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Thread: Sharing community = communists??

  1. #11
    Senior Member Sad Eyed Lady's Avatar
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    I would love a situation like that - a sharing community, no matter how it was perceived by others. I remember reading once in some of the "simple living" books I was devouring back several years ago, where sharing things in common was a practical approach rather than each household having: gardening equipment, lawn mowers, etc. so the housing of the equipment, maintaining and use would be shared. Maybe a central location for the housing I guess. Kind of like a library! Anyway, that makes a lot of sense to me. Living in community and cooperatively.
    "Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in the midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free." Leonard Cohen

  2. #12
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    Here are some signs that the arrangement might be communist in the classic USSR sense:

    The lawn mower was confiscated from a homeowner who has since been liquidated.

    Nobody is allowed to purchase his own lawn mower.

    Minimal effort is expended on maintaining the lawn mower because nobody accepts the responsibility except under duress.

    A few of the more well connected families get to use the mower 90% of the time.

    The neighborhood is periodically leafletted about the benefits of tall grass.

    Gas for the mower is frequently unavailable.

    If the neighbors all get together and vote in favor of the person with the best lawn mower being required to mow their lawns for them, it’s just harmless Democratic Socialism.

    If none of this applies, it’s probably just some people sharing a lawn mower.

  3. #13
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    We have shared things with our neighbors and our friends too. I think it’s great!

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by mschrisgo2 View Post
    So I was chatting with my mother and mentioned that several neighbors and I share a lawn mower (we all have small grass areas). And that we all look after each other’s cats and dogs if someone is away, even for a whole day...

    Her angry reaction was, “What a bunch of communists!!”

    Does participating in a sharing community define one as a communist?
    Wow! That's a stretch. Sorry Mom, it's called neighborly.

  5. #15
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    Social Darwinism had its hey-day in the late 19th Century, but I gather it still carries on in certain family conversations. Jumping off from Darwin's theory of natural selection, the Social Darwinists believed that certain nations (generally imperial powers) were superior, and therefor destined to rule colonies. (Hail Britannia! for instance.)

    One of many who responded critically was an anarcho-communist, Peter Kropotkin, in his book Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution. Not all species evolved as a result of individual competition. Some evolved as a result of co-operation, or mutual aid.

    There is no reason to believe that all who co-operate, such as by taking turns baby-sitting each other's children, do so on the basis of any "communist" doctrine.

  6. #16
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    When we first moved here, several neighbors came over and asked if DH would like to borrow their leaf blowers. I guess they saw him using a broom and decided that would never do.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    Sounds pretty wacky to me.
    thanks Bae, it sounded wacky to me too. I was totally flabbergasted.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chicken lady View Post
    Does your mom have a library card?
    no, and not any where near a library, unfortunately.

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post
    How sad that she has never experienced this mutual support with neighbours. It is one of life's joys.
    I love my little neighborhood with all the mutual support. It is a great joy in my life.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    If you grew up in the 60s post-McCarthy era you might still carry irrational fear of anything that suggests "pinko" attitudes and behaviors... even sharing with neighbors. Very sad.
    i was born in the early 50s. I’ve never paid any attention to the communist ideology, I’ve mostly heard it referred to a part of scare tactics. I really don’t like to give scare tactics any air time in my life.

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