'This Is a Wake-Up Call' [5 Pillars of Society Crumbling?]

MSNBC / NewsWeek ^ | Wednesday, May 12, 2004 | Jennifer Barrett

[canuck_conservative]

In 1960, Jane Jacobs lashed out against the highway construction and so-called slum clearing that defined development of the time in her groundbreaking book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” Now 88 and living in Toronto, Jacobs remains as passionate and positive about her convictions today as she did half a lifetime ago. Her latest book, “Dark Age Ahead” (Random House), goes beyond the scope of city planning to examine the foundation upon which North American civilization itself is built. Jacobs identifies five pillars of American society—the nuclear family, higher education, scientists and scientific inquiry, governmental representation and the concept of self-regulation—and argues that each is showing evidence of breaking down, an early sign of a coming Dark Age. But, there is hope, she adds. The damage is not irreparable nor irreversible. She only wants her book to serve as a "wake-up call" to North Americans to reverse the decline so that their civilization will not go the way of the Roman Empire or other mighty civilizations that have fallen in the past. “A culture is unsalvageable if stabilizing forces themselves become ruined and irrelevant,” she writes. “This is what I fear for our own culture, and why I have written this cautionary book, in hopeful expectation that time remains for corrective actions.” NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke with Jacobs about the continent’s societal problems and her suggested solutions.

[canuck_conservative]

Social Philosophy Ping.

[MJY1288]

We're Doomed :-)

[risk]

The Five Pillars of Society:

1. the nuclear family
2. higher education
3. scientists and scientific inquiry
4. governmental representation
5. and the concept of self-regulation

The nuclear family is under attack from the left via the redefinition of traditional marriage. A related attack is the false pursuit of secularism as a rejection of traditional spirituality instead of protection of religious freedom.

Higher education is under attack via marxism and anti-Americanism.

Science is under attack via false ecology and a squeamishmenss about the space program and missile defense.

Governmental representation is under attack in many ways, but Hillary's opposition to the Electoral College comes first to mind. Worship of the false god "Democracy" has swept our nation -- for the benefit of the demagogues.

Self-regulation is under attack via the Political Correctness and shared responsibility movements.

[markman46]

gees now she lives in that social paradise of Canada eh?

[DentsRun]

Jacobs: For instance, take the great mystery that the more roads you build, the more traffic there is. Roads don’t cure congestion, they increase it. There has not been any real sensible evaluation of why this is. So we need more knowledge and experiments and fewer sacred cows.

Boy, ain't that the truth? The desire for complete mobility is like the desire for money or sex. There's no natural end to it. The more roads you build, the more people want to drive on them. You could pave over southern California and make all the people live underground and some folks would still be complaining there weren't enough freeways.

[Madstrider]

Roads don’t cure congestion, they increase it.

No, the huge increase in traffic congestion since 1970 has been caused largely by three factors:

1. Women's increased participation in the paid workforce. This has resulted in an 80 percent increase in women commuting to work in the past 40 years.

2. Immigration. Nearly all U.S. population growth is now caused by immigration.

3. White flight. As major urban areas and older surburbs fill up with non-white minorities (including immigrants), whites increasingly seek comfort by moving farther and farther from the city core, increasing the net number of commuter miles per day.

[saquin]

I know of Jane Jacobs mainly from the superb Ric Burns documentary "New York". Episode 7, covering the post-WWII period and Robert Moses' impact on NYC is fascinating. Jane Jacobs was instrumental in stopping Moses from building 3 expressways through the heart of NYC. For that alone, she's my hero. :-)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for the analysis!

[zip]

ping

[agitator]

NEWSWEEK: You describe North Americans as “drifting, heedless of our culture’s well-being.” How long do you think we have been drifting?

Jane Jacobs: I think we’ve been drifting since the Great Depression. I think America and Canada lost a lot of self-confidence then that they have not gotten back.

We've been drifting since the commies got wind of Antonio Gramsci.

[LS]

Small problem: none of Jacobs' "five pillars" includes Christianity (or even religious expression). Oops. By all indicators, this is at least as strong as it has been, some say a little stronger (based on Barna polls).

[Consort]

"Right" Flight from academia, labor, the bureaucracy (government at all levels), etc..... all are big....and all are getting bigger....and all are dominated by the Left. The bureaucracy is dominated by the Left at the worker bee level, even when the GOP controls the "front office" as is now the case.

[keats5]

"Small problem: none of Jacobs' "five pillars" includes Christianity (or even religious expression)."

Exactly.

[boxsmith13]

She is right, only Europe is further along in approaching a DARK AGE. Could happen in North America, sher says it is reversible, in Europe is isnt

[Oz8509338511]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3519111/posts