"As that infrastructure disappeared — and more of everyday life was atomized and privatized — politics became something broadcast at people rather than something they did together."
One design rule might be worth carrying into the rebuilding: coming should cost less than the relief. The old third places obeyed it without naming it — the union hall, the league night, the dance charged almost nothing at the door: no test to pass, no performance owed, often not even sustained eye contact, just a seat facing the same fire as everyone else. Broadcast politics beat the hall because the couch costs nothing; an organizing social wins only if its price of entry — travel, obligation, the fear of being cornered by the most committed person in the room — stays under the relief it delivers. That gives "fun" an engineering meaning you can inspect a calendar with: for each event, what does showing up cost a tired stranger, and what do they carry home? Congratulations on the Times piece — and the tanker officers' campaign at the end is the part I'm carrying with me; two years without a first contract is its own argument for everything above it.
"As that infrastructure disappeared — and more of everyday life was atomized and privatized — politics became something broadcast at people rather than something they did together."
One design rule might be worth carrying into the rebuilding: coming should cost less than the relief. The old third places obeyed it without naming it — the union hall, the league night, the dance charged almost nothing at the door: no test to pass, no performance owed, often not even sustained eye contact, just a seat facing the same fire as everyone else. Broadcast politics beat the hall because the couch costs nothing; an organizing social wins only if its price of entry — travel, obligation, the fear of being cornered by the most committed person in the room — stays under the relief it delivers. That gives "fun" an engineering meaning you can inspect a calendar with: for each event, what does showing up cost a tired stranger, and what do they carry home? Congratulations on the Times piece — and the tanker officers' campaign at the end is the part I'm carrying with me; two years without a first contract is its own argument for everything above it.
Thanks Kevin!!!