Posted on 11/26/2005 10:52:22 PM PST by Lorianne
If the next conservatism is to be the guide the conservative movement needs, it ought to talk about some new issues as well as the old standards. some of these new issues may strike people as unimportant. But it is hard to know what will prove important in the future we are trying to address. In this column, I want to talk about an issue that is not yet on many voters' radar screens but I think may come to be: the public space.
What is the public space? It is the space outside our homes, schools or offices where people intermingle. It is streets with sidewalks, where people not only walk but stop, talk and listen. It is malls and town commons. It is restaurants and stores, churches and movie theaters, trains and buses and even airports. Essentially, it is anyplace where we do not control who we might meet.
Why is it important? Because if we are to be citizens of a republic and not mere consumers in an administered state, we need to both have and want contact with our fellow-citizens. When life is privatized, lived largely or almost wholly behind walls, doors and security control points, society withers. We come only to care about ourselves and those who share our private space. What happens to the rest of the society is not our concern, so long as we are OK.
There is no question that American life is being privatized this way. If you go to Europe, you will see that people there spend much more of their time in the public space. The same used to be true in this country. Even the front porches of old houses, where families often spent their evenings before air conditioning and television, were part of the public space.
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
Sure, come right into my home.... I'm already forced to see the public 10 hours a day, but that's not enough. I want strangers to SEE ME while I rest and play!
That's right, Steve. Open up your doors. No privacy for you!
:)
Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one's home...Fran Lebowitz
Hell is other people....J.P. Sartre
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