> These communities are the flowers growing between the cracks of the cement parking lot: a reminder that life survives, and often thrives, in the harshest environments, such as the modern world
Lovely writing here. I am fascinated by the idea that the porousness of any system is its lifeline or even possibly its great enabler.
There's a legend that during the Chinese revolution, extremely rural and difficult to travel to villages simply lied about their yearly rice yield, and thus were taxed less and avoided what would have sent them into the same starvation cycle as other areas, and this enabled the Maoist system to survive much longer than it would have otherwise. Similar stories from Stalist Russia, but the idea isn't limited to totalitarianism; as the story notes it applies to our paved-over modern American life as well.
Contrary to the article, I somewhat feel that our current world is far too porous: we lack virtually any structure; we feel adrift rather than locked up. A coffee meetup in a McDonalds is an attempt to build a community in a cultural ghost-town, not a rebellion against perfect order.
Life endures? Sounds a little overwrought for something like McDonald's. It's a community in so far as people gather there, but otherwise people interact little with each other except when ordering food.
I believe we live in hyper-optimized times. We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society.
Even McDonald's is affected. It seemed a lot more joyful when I was younger and it was certainly more staffed. People are managing to create community out of a spaces that are getting more and more sterile, transactional, and minimalist.
> We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society.
I never said that there was an ideal time. But even 20 years ago, there was way less hyper-optimization than now. And 20 years before that there was less still.
The famous (although not confirmed) story of American Airlines removing one olive from passengers' salads to save $40,000 per year is from 1987. At that time something like that was revolutionary.
Lovely writing here. I am fascinated by the idea that the porousness of any system is its lifeline or even possibly its great enabler.
There's a legend that during the Chinese revolution, extremely rural and difficult to travel to villages simply lied about their yearly rice yield, and thus were taxed less and avoided what would have sent them into the same starvation cycle as other areas, and this enabled the Maoist system to survive much longer than it would have otherwise. Similar stories from Stalist Russia, but the idea isn't limited to totalitarianism; as the story notes it applies to our paved-over modern American life as well.
Contrary to the article, I somewhat feel that our current world is far too porous: we lack virtually any structure; we feel adrift rather than locked up. A coffee meetup in a McDonalds is an attempt to build a community in a cultural ghost-town, not a rebellion against perfect order.