By: Tara

Tara — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:50:31 +0000

I found this report to be sad on many fronts, the first being that so many people have moved so far from where they make a living. The family depicted in the report were barely making ends meet when the gas prices began to soar. They are now spending several hours in a car, rearranging their lives and spending over $1000 a month on gas even though they had a hybrid. The second issue that comes to mind is the simple fact that mass transit had originally been planned to play a huge role in the plan of urban sprawl. Big business, oil companies and car companies did away with mass transit to line their pockets and pan to the consumer’s preference for freedom to travel individually. Community travel turns to individual transportation nightmare. I think that it is sad that people are just now realizing the benefits of public transportation only after so many have lost their homes and are losing their savings to preserve their personal freedom of driving their own car and living out in the open. Spending hours in traffic doesn’t sound like freedom to me — it sounds like a virtual hell.

By: Rasheedah

Rasheedah — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:23:51 +0000

The lifestyle enclave for Americans is so far removed from a community oriented society. I believe what Bellah was trying to show was the relationship between individualism and the communities in which we live. The terrible transportation options given to the people of California illustrates how much it the American infrastructure has been neglected. Moving to the excerbs is what many Americans did not realizing that there were going to be high transportation costs and sacrifices. In an effort to move towards individualism and self reliance the people have become prisoners in there own home. They cannot afford to go anywhere because of the high gas prices. In addition, these people’s lifestyle enclaves are reliant upon individual choice. They are also an independent whole of society. Their lifestyle enclaves are segmented by each individual and those that have similar lifestyles. The restructure of America’s infrastructure is needed to help Americans become less dependent on the care. This crisis is not only affecting individualism but it is affecting the good for society as a whole. The external influences that are not in our control are a part of the greater whole and are essential to ones development in terms of self reliance and personal growth. If people are forced to move away from what there norm is there is a sense of personal loss. The shifting away from community based culture has reciprocal scenario in terms of what is good for the individual self and what is good for people as a whole. If you take away from one you take away from the other. The possible solution mentioned is to have more public transportation and to make cultural changes. This will move individuals and society in the direction of improvement for self and people as a whole.

Comments on: Week 4: Robert Bellah’s chapter 3

By: Tara

By: Rasheedah