05-05-2020, 03:09 PM
(05-03-2020, 01:38 PM)sbarrera Wrote:(05-03-2020, 06:46 AM)beechnut79 Wrote:(05-03-2020, 02:11 AM)AspieMillennial Wrote: With neighbors being close and knowing one another? It seems almost dead in the 4T based on what many people say.
The concept of neighbors knowing one another faded out first with the advent of television in the last 1T and accelerated in the 2T when home air conditioning became the norm and many chose to remain indoors on warm evenings. The trend then was called into question late 2T and into 3T as a cause of more people getting involved in drugs and assorted mayhem.
Could anything bring it back in the next 1T? It seems we've formed social groups based on common interests that are spread out over the country, or world. It works thanks to the Internet. People would rather Zoom with their friends around the country than have a neighborhood porch party with the people who live around them.
A neighborhood porch or even pool party is far less expensive than is hopping onto a jetliner in Charlotte to see old friends in Greater Los Angeles. It will be a while before we have the sort of economic recovery that allows people the confidence with which to do something crazy for being expensive. Maybe we will have hybrid events that meld old practices (let us say the old ice cream "sociable") with binge-watching old episodes of Star Trek on the latest video technology. High technology will allow us to do virtual travel such as experiencing a flight between Dallas and San Francisco that allows one to see Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas (as close as I want to get to Vegas, thank you!), Albuquerque (a dump, of course, but impressive from 30,000 feet up) and of course the Grand Canyon (which I really want to see some day in person). That is before I even discuss video-conferencing.
There will be things that some of us will miss more intensely than others, and after this medical crisis is over (and likely the Trump Presidency) we will do those, by individual choice, again and with more intensity. We are also going to give up some "So what?" activities. Consider that the COVID-19 plague spares me the opportunity of enduring what could easily be a 120-loss season by the Detroit Cocker Spaniels baseball team that should be playing in AA ball this year to have a chance at a winning record. Many personal habits will break this time.
Most importantly, so will the atomization of the 3T that gave us empty glitz and miserable lives.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.