an ode to community

“His overall conclusion is that virtual communities cannot reclaim ‘lost’ community in society, largely because the cultures and identities created are ‘too partial, heterogeneous and fluid to create a strong sense of membership and belonging’” (Van Dijk, 1998, 59 in Jankowski, 2006, 63).

community is permeable.
organic.

we’re still hunter-gatherers.
but we hunt with cunning sharpened by textbooks,
and gather in our pocketbooks.

moving from group-to-group,
their contours are more or less the same,
it’s what’s inside that changes.

or does it?

the play remains the same,
it’s just the actors who change.

we are part of more-and-more groups,
but in less-and-less personal ways.

introduction,
interaction,
and emigration
seem …
somehow …
less traumatic in the virtual world
than face-to-face.

“who do YOU think you are?”
“why the hell did you do THAT?”
“hey … where are you going?”

in the good old days,
leaving a group seemed more difficult.

a departure implied a slight.
indifference
can change diffidence
to belligerence.

You talkin' to me?
You talkin' to me?
Then who the hell else are you talkin' to?

in present days,
information surrounds us,
envelops us,
becomes us.

traffic moves
from the front sidewalk
to the front cortex.

physical impact becomes mental.
emotional.
spiritual?

possession is unimportant,
transformation assumed,
and dissemination key.

"Who gets what to the most whoevers"
is the headline of the day.
why is irrelevant.
when? instantaneous.

"HAVEN’T YOU READ MY E-MAIL?!?"

where goes our information flow,
there goes our social glow.

social structures evolved
through medieval torture,
and victorian proper,
to modern,
post-modernism.

are rules
even rules
when they’ve been …
ruled out?

the formalization of …
informality?!?
staid strictures secede,
silly sensibilities slowly surface.

old society,
its mores ever-shifting,
becomes embedded
on new society.

that is, if there ever was one...

old society, that is.

virtual communities can’t “reclaim ‘lost’ community”
any more than mrs. c. can call the fonz and richie
back to the dining room table.

an illusion
captures the imagination
because it’s elusive.

was there ever really a community?
or was it just something we made up?
to help us get through troubling times

nostalgia
covered in sepia
leads to dementia?

was that my family?
or your family?
who’s family?
the cunningham family?!?

hysteria!

goodbye 50s pot-roast.
hello tomorrow’s ...

oh, who knows?

well joanie, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow night to see how this story turns out...

References:
Jankowski, N. (2006). Creating community with media: History, theories, and scientific investigations. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The handbook of new media, updated student edition (pp. 55-74). London: Sage.

Van Dijk, J. (1998) The reality of virtual communities. Trends in communication 1(1) pp. 39-63.