"the last several decades have witnessed a striking diminution in regular contacts with our friends"

[Sarah Ibarruri]

I found this article, titled, The Age of Asperger: modern society is autistic!

It's very interesting and (in my view) reflects why right wing ideology was able to take over our society so easily. We, as a society, are fractured.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201004/the-age-asperger-modern-society-is-autistic

...across a very wide range of activities, the last several decades have witnessed a striking diminution in regular contacts with our friends and neighbours… We spend less time in conversation over meals, we exchange visits less often, we engage less in leisure activities that encourage casual social interaction, we spend more time watching and less time doing. We know our neighbours less well, and we see old friends less often...

[annabanana]

1. The only time you meet your neighbors is when the power goes out.

"Did your power go out?"

The longer it lasts, the better the conversations.

[rfranklin]

2. Yes, after the August 2011 hurricane, power was out for five days and I saw more of my neighbors...

than I have seen in ten years. We actually had some communal dinners that were quite enjoyable.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. You've got that right! nt

[LASlibinSC]

3. I think you're on to,..

something. People become isolated or their interaction is only with like minded people...add in the routine monotony of living in a community that doesn't challenge then, frighten them that any change will be harmful sounds like a cult. Add faux news as their only news source...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. Yup. People are living isolated lives, and are easily brainwashed. nt

[woo me with science]

4. Noam Chomsky on Occupy and corporate America:

"...The other one is not discussed so much, but I think it’s pretty important. This is an extremely atomized society. People are alone. It’s a very business-run society. The very explicit goal of the business world is to create a social order in which the basic social unit is you and your television set, in which you’re watching ads and going out to purchase commodities. There are tremendous efforts made, that have been going on for a century and a half, to try to induce this kind of consciousness and social order."

Noam gets it.

(See entire post by limpyhobbler in Good Reads: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=19730)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. Noam does get it. He understands that isolated, we are weak and easily manipulated. nt

[snagglepuss]

6. Relating lack of interaction to autism is too much of a stretch. THe

statement that masturbation by far the most autistic is ludicrous. The Pursuit of Loneliness written in the 70s is a far superior analysis of modern society.