- Wordpress ate my comment so I am loathe to point you on to a response by Ryan that I think butchers the argument and the issues at stake here, but he really is a good guy so I'll link it anyway.
- Callahan is a good guy too. And what's even better, he agrees with me.
There's a lot wrong with Ryan's initial post and his response, but one thing I'd stress is that he's setting up a false choice. My sense of community with the greater Chesapeake region doesn't make my sense of solidarity with others any less valuable. I also feel a sense of solidarity with America in general. I have a sense of solidarity with the West writ large. I feel a sense of solidarity with the downtrodden everywhere which is quite an accomplishment since I'm not downtrodden myself. I feel a sense of solidarity with women and blacks even though I'm neither.
Ryan's acting like I'm dumping a whole group of deserving people by valuing my community. It's a false choice he's setting up.
And once again - cultivating a sense of yourself as a person in a community makes you more likely - not less likely - to feel solidarity with strangers you've never met. And that is a very good thing.
Monday, October 15, 2012
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"And once again - cultivating a sense of yourself as a person in a community makes you more likely - not less likely - to feel solidarity with strangers you've never met. And that is a very good thing."
ReplyDeleteWouldn't the Nazi's be a perfect counter example to this assertion?
Since we're talking about likelihood and not certainly, I don't know if "counter-example" is the right word.
DeleteThe Nazis certainly fall at the point of the probability distribution we don't want - I agree with that.