People absolutely stop by coffee shops to get something to go in an urban context too. But the queueing that happens inside one of them, maybe even spilling out of the premises, still requires very little area and is pretty benign in an urban context. Especially if you wind up having a little chat with someone.
That’s the thing for me. You take away any comeraderie (sp?) and societal benefit from this style of capitalism. Nobody knows their neighbors anymore. It’s all just a grind and you wind up selfish because you see people as NPCs. Even just a chat with someone for 10-15 mins would give people some sense of empathy.
Yeah, I think a lot of us frequently hear from suburbanites about how urban living is all “in a pod”, but then … they really should check their mirrors. Throwing stones from glass- and metal boxes, and all that.
I get it to a certain point. Just because I live next to you, doesn’t mean we’re friends. If you’ve ever had an intrusive neighbor you’d understand. But at the same time, at least getting to know someone builds community, even if accidentally. We’d be a much closer community with more caring and empathy if we were forced to exit our bubbles for even a small amount of time. But selfishness is built into American culture.
People absolutely stop by coffee shops to get something to go in an urban context too. But the queueing that happens inside one of them, maybe even spilling out of the premises, still requires very little area and is pretty benign in an urban context. Especially if you wind up having a little chat with someone.
That’s the thing for me. You take away any comeraderie (sp?) and societal benefit from this style of capitalism. Nobody knows their neighbors anymore. It’s all just a grind and you wind up selfish because you see people as NPCs. Even just a chat with someone for 10-15 mins would give people some sense of empathy.
Yeah, I think a lot of us frequently hear from suburbanites about how urban living is all “in a pod”, but then … they really should check their mirrors. Throwing stones from glass- and metal boxes, and all that.
I get it to a certain point. Just because I live next to you, doesn’t mean we’re friends. If you’ve ever had an intrusive neighbor you’d understand. But at the same time, at least getting to know someone builds community, even if accidentally. We’d be a much closer community with more caring and empathy if we were forced to exit our bubbles for even a small amount of time. But selfishness is built into American culture.