake in preserving our society/way of life.
  - Dracophoenix 4y ago
    Which society? Which way of life? Neither of these are static objects trapped in amber.
    - tremon 4y ago
      Honestly, this is such a sad comment. The real answer to that question is left as an exercise to the reader. Not putting in one iota of effort to find common ground with your fellow human beings is the bane of democracy as a form of government.
      - Dracophoenix 4y ago
        If the question should be left as an exercise, then I'm justified in asking it. Democracy has nothing to do with what I've asked. We live in a world of various societies each composed of distinct histories, laws, ideologies, creeds, beliefs, cultures, etc. This is as true today as it was millennia ago, before the existence of modern democracy. None of these societies are or were interchangeable, whether across space or time, and many are mutually irreconcilable with respect to one another. Historically, these differences were "settled" with massacres and revolutions, where the victors stood righteous and the losers denounced as animals, barbarians, deviants, heretics, apostates, reactionaries, terrorists, and other terms of abuse. Today, these battles are waged in parliaments and on Internet forums, where the methods are less bloody the but rhetoric and reasoning (or lack thereof) remain relatively unchanged. Societies, as they exist in the real world, aren't simply voluntary associations of rational individuals (as much as I would like that). They are, whether by accident or design, sets of historical decisions that have accumulated currency in a sufficiently large or sufficiently powerful group of people. These same people are willing to engage in violence or coercion to defend said decisions with little concern for truth.

mjmsmith 4y ago

Red_Tarsius 4y ago

I agree and I should have used a different verb than "reach". "Maintain" might be more apt. Maybe I know what you mean: I feel that way when I'm driving through my old hometown. My grandparents used to leave the keys in the door – they would never do it now! – and it felt like everyone knew each other. The passage of time was marked by seasonal celebrations like Carnival or Easter. The entire town was involved in one way or the other: some people decorated the streets, others arranged the dancing stage, others prepared sweets and pastries. We used to play a lottery-style board game for Women's Day. In the past the local priest arranged for the construction of apartment blocks: their original purpose was to provide a cheap, temporary housing for young couples. Now it's just a memory. My elementary school closed down a few years ago. The grocery store, the bakery, the dance hall, the stationery are gone. The apartment blocks have become a long-term solution for migrants and low-income residents. There have attempts to revive the community but they didn't catch on.

sangnoir 4y ago

> WWII, "the greatest generation", almost all of society knew that if they united for a great purpose Are you including the soldiers who rioted in England due to the way black American soldiers were being treated by the host country? (That is, black soldiers were being treated as equals). Meanwhile back in the states, American citizens of Japanese descent were in internment camps. I guess "all of society" uniting entirely depends on who you define "society"

kansface 4y ago

> almost all of society knew that if they united for a great purpose, they could achieve great things. What purpose do we share?

tremon 4y ago
We all have a stake in preserving our society/way of life.
- Dracophoenix 4y ago
  Which society? Which way of life? Neither of these are static objects trapped in amber.
  - tremon 4y ago
    Honestly, this is such a sad comment. The real answer to that question is left as an exercise to the reader. Not putting in one iota of effort to find common ground with your fellow human beings is the bane of democracy as a form of government.
    - Dracophoenix 4y ago
      If the question should be left as an exercise, then I'm justified in asking it. Democracy has nothing to do with what I've asked. We live in a world of various societies each composed of distinct histories, laws, ideologies, creeds, beliefs, cultures, etc. This is as true today as it was millennia ago, before the existence of modern democracy. None of these societies are or were interchangeable, whether across space or time, and many are mutually irreconcilable with respect to one another. Historically, these differences were "settled" with massacres and revolutions, where the victors stood righteous and the losers denounced as animals, barbarians, deviants, heretics, apostates, reactionaries, terrorists, and other terms of abuse. Today, these battles are waged in parliaments and on Internet forums, where the methods are less bloody the but rhetoric and reasoning (or lack thereof) remain relatively unchanged. Societies, as they exist in the real world, aren't simply voluntary associations of rational individuals (as much as I would like that). They are, whether by accident or design, sets of historical decisions that have accumulated currency in a sufficiently large or sufficiently powerful group of people. These same people are willing to engage in violence or coercion to defend said decisions with little concern for truth.