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PERUSEK, DAVID's avatar

Exactly so. Well put. Thank you. A cultural anthropologist, I've been at pains to help people see these things for a long time. Good news: individuals on the left often do recognize such truths when presented with them. Thanks again.

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carol jochnowitz's avatar

Like it!

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Judith Seid's avatar

The nuclear family is an invention of the 50s, I think. I mean, a little from the Industrian Revolution, maybe.

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Martha Gershun's avatar

I was intrigued by the idea that we believe in protecting/defending indigenous traditions, but not mainstream traditions. There's something important in that idea. Not sure what - but it's important

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Judith Seid's avatar

Mmmm, maybe let's not fall for the notion that "American culture" is only white Christian culture. Let's call it European-American culture or something that isn't so exclusive?

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Lawrence Bush's avatar

I'm not talking about Ku Klux Klan culture. I'm talking about traditional love-and-marriage culture, which was lionized by Motown and jazz songsters as much as by Ricky Nelson. Even in its day, "Going to the Chapel" ("and we're gonna get married") was corny, but many of us fell hard for it. So if you're going to assault the privileges afforded married people, you've got to recognize what you're dealing with.

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Jane Alex Mendelson's avatar

Esther, such a read as I contemplate making my own Matzoh Ball soup for the first time!

Capitalism, humanism, tribalism...

Humanity, respect for life - including that of the earth & enviroment without which all life is up for grabs...

Researching western civilizations' cycles, changes, the way values, politics, respect for individual humans as humans regardless of varied characteristics, has cycled, swung like a pendulum - over decades, centuries...

respect for individual freedoms, respect for the value of all, enablement of all to have their humanity, is the only way to truly thrive and avoid acceptance of hate, entitlement, insanely growing violent crime, fear, desolation destructuion....

Will we ever truly learn to accept and value our differences as much as our commonalities?

I write... but do my words connect?

Existence itself - how does one communicate such that people understand?

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Esther Cohen's avatar

Dear Jane what a hard time this is for everyone. Happy pesach. Love to yoy

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Jane Alex Mendelson's avatar

To you too Esther!

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Apr 15, 2022
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Lawrence Bush's avatar

I'm not applauding capitalism, Sandy, just asking people to recognize that its power to upset everything continually is what creates people who are liberated enough from tradition to challenge tradition.

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