Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Brooks still pushing the "2 countries" narrative..

link


Look David: I know who James Dobson, and Rick Warren are. I've thumbed through their books and heard them.

What I don't think you've become aware of is how atomized exurbia has gotten. This atomization (a term applied, more or less aptly enough for my purposes, to the nature of the Soviet Society during the Great Terror) and virtual anonymity, and lack of a cultural center help explain why a) these people turn to authoritarian modes of religious expression, and b) they went for Bush. Rove and Bush understand this "culture," because it segues well with authoritarianism.

But neither the atomization of exurbia nor its conservative drift is natural, inevitable, nor permanent by any stretch of the imagination.

There's a big threat to the existence of exurbia: it's called petroleum depletion, and no administration that drills in the Arctic is going to do a thing about it.

However, what's not on Brooks radar is the creative ways in which the other side, the blue living in the red, is already providing a center in the atomized exurbs.

Watch this space for examples...


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