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The vital art of talking to strangers

economist.com

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Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#101

Post by iammisc »

wavefunction wrote: post #85
ssully wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I too long for the days past when the US had less cultural problems/conflicts due to high church attendance numbers.

There was a time in the US when good god fearin' church folk could gather together for traditional cultural expressions like extra-judicial lynchings of wrongly accused black men. You have to think America's lost something over the years. Thankfully.

Oh please. It's not like only whites were part of churches. Blacks are more likely to be part of a church anyway. As usual, this is white people's faults.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#102

Post by nate_meurer »

ssully wrote: post #63
iammisc wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We used to call this going to church. When literally everyone of all political stripes attended the same churches, going to a church potluck was basically being paired randomly. However large political factions have made church membership out to be undesirable. We are reaping the rewards. I realized yesterday reading about cornel west, that even though I disagree with his politics, I see from his Christianity we have…

Yeah, I too long for the days past when the US had less cultural problems/conflicts due to high church attendance numbers.

I know right? What happened to the good old days when the big mainstream church organizations like the SBC were fighting the good fight against evils such as interracial marriage and civil rights?

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#103

Post by bittercynic »

pmoriarty wrote: post #75
Aboh33 wrote: post #62

As a related anecdote, I used to perform experiments by dressing in particular ways while going out in public. If I wore a nice blazer-type jacket and generally looked more preppy, I would definitely notice different behavior as when I might dress with with a t shirt and long sleeve over it with long sleeve shirt unbuttoned. I attribute this partly to conditioning via TV show characters etc.

I spent a day trying to smile at strangers. The result was that half of them gave me a "do I know you?" look, and the other half looked at me like I was crazy and backed away. Not encouraging...

I think this very much depends on the circumstances. Few working-age men walk in my neighborhood, and some people seem a little uneasy seeing me walking. They don't know what to make of me.

On the other hand, if I walk a dog it is clear what I'm doing, and people are quick to share a smile. It seems like many people are uncomfortable unless your activity fits into a pattern they're familiar and comfortable with.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#104

Post by iammisc »

nate_meurer wrote: post #102
ssully wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I too long for the days past when the US had less cultural problems/conflicts due to high church attendance numbers.

I know right? What happened to the good old days when the big mainstream church organizations like the SBC were fighting the good fight against evils such as interracial marriage and civil rights?

> I know right? What happened to the good old days when the big mainstream church organizations like the SBC were fighting the good fight against evils such as interracial marriage and civil rights?

You're just picking and choosing. In reality, religious organizations, like the Catholic church for example, were fighting the opposite fight. Perez v Sharp in California was orchestrated by the church: http://ccgaction.org/node/1011

Of course, if we encourage community involvement, there will be good organizations and bad ones. For example, we provide 501(c)3 status to both Planned Parenthood as well as a pro-life organization.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#105

Post by squeaky-clean »

yaitsyaboi wrote: post #51
scotu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, and please talk about social issues and that you have a partner of the same sex! just like in family meals that's going to go down super well! /s

I think you're overstating this based on the internet. Sure, there are aggressively intolerant folks and maybe too many for this to work. But the vast majority of folks aren’t going to get into a flame war over diner while staring into someone’s face. They might say crude things but they’ll probably also learn something. I think the only thing that makes this idea really questionable is the proliferation of firearms…

I have at least 3 friends who were kicked out of their homes as teenagers for coming out to their parents. It's far more common than you'd think.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#106

Post by iammisc »

munificent wrote: post #93
iammisc wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We used to call this going to church. When literally everyone of all political stripes attended the same churches, going to a church potluck was basically being paired randomly. However large political factions have made church membership out to be undesirable. We are reaping the rewards. I realized yesterday reading about cornel west, that even though I disagree with his politics, I see from his Christianity we have…

I think church is great for mixing up people who differ professionally and socioeconomically. But at least in the US it has also very much deepened the racial and (obviously) religious lines between people.

> But at least in the US it has also very much deepened the racial and (obviously) religious lines between people.

Not clear at all. Catholics for example are the most likely group to marry interracially.

Religiously, I don't see the christian sects as very divided, despite their many differences. There seems to be a large set of common ground.

Even amongst religions, there is a lot of good will. I can't think of any widespread religious riot in the US (I could totally be wrong though).

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#107

Post by tclancy »

munificent wrote: post #15

I have a hypothesis that almost all of the US's current cultural problems would be solved if once a month we all cooked and shared a meal with another randomly chosen family.

Ha, I thought of trying to build an app for this, even if just to get neighbors to share a meal. No one feels like cooking every day but if we could share the burden thusly it might help foster a sense of community.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#108

Post by tclancy »

deregulateMed wrote: post #89
war1025 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although I hope you are ready to meet lots of Christians and a few alcoholics every year. Always good to lump the Christians in with the alcoholics.

No offense to the christians. I was just trying to think of groups that compose more than 10% of the population.

Oh, I thought they meant it the other way around. At least when one of us gets too into wine we don't start a crusade.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#109

Post by nate_meurer »

iammisc wrote: post #104
nate_meurer wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know right? What happened to the good old days when the big mainstream church organizations like the SBC were fighting the good fight against evils such as interracial marriage and civil rights?

> I know right? What happened to the good old days when the big mainstream church organizations like the SBC were fighting the good fight against evils such as interracial marriage and civil rights? You're just picking and choosing. In reality, religious organizations, like the Catholic church for example, were fighting the opposite fight. Perez v Sharp in California was orchestrated by the church: http://ccgaction.o…

Good for them, seriously, but I don't think it takes a lot of "picking and choosing" to point out how influential "christian" churches were in the fight to preserve America's white supremist hierarchy.

The SBC was and remains the largest christian organization in the US, and it was founded for the express purpose of defending slavery.

Re: The vital art of talking to strangers

#110

Post by iammisc »

nate_meurer wrote: post #109
iammisc wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know right? What happened to the good old days when the big mainstream church organizations like the SBC were fighting the good fight against evils such as interracial marriage and civil rights? You're just picking and choosing. In reality, religious organizations, like the Catholic church for example, were fighting the opposite fight. Perez v Sharp in California was orchestrated by the church: http://ccgaction.o…

Good for them, seriously, but I don't think it takes a lot of "picking and choosing" to point out how influential "christian" churches were in the fight to preserve America's white supremist hierarchy. The SBC was and remains the largest christian organization in the US, and it was founded for the express purpose of defending slavery.

> The SBC was and remains the largest christian organization in the US, and it was founded for the express purpose of defending slavery.

The Catholic church is by far the largest christian organization in the united states.

SBC is a distant second:

https://theosophical.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/top-10-largest...

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