Caleb did it to me again

In this this post, Community, at FPR, Caleb Stegall once again totally raises my ire. He speaks of the lost America of small towns and tight knit communities, and bemoans the destructive ways of modernity. His paean to conservative values completely misses the point that those communities were largely white, Christian patriarchies that limited the freedom of expression for all dissenting povs. Women lacked the right to vote, Catholics weren't welcome, except where THEY dominated the patriarchy, and black people were first slaves and then little better than agrarian servants.

FPR posters have argued in the past that diversity is anathema to community. I both agree and disagree. It is anathema to their vision of community, where everybody looks like them, thinks like them, goes to church like them, and more importantly, where they and their conservative followers hold the reins of power. It is NOT anathema to communities of which individuals choose to be a part. If Caleb wants to live in a community of like minded individuals, then that's great, I hope he finds one. But to insist, repeatedly and at length, that only HIS vision (and that of Berry) is meaningful is little more than an act of hubris.

Those old communities fell apart exactly because they did not serve the bulk of the participants in that community. Had they done so, they would still exist.

It's in the individual choosing, Caleb. That is where the power lies, and that can't be taken away simply because you, or any other conservative or liberal or fascist or communist or socialist, think you have the magic pony that will bring about the perfect setting for all of humanity.

Jake