These are the words of James Howard Kunstler, in his
scathing indictment of America's suburban society and the ills (obesity, dependance on prozac) that come with it.
With very few exceptions, our cities are hollowed out ruins. Our towns have committed ritualized suicide in thrall to the WalMart God. Most Americans live in suburban habitats that are isolating, disaggregated, and neurologically punishing, and from which every last human quality unrelated to shopping convenience and personal hygiene has been expunged. We live in places where virtually no activity or service can be accessed without driving a car, and the (usually solo) journey past horrifying vistas of on-ramps and off-ramps offers no chance of a social encounter along the way. Our suburban environments have by definition destroyed the transition between the urban habitat and the rural hinterlands. In other words, we can't walk out of town into the countryside anywhere. Our "homes," as we have taken to calling mere mass-produced vinyl boxes at the prompting of the realtors, exist in settings leached of meaningful public space or connection to civic amenity, with all activity focused inward to the canned entertainments piped into giant receivers -- where the children especially sprawl in masturbatory trances, fondling joysticks and keyboards, engorged on cheez doodles and taco chips.
When I have returned from Italy in the past, I always miss the strolls through the piazzas, casually eating gelato. Even if we didn't speak with anyone else, being around other relaxed people in beautiful outdoor settings felt so much healthier than plopping ourselves down in front of the TV after spending an hour in traffic.
It was interesting to note over in England how many people were out enjoying themselves in the public realm, with other people. By public realm I mean in the streets, the cafes, the pubs, the parks, the riverside promenades and other places explicitly designed for humans to enact their hard-wired social proclivities. Everywhere I went in Oxford, Cambridge, and London I was amazed at the hordes of young people so obviously enjoying the company of groups of their friends, and what a contrast this was to the current culture back home where you hardly ever see anything but a couple, or perhaps two couples, out in a bar or restaurant, and where the Starbucks cafes are filled with solitary individuals, and the streets are for cars only, usually with lone occupants. It was also startling in England to see groups of old people walking together in the streets or sitting on a blanket in the park, because in America old people have been conditioned to go about outside of home only in cars. Today's older Americans have spent their entire lives in a car-obsessed culture in which walking is seen as uncomfortable at least and at worst socially stigmatizing, something only winos do.
Returning from Europe also makes me wish our culture wasn't so homenous, so full of corporate chains...
And then along came Nantucket. They have outlawed chain stores.
Several hundred island residents decided at a town meeting on Monday to ban any retail or food establishment with standardized decor, menus, trademarks, uniforms, merchandise and color schemes.
I realize they're not the first, and that doing this is not easy in big urban areas, but we should really follow their lead.
Lets organize chain boycotts, have a friendly
pillowfight in front of a big chain, shop at local, independant businesses, hang out with our neighbors.
And thank Nantucket.