"The Radical Christian Right Is Built on Suburban Despair."

I don't think it's new or notable that people look to churches (I don't think "the church" really applies here) for meaning, but I'm very interested to the extent that he connects it to the rise of exurbs.

Which isn't even entirely untrue: fervent involvement in this stuff really probably does increase lots of people's sense of wellbeing. So long as you don't turn out to be one of its, umm, discontents.

Everybody OTM. This seems like garden-variety sneering at the great unwashed. I don't see how those living in huge, soulless cities have any more support by way of "community rituals or centers". And I'm sure many of my fellow city dwellers feel "isolated, vulnerable and lonely."

A line of approach that always greatly irritates me because the flipside is that they can't understand how someone consciously not concerned about God's love can be truly happy, etc. etc. Therein looking through our own lenses in turn, etc. etc.

fervent involvement in this stuff really probably does increase lots of people's sense of wellbeing

But couldn't the fervency be driven by a different form of desperation? On that level it becomes the difference between real day-to-day mouths to feed/necessary shelter/etc. problems and the kind of problems you want to have (but that in turn overlooks how the evangelical impulses crosses class lines and so onward we go).

And yes, both religious and social tribalism play into it, too.

ever lived in one?

Maybe the role of religion in American life IS different now than then, but I think it's waaaay too easy to hang it on "suburban despair" and your personal distaste for that landscape/culture. The modern evangelical movement seems to speak very strongly to those who seem the least stricken by despair. Appearances != reality and all that, but the only reason to buy this argument is that you believe it already.

Why in the suburbs? If we're gonna pin this on the emptiness of modern life, why not in the cities, where alienated despair is so common?

Why in the suburbs?

In the suburbs, it's a helluva lot easier to separate and alienate people from each other. If you don't encounter brown folks or gay folks on a day-to-day basis walking around, it's a lot easier to gin up animosity and fear towards a perceived Other. Those weird librul homosexuals are tryin' to destroy civilization! These gates we put on our subdivision aren't enough!

Especially when plenty of suburbs started and developed out of fear.

I mean, in a lot of ways, people in the suburbs often seem to have MORE community connections than those in cities. People go to the suburbs to raise kids, mostly, and neighborhoods full of kids tend to be interconnected. People watch the streets and watch out for one another. They know each other through schools and (yes) churches and civic organizations. Most of the suburban folks I know live lives that are heavily interconnected and interdependent with the community at large. Watching each other's kids, going camping in groups, little leage, boy & girl scouts, etc.

???

where do you think most families in the U.S. lived for the first half(and more) of the last century and before? Schaumburg? Cobb County?

waitamin, are you nude spoke or nude beales?

You typed my post.

I'll add that I suspect that the smug, self-validating, other-hating tendencies of some bad evangelicals are not unique to them, they are normal human characteristics amplified by superior organization, insulation and greed. Sorta what y'all said above I guess.

Gathering places and pop density, hell yes. I'll give you that we city dwellers have access to tons more bars, bookstores, arts events, etc.

As far as "traditional" family/community structure, I put it in quotes 'cuz it's code. I'm not talking about what people have always done, but how they imagine community life is supposed to be.

And I'm not denying the differences, I'm pointing them out.

Totally agree with Kingfish's post about the homogeneity of suburbs, and how that can be exploited by fearmongers and dividers. But that's got nothing to do with "despair". Read back here. I'm ONLY objecting to the fantasy that the suburbs breed so much more loneliness and despair than cities.

That said, I get really suspicious when people try to say that these attitudes are some kind of disease of the 20th century's rise of suburbs, some new development. Those attitudes run all the way back to the pioneers of the west, surely! The entire story of the bulk of land in America has been about protecting your stake from surrounding danger, so I don't think it's entirely shocking that attitudes not that far removed from that might hold a lot of sway today.

Same goes for suburbs.

and propping up property values.

What was fringe John Birch Society whacko-shit(check Tim "Left Behind" LaHaye's background) is now mainstream. Hell, John McCain had to do a complete 180 three years ago and start buddying up to their leaders just b/c he couldn't see any way of being elected President w/o their support.

Getting the Republican nomination != winning the Presidency. At least, not yet.

you really think so?

There's a reason why I enjoy John Cheever.

i see. this is about the distinct minority of people who come from the outer burbs and live in the city and can't hack it. not about most people who actually live in cities.

I mean, in a lot of ways, people in the suburbs often seem to have MORE community connections than those in cities.

this makes my point for me - why do you think that is?

oh cmon, that's a minor quibble.

that's not true at all, this is not new.

i haven't read the essay yet but how does dude explain the second great awakening given that, uh, there were no suburbs then?

http://www.rootsweb.com/~iamuscat/normapostcards/billysunday.gif

http://www.federalobserver.com/content_images/25_billy_sunday.jpg

Again, Hedges mentions in the article(along w/ everytime he's interviewed or speaks) that these followers are to treated w/ compassion & empathy as they are ultimately victims.

It reminds me a lot of my ex-gf, who had such a traumatic disintergration of her previous 5-year relationship that it did major damage to her internally, so she sought out a comforting structure to fill it with and went born-again. That too caused her some problems, but that's a story for another time.

aw what a humanitarian.