Ray Oldenburg

The author points out that commercial space has destroyed our "communities". Even the "invisible hand of the market" which Adam Smith hoped would usher us toward greater social harmony, has failed to do so. [223] Smith did not foresee how "weaponized" by greed the private corporations would become.
Oldenburg is an academic who writes in popular psychology. I loved the title with "Great Good Place", because it invokes the ecclesia of Christ who tells us that the church is our savior: We all know what Heaven on Earth is, and sometimes we get quite close to it. He cites Georg Simmell as the expert on "human sociability" and systemic dynamics.

Oldenburg unwraps the details, exposing the diversity across cultures and places, and showing how America has lost gathering places for good company and conversation. Our taverns are declining although drinking has increased.

Paris has sidewalk cafes, London its pubs, Vienna its coffee houses, German its bier gardens, Japan its tea houses, and America once had its Main Street. After probing the bistros and bars, Oldenburg documents the fact that in 1989 the heart of community vitality is being torn out of America. The "great good place" is now gone. We no longer have a social way to avoid idiots. This observation seems prescient looking back from the disasters of 2016-2020.

This book is more than mere documentation, it is also insightful and provides a good basis for ventilating the implications for futurists, the democratic republic, and its religious values. Oldenburg does not mention "Disneyland" or the Wal-mart destruction of rural and urban America, nor does he compass the Internet or the possibility of "virtual communities" of individuals addicted to the preposterous clicks of emoticons. He does comment on the popularity of boules in the cafes, and how the most entertaining games get the most interest. [31]… (mehr)