Welcome back!
The weekend's here, so lets have a bit of fun.
There's been much discussion recently of reclaiming smaller things we've forgotten over the years, perhaps even subtle things we hadn't even considered before. One of the recent discussions has centered around "slop" and what we've allowed our entertainment and art to fall into. We've essentially given up trying or aiming for anything higher, our priorities on other things.
Another related and yet less talked about topic, is the loss of the Third Place. One might argue the loss is at the crux of everything we've been going through since Cultural Ground Zero put a wrecking ball to everything so long ago.
If you've been interested in the decay we've been going through for any amount of time by now then you've almost certainly heard of Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, a book that came out a quarter of a century ago which saw all the patterns that had already formed and the cracks that led to pale artificial replacements like "Geek Culture" to consume an entire cohort of youth into a New Religion and way of life. The problem became centered on the "Normie" and the solution was to relate to those who consumed the same product you did instead. There was nothing else to it. You were a Victim and everyone was out to get you.
And, obviously, that mentality didn't work out too well.
One of the expressions no one had really brought up over this quarter century was the idea of the "Third Place" in life, something Bowling Alone described as its main thesis, and something which has faded away into irrelevance in the war on everything that is modern life. All this despite the fact that we clearly desire connection while fighting hard against finding it at the same time. It's a giant mess, but we're used to it by now. We don't want to accept it's not normal or healthy, for whatever reason. And we're paying for it.
The video above gives a good description of the topic. The Third Place is, as described, the third important place in life. The first being Home and the second being Work. Home is where we can relax and recharge on our own and with those closest to us. Work is where we show another side of ourselves, using effort to achieve something separate from Home and our relationships there. You know how you always felt awkward as a kid when your parents talked to your teachers? There's a reason for that. Instinctively, you knew those two places should be separate. Mashing those together hasn't been all too great a change either, but that's not the topic today.
The Third Place is a neutral public space between the other two where we can connect with other people away from the others. In fact, part of the three places that makes them important is that it disconnects us from the other two and gives us a break and a way to discover new sides of ourselves. All three are important.
The third can be as simple as a restaurant, a bar, or a club, a place where you are detached somewhat from the other two places, throwing in some unpredictability and odd comfort into your day to day routine. And it no longer exists in the modern world.
The issue is that all three places have been heavily damaged in recent years. Home has turned into a bunker from the world, a place where Work is not only brought into but made the place where it is frequently done the most. Work has no stability and therefore contains no trust or growth of basic work relationships beyond tentative trust for as long as your inevitably short employment exists for. The Third Place, however, is completely gone and destroyed from modern life, taken out back and shot. And we're feeling its effects today.
There is no public neutral place to go, and they are rapidly dying out. In the process, we are losing community connections and turning into a block of strangers who sometimes see each other when we dare go out to... well, to do what? Going out is now seen as an annoyance, taking you away from your bunker. It's a nuisance, not a break. Eventually, the way things are going. we won't even need to go out to get groceries anymore. Then what happens?
All of this is killing community worse than Putnam ever imagined it would. Remember, his book was written before social media, lockdown world, and door dash. We've fought hard to kill off connection since Bowling Alone first released, and we're not quite turning it around yet. Local life is dying everywhere as we anticipate plugging into the cloud instead.
I know where I am the streets are fairly deserted and even the weekend makes no difference anymore. It is a ghost town of door dash drivers and empty buildings and sidewalks. There are no clubs, no hobby groups, not even church gatherings, anymore. It's just a large concentrated block of people who do everything they can to avoid each other. That's all it is and all it has become.
What is being built up by this attitude? What is the purpose of burrowing away into ourselves at the expense of both our own health and everyone else around us? We all know the answer to that, and we're well aware of where we're going is not anywhere good.
On the plus side, this topic is being brought up again more and more in discourse, because now there is no one who doesn't know, and doesn't pretend, that any of this is leading to a healthier society. We know it's not. We just have yet to figure out a solution beyond fancy words and promises. We need more than that. The answer involves bringing back the Third Place, and until we do, we'll be trapped circling the drain.
That's all for this week! Have yourself a good rest and get ready for March! We're almost there and out of the endless winter.
I can't wait until we finally are.
Check out Cirsova #20! My story of a man on a motorcycle with a mission against witches is inside! I hope you like bullets, because you'll get them!
