> But most interesting is that people I have known for many years, people
> with good educations, and better than average jobs are going to these
> things. I get the sense that they are a little embarrassed to tell me
> when they first have to. In conversation I often learn that they no
> longer know much about the news, although years ago they did. And they
> act, as in vote, by what they think they do know. We talk and if I can
> keep from getting to self-righteous I make serious headway in getting
> them back on track. Many of these people were people who were into new
> age sort of things in the past. Remember the "harmonic convergence"
> thing that never happened. People faded away from that stuff over
> time. I wonder if a lot of this middle class evangelical stuff won't
> pass when it turns out that it really doesn't deliver peace of mind?
My bet on the cause of this trend is the lack of community in our highly alienating capitalist society. People are flocking to the mega churches for the social network and the amenities. But are they flocking to just any church?
This is an important thing that the Left has overlooked--we just don't do a good job of creating community. Those of us who spend lots of time trying to create alternative institutions such as infoshops are berated for being lifesylists. What my critics don't understand is that I've been operating on a strategy of counter-insitution-building for the past decade based on my reading of what the labor movement had available to it a century ago. You can't make social change without resources and community. Meetings are not resources and community. The radical movements in the USA of a century ago were able to stand on a network of
radical cultural institutions that ranged from union halls to free schools to cooperatives. In many big cities today, we are so lacking in resources that our activist groups meet in restaurants and people's homes.
The right wing has churches, thinks tanks, and much more. What do we have? Some people can diss me on my fucking infoshop, but at least I've worked with activists in Kansas City to put together one radical space!
Chuck