The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake • Hacker News Board

Re: The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake

#21

Post by onetimemanytime » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 5:40 PM UTC

rhythnic wrote: post #17

IMO, this type of communal living strategy is the best remedy to a lot of the problems faced in America and in western cultural in general. Many of the problems were already stated in the article, so I'll just add suburban sprawl, the high cost of individual ownership of everything, including the house, and the increased workload that results from not sharing the labor of common tasks like cooking, cleaning, and cari…

Yeah but you always get one person, be a wife or brother that starts "problems..." How do you keep peace?

Re: The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake

#22

Post by rayiner » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #19

nate_meurer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument and examples make logical sense to me, but I'm deeply skeptical of the practical effects. I grew up in a religious conservative family, so I'm steeped in the conservative tradition that government welfare programs displace the social welfare functions of church and family. It's common for robotic conservatives (obviously not talking about you now) to take this straight into New World Order conspiracy la…

> > liberals are insensitive to the fact that safety net social programs may displace support provided by charities and family. > I think that's true. I'd actually say most partisan liberals are reflexively hostile to the idea. This is a fascinating thread! You and rayiner are having a laudably introspective and low-charge discussion of this stuff, so I’ll try to throw in my (hyper-progressive) take on this: I’m cert…

> From my perspective, religious traditions that have offered social support, but only with strings attached, resorting to shunning when those expectations weren’t met, have caused so much trauma to people I love that I am, at least in unguarded moments, quite happy to acknowledge that I want to break down the economic foundations of those groups.

I think this often is true, and its unfortunate. At the same time, I think people overlook the effect on other people. What about the people who fit into church culture and weren't excluded in the past? Are they doing better or worse under a culture that embraces permissiveness? Put differently, in an effort to minimize the harm that a religious society imposed on one group of people, are we disregarding the benefits it provided to other people, and to social stability and cohesion generally?

Re: The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake

#23

Post by acephal » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 7:05 PM UTC

onetimemanytime wrote: post #21

rhythnic wrote: post #17

IMO, this type of communal living strategy is the best remedy to a lot of the problems faced in America and in western cultural in general. Many of the problems were already stated in the article, so I'll just add suburban sprawl, the high cost of individual ownership of everything, including the house, and the increased workload that results from not sharing the labor of common tasks like cooking, cleaning, and cari…

Yeah but you always get one person, be a wife or brother that starts "problems..." How do you keep peace?

I mean, most of human life has taken place in the context of extended familial and community support. I don't think we'd be facing new problems.