A sense of community

[GMDino]

(05-01-2019, 08:41 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Is that what we're missing?

I started thinking about this after a discussion on reddit in the r/VAGuns sub. Someone made the comment that "it is always better to buy online." When I asked about it, the answer was cost related, which I understand the motivation. But I argued that supporting a local business, keeping the money in the community, was more important to me. I also asked what they would do when they put all of their local FFLs out of business, but that point isn't as important to this thread.

I feel like this trend we have seen that is pushing brick and mortar businesses out of business is also what we see with a more divided America. I know there have been discussions about this before, that this lack of community caused the animosity that we see growing in this country, the otherizing of those that don't agree with you. We've become so impersonal in our society, today. I'm not saying I am any better than most. I do a lot of ordering from Amazon. I am making an effort to change my habits, though, and keep those purchases to those that aren't available from a local seller.

Just some thoughts I had because of that conversation and how it relates to the way we view folks opposite us in the political spectrum these days. When we don't interact with other people, it makes it easier to see them as "less than."

I've gone on rants about this.

In addition to your good point that people do not think in the terms of a "neighborhood" anymore we don't have that "thing" that touches all our lives.

We do not have a true sense of "us" in this country.  We are splintered in virtually every aspect of our lives.  From politics, to religion to which shows we watch on television.  

The hardest thing to do is to try and even see the other person's view.  But that has always been the case.  It's my belief that these differences are just amplified to the nth degree because we see them more.  "Year of the Shark" thinking.  When the majority of the news and public figures only speak in absolutes and "the biggest" The greatest" "like never before" it feeds the ones who don't remember or who don't want to think.

Lack of thinking/research/questioning is a cause and result of the problem.