they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage.

 

 

Musings on the globally pervasive quest for ‘more personal’ community: . . .- It seems that many people have grown tired of living within a system that is ‘constantly bickering with itself’ and seems, in many ways, to be growing more ‘internally intolerant’.  The discomfort is not coming simply from differences in views and their associated debates, since these have always been accepted as part of normal living and the normal social dynamic. It seems instead to be coming from the growing un-civility of it all.  We may applaud the significant extension to our ability to communicate furnished by cell phones and internet technologies, but these technologies open the door, as well, to an extreme impersonality [e.g. ‘bullying’ that exposes the private life details of an individual to a voyeur crowd that can easily exceed the capacity of the Coliseum] and to the infusing of discordant notes that continually accumulate and never seem to get resolved, engendering a lingering ambiance that is sort of graffiti like.  In the new media, many speak in abusive and derogatory tones that ‘would not be tolerated in a physical space’.  At the same time, the boundarylessness opens the way for new connections that have the potential to bring people together in a ‘more personal’ community.

What kind of change is in its birthing process? (more…)