Part 2: Creative and restorative ways of helping people learn to do what they should
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2023 8:20 pm
Honestly, I think this is a MUCH bigger issue than simply teaching people how to do specific things. Often we are talking about things like common courtesies and not living in a selfish self-centered manner.
I attribute much of it to the society that we have built for ourselves. Since this is a spinoff from the parking thread a perfect example is cars. We have built a completely car-centric society and there is something very isolating and aggressive about living your life behind the wheel of the automobile. Not only are you isolated from face-to-face contact with other people but you are in control of an enormously fast, deadly, and powerful machine. I truly think it warps people's minds. I see it in my own wife who can be the sweetest person when interacting with other people face to face. But behind the wheel she can be an aggressive driver, calling out people who annoy her, etc. Cars are dehumanizing. How many Mennonite women drive like maniacs on the way to a church event? I know some.
The internet is another example of dehumanizing technology. Buying things online rather than walking into your local store and interacting with people face-to-face. Guns are another example. The people I know who are serious and devoted gun owners are universally more paranoid and cynical about the people around them, their neighbors, etc. Than people who don't own guns. Guns isolate us from either other too.
It is everywhere when you look for it. Which of these two streets is more humanizing and will have more engaging face-to-face contacts with other people? The first one with that could be anywhere USA with no pedestrians and every business with a drive-through? Or the second one oriented towards pedestrians?
The US didn't used to be like this before we devoted our built environment to the automobile. Here is a typical American town in the 1930s (Lexington KY) before we rebuilt our cities around the automobile
Now we almost have to pay to visit Disneyland to find this in most parts of the US
Much of the way that people interact with each other in our society is the result of the world that we have deliberately built through decisions large and small.
I attribute much of it to the society that we have built for ourselves. Since this is a spinoff from the parking thread a perfect example is cars. We have built a completely car-centric society and there is something very isolating and aggressive about living your life behind the wheel of the automobile. Not only are you isolated from face-to-face contact with other people but you are in control of an enormously fast, deadly, and powerful machine. I truly think it warps people's minds. I see it in my own wife who can be the sweetest person when interacting with other people face to face. But behind the wheel she can be an aggressive driver, calling out people who annoy her, etc. Cars are dehumanizing. How many Mennonite women drive like maniacs on the way to a church event? I know some.
The internet is another example of dehumanizing technology. Buying things online rather than walking into your local store and interacting with people face-to-face. Guns are another example. The people I know who are serious and devoted gun owners are universally more paranoid and cynical about the people around them, their neighbors, etc. Than people who don't own guns. Guns isolate us from either other too.
It is everywhere when you look for it. Which of these two streets is more humanizing and will have more engaging face-to-face contacts with other people? The first one with that could be anywhere USA with no pedestrians and every business with a drive-through? Or the second one oriented towards pedestrians?
The US didn't used to be like this before we devoted our built environment to the automobile. Here is a typical American town in the 1930s (Lexington KY) before we rebuilt our cities around the automobile
Now we almost have to pay to visit Disneyland to find this in most parts of the US
Much of the way that people interact with each other in our society is the result of the world that we have deliberately built through decisions large and small.