here, kunstler speaks of 'our' social organization imposed by 'our' corporate/government masters and what it brings, and removes;
Do you know your place? In these days of hysterical Wokesterism,
the question would surely provoke a riot of cowbell-clanging Antifa
cadres, fainting spells in the congressional black caucus, and gravely
equivocal op-eds from David Brooks of The New York Times. Yet it’s a central, unacknowledged quandary of our time that so many Americans have no place and suffer terribly from it.
Human beings need a place in the social order, in the economic order,
and in actual geography in order to function optimally in a life
fraught with the normal challenges and difficulties that reality
presents. Let’s take these places in reverse order.
It’s a fact that most Americans live in everyday environments that
are, at best, not worth caring about, and at worst actively punishing to
human neurology. Have you taken a good look at the American landscape
and townscape lately? How do you feel venturing down the six-lane
commercial boulevards lined with cartoon architecture? Either anxious or
numb, would be my guess. Or a Main Street of empty storefronts? Or an
avenue of looming, despotic glass skyscrapers? Or a vast subdivision of
identical McHouses where the buffalo once roamed? Is it any wonder that
Americans require more antidepressant medication than people in other
lands? Or, that failing to find treatment, they self-medicate with
alcohol, opiates, sugary snacks, and anything else that takes them out
of the soul-crushing reality of their surroundings.
I don’t think you can overstate the damage we’ve done to ourselves in
the sheer material arrangement of our national life. A decade ago, I
sat in on many zoning board meetings called to approve new WalMarts and
other chain-stores around my region of upstate New York and southern
Vermont. Inevitably, the companies organized a claque of locals in the
meeting hall — itself a depressing, low-ceilinged chamber of cinder
blocks and fluorescent lighting — to fill the seats and yell in support
of “bargain shopping.”..........http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/a-place-of-your-own/
No comments:
Post a Comment