This fascinating film argues that 20thC US governments consciously sought to keep people apart, for fear for communism. This was one of the reasons for the encouragement of suburbia and extreme urban sprawl. One result? 12% now say they don’t have a single friend. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKez... - ThreadSky

georgemonbiot.bsky.social • 33 days ago

This fascinating film argues that 20thC US governments consciously sought to keep people apart, for fear for communism. This was one of the reasons for the encouragement of suburbia and extreme urban sprawl.
One result? 12% now say they don’t have a single friend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKezutenaZM&ab_channel=JourneymanPictures

Comments

the0point.bsky.social•33 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/shayan86.bsky.social/post/3lkskxq45z22o

the0point.bsky.social•33 days ago

Tee hee. https://bsky.app/profile/katymontgomerie.com/post/3lksqol6i2k2g

robpountney.bsky.social•33 days ago

The built environment is absolutely key to the nature of society at every level, architecture & planning is deeply political, yet its impact is rarely assessed until long after the (often predictable) consequences have been felt, the UK is particularly bad on this...

andreashopf.bsky.social•33 days ago

„Meet exciting likeminded people online and make friends!”

bennymalone.bsky.social•33 days ago

I was just looking at some Pew research on this! Interesting stuff

avwinter.bsky.social•33 days ago

The war on drugs surely played a role in this fragmentation as well. The criminal networks around drugs make communities less stable.

arthurassendune.bsky.social•33 days ago

Back in the 80s people were encouraged to 'get on their bikes' to seek work. Now the Right are grizzling because families are dispersed and unable to look after their elderly relatives.

imagine1.bsky.social•33 days ago

like sending trouble makers to Australia, thinning the masses, avoiding the French recipe..second line of that front is war on empathy that did spring up even when people were/are scattered

brizo75.bsky.social•33 days ago

Loneliness is an invitation to all manner of other ills, many of which would not have been seen coming when urban began to replace agrarian life. Here we are now, surrounded by people, all allocated a flatpack paradise each in which to isolate ourselves completely, with 16k friends we've never met.

harbourmasterrr.bsky.social•33 days ago

Same reason pits/shipyards/steelworks etc were closed down on UK. Destroy community

axj866.bsky.social•33 days ago

Surely that may only be relevant if you know what percentage had friends in earlier years.

shirleyfw.bsky.social•33 days ago

Divide and rule!

riccardoiacobucci.com•33 days ago

And the reason for what's going on today

dudnees.bsky.social•33 days ago

It makes sense. Like most of politics and culture, it's all about male insecurity. Testosterone induced fear of others.

petergmartin.bsky.social•33 days ago

Sorry but that is absolute rubbish!
Please delete it.

saippuakauppias.bsky.social•33 days ago

I'm not sure the communist/brutalist tower blocks helped much either when it came to making friends. Probably there's a sensible balance somewhere. But yes, very interesting!

mickeymoosenhauer.bsky.social•33 days ago

Fascinating. And ‘the fear of communism’ has aided the rise of Christian nationalism and evangelism, which has joined with tech Bros fascism and resulted in the Trump Monarchy: https://bsky.app/profile/mickeymoosenhauer.bsky.social/post/3lks43cgmoc2j

thesouthernerd.bsky.social•33 days ago

Worth a watch though I disagree with the premise. The development of the US suburbs was much more organic. Exacerbated (maybe encouraged is a better word) by govt and corporations but certainly not a product of anti communism.
The friendship impact, though; man, that’s real.

irrefutablematt.bsky.social•33 days ago

We have a similar thing were I live. Back in the day (1920s), there was a bunch of riots in the CBD(central business district). As such, they tried to move all the unemployed people to "dole camps" on the outskirts of the city. While this didn't original have huge effect The sites of these dole

irrefutablematt.bsky.social•33 days ago

camps would later become sites of "satellite cities" or what we'd term these days as 15min cities through the building of public housing estates. This was a concerted effort to keep the unemployed at the very furtherest point of suburb sprawl, to keep them from disrupting businesses, parliament, etc

irrefutablematt.bsky.social•33 days ago

While also, providing them every necessary facilities to reduce their need to come into the CBD. This obviously still has massive effects on the protest movements here, because if you need to travel 1hr+ to go protest at parliament house and have your voice heard, you're less likely to go.

joesegal.bsky.social•33 days ago

It's hard to form a new group and get people to join it.
People fear change and the unknown, and other people.
We forget how to talk with each other, to listen to each other. And staying in our nests feels safe in what more and more feels like a very unsafe country and world.

joesegal.bsky.social•33 days ago

Thank you for sharing this, George.

Are you familiar with her work?
https://www.teamhuman.fm/episodes/311-helena-norberg-hodge

nikkihack.bsky.social•33 days ago

Great little film. What an eye opener.

dysonsk3.bsky.social•32 days ago

Any number of reasons why sprawl is bad for us, so why do we keep building it?

richardmcauliffe.bsky.social•33 days ago

Thank you for sharing, very thought provoking 🤔

davepettit.bsky.social•33 days ago

Atomisation has always been a key factor in capitalism.

the0point.bsky.social•33 days ago

Individualism as it is sold to us is an enormous con. It comes at the cost of realising common need and empathy.

davepettit.bsky.social•33 days ago

Absolutely, 100% agreed.

stevebasnett.bsky.social•33 days ago

To control nations, the far-right and centre right develop policies designed to divide and conquer societies. Of course the 20thC communism paranoia led to plans like this, but we should be aware of continuing population exploitation. Between 2013 and 2024, divisive UK policy disrupted family units.

climatto.bsky.social•33 days ago

What's bad for communism is good for fascism?

w2jmf.bsky.social•33 days ago

The issue is that urban conurbations and demographic shifts have been occurring since the 17th and 18th centuries, so I’m unsure this is purely a 20th century phenomenon. Perhaps they’ve simply realised how to take advantage of it on a larger scale, and weaponise it.

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