5 ms·

I come from an tight-knit immigrant family. One thing I've learned from my parents and grandparents is that you can be poor, you can even be oppressed, and yet

I come from an tight-knit immigrant family. One thing I've learned from my parents and grandparents is that you can be poor, you can even be oppressed, and yet endure if you have others.

Pet_Ant 4y ago
I grew up in a ghetto (part of a migrant wave) and as we became more succesful and moved out and moved apart... I miss that community that poverty forced upon us.
jprete 4y ago
There's a lot of value in having a community. But since it can't be commoditized and sold, capitalism doesn't know how to increase it. Instead we get increases in measurable things, and economists pretend those are the only things that matter.
- complianceowl 4y ago
  I don't know why I'm even responding to you -- but, the decision to isolate ourselves in pursuit of status, career obsession, and a life full of materialism -- is completely our own doing. And in other Capitalistic societies, like Mexico, the tight-knit, community-oriented culture is still alive and well, as is the case in many other countries that are also capitalistic. Your ideology has blinded you.
  - jprete 4y ago
    That is a good point. I'm also not usually that ideological, so thanks for pointing that out.
  - shanebellone 4y ago
    I'm growing increasingly convinced that the US is anomalous, in many ways, because our society is individual-focused. I believe the preoccupation with self is fundamentally responsible for the proliferation of gun violence.
    - complianceowl 4y ago
      I disagree. I think radical ideologies, fatherless homes (e.g. broken homes, divorce), big pharma and their minions (doctors) who over-prescribe pharmaceuticals to the American population, boys who are given no guidance on how to become a man and interact successfully with the opposite sex -- I think those things are fundamentally responsible for gun violence. But as I read in a book about systems: it's a lot more comforting to think that the problem is somewhere "out there", rather than confronting the fact that our system is setting up people to fail. It's a lot easier to point at guns and say, "let's get these off the streets!", rather than confront the more difficult reality of everything I mentioned.
- zaphar 4y ago
  Supporting and encouraging community can't be the responsibility of an economy or a government. It has to be hyper local and bottom up to work, which means the society has to place importance on community as value. That is something that still exists in places like local churches, and lodges in small towns. But it does seem to be decreasing and that's a societal problem not a governance problem.
watwut 4y ago
Yes, but I dont think Mike was an example of that situation either. He came from poor family featuring domestic violence including the one directly targeted at Mike. Multiple people left dad, siblings and abandoning him in the process (that is how author frames it). It was not tight-knit poor family.

I come from an tight-knit immigrant family. One thing I've learned from my parents and grandparents is that you can be poor, you can even be oppressed, and yet endure if you have others.

Pet_Ant 4y ago

I grew up in a ghetto (part of a migrant wave) and as we became more succesful and moved out and moved apart... I miss that community that poverty forced upon us.

jprete 4y ago

There's a lot of value in having a community. But since it can't be commoditized and sold, capitalism doesn't know how to increase it. Instead we get increases in measurable things, and economists pretend those are the only things that matter.

complianceowl 4y ago
I don't know why I'm even responding to you -- but, the decision to isolate ourselves in pursuit of status, career obsession, and a life full of materialism -- is completely our own doing. And in other Capitalistic societies, like Mexico, the tight-knit, community-oriented culture is still alive and well, as is the case in many other countries that are also capitalistic. Your ideology has blinded you.
- jprete 4y ago
  That is a good point. I'm also not usually that ideological, so thanks for pointing that out.
- shanebellone 4y ago
  I'm growing increasingly convinced that the US is anomalous, in many ways, because our society is individual-focused. I believe the preoccupation with self is fundamentally responsible for the proliferation of gun violence.
  - complianceowl 4y ago
    I disagree. I think radical ideologies, fatherless homes (e.g. broken homes, divorce), big pharma and their minions (doctors) who over-prescribe pharmaceuticals to the American population, boys who are given no guidance on how to become a man and interact successfully with the opposite sex -- I think those things are fundamentally responsible for gun violence. But as I read in a book about systems: it's a lot more comforting to think that the problem is somewhere "out there", rather than confronting the fact that our system is setting up people to fail. It's a lot easier to point at guns and say, "let's get these off the streets!", rather than confront the more difficult reality of everything I mentioned.
zaphar 4y ago
Supporting and encouraging community can't be the responsibility of an economy or a government. It has to be hyper local and bottom up to work, which means the society has to place importance on community as value. That is something that still exists in places like local churches, and lodges in small towns. But it does seem to be decreasing and that's a societal problem not a governance problem.

watwut 4y ago

Yes, but I dont think Mike was an example of that situation either. He came from poor family featuring domestic violence including the one directly targeted at Mike. Multiple people left dad, siblings and abandoning him in the process (that is how author frames it). It was not tight-knit poor family.