Gated Communities Don't Bother Me

[NashVegas]

I don't live in one. But if I did:

I'd breathe a little easier about letting my kids play in the street - like I used to.

I'd have less of a chance of seeing my car stereo go bye-bye (it already did, I'm not replacing it, and the local police don't exactly jump to follow up investigations of such).

I wouldn't have to put up with door to door solicitors (there's a sign, it gets ignored).

I might let my cat outside.


They aren't just for the rich, btw. More and more working-class apartment complexes have them where I live - because people are sick and tired of car and house break-ins and that happens to the middle & working class far more often that the wealthy neighborhoods, where people are more protective of what they've got in the first place.

[wrang_wrang]

1. I like the Guatemalan refugees who cut the grass

And the El Salvadorean maids who take care of the kids.
And the Iraqis who gave their lives so we can still drive SUVs.
I love everything about imperial America.

[Deja Q]

2. Well, let's move the poor into the rich neighborhoods then!

If nobody wants to resolve the problems of poverty and neglect, then we may as well let them share in it.

(Oh, in this society only those with money have power. Power is the ability to change things. Therefore only they have the power. By separating themselves from the rest of us, they feel there is no problem. They are wrong. And as they are the ones in power, they should pay along with the rest of us who can't change diddlies.

[ret5hd]

3. here here

thanks for saying what a lot of us feel

[Deja Q]

4. I did 'think' that with reluctance and with sympathy... and

Our society doesn't encourage togetherness sprinkled with individuality. It enforces divisiveness with a cheap veneer of "yes, it's ok to be a complete individual" yet looking the other way as everybody tries to look and act like everyone else. (on top of everything else, but I'd be here all night picking every nit. :-) )

And while I do now openly comment about corporate america and their special interests as being traitors, I say it with sadness. Not hate, though I am understandably livid over their actions. Yes, 'traitor' is quite a strong word - but until I hear a better epithet, I will continue using it. They clearly do not have America or its infrastructure in any of its interests.

However, until a proper solution is found, I won't be crying for the wealthy should the poor climb their fences.

(Oh, another reason why people in congress shoot down any tax hikes for those making $100k/yr. Many of them make that much and more, on top of their benefits. Quite simply, the people we elect couldn't care any less if we all became cannibals and turned each other into Big Macs. Heck, I'm sure human meat is an improvement over what McDonalds passes off as 'meat' anyway.

[Jon8503]

5. Out of Sight - Out of Mind

[Deja Q]

9. Oh, they're in mind, in a way...

But seen as little more than animals. They just want to get away from what they find undesirable.

It's going to be a tough job, to fix a worsening problem of divisiveness...

[Jon8503]

10. I know but you don't give up, we will prevail

[ant]

6. LOL

I love the self-righteous indignation re: gated communities. What the hell do people think the suburbs are if not a middle class version of the same?

Wait, wait, let me guess - everyone here lives in the middle of the inner city, surrounded by the poor, high crime, etc. A noble bunch, I'm sure, walking among the unwashed masses. Who has the best story?! Do tell. And I'm not talking about "urban living," either - I'm talking about living where the cops simply do not go.

Let the liberal pissing contest begin!

[Nikia]

11. I don't know if I've been to such a place

I have only lived in rural areas and small cities where the police go everywhere. The seedy looking neighborhood that we accidently walked into in Atlanta had lots of police around. The neighborhood that we accidently got into after missing our exit in Chicago looked seedy too. It was about 9 pn and there were only young men with the exception of possibly a few prostitutes out and the only nice looking business was a funeral home. The others were in delipidated buildings and had bars on them. We saw someone getting arrested there though so that must not be what you are talking about either. My friend grew up in what was a middle class neighborhood in Racine, WI until unemployment shot up. In his teenage years, the neighborhood went downhill. His parents still live there. There has been a lot of crime, including shootings in that neighborhood, but the police go there too.

[Nikia]

7. I am happy living in my little town with mixed housing

My community as well as my bigger community that I grew up in have subdivisions but they also have streets where there are both nice big houses as well as smaller less expensive houses. Many neighborhoods are mixed socioeconimically. When we buy a house, if we can afford it, I would prefer to live in a big house in a mixed neighborhood than a subdivision. Having a house similiar to everyone around you is overrated anyway. Of course both communties have relatively low crime rates. As long as you don't live in one of the few problem trailer parks or apartment complexes, you are usually alright letting children go out and play, walk at night alone if you are an adult, and not worry about your stuff getting if you lock it up at night.

[AlFrankenFan]

8. We live in a gated community...

and no all of those things are necessarily true. Kids playing in the street - you've still got to be cautious because people here drive like bats out of hell. As for door to door solicitors...overall they don't come like they used to when we lived elsewhere but they still manage to make their way through.

[dorktv]

12. As long as we have people who are not willing to

put more money where it is needed (schools, forcing companies to pay living wages, police training and equipment, mental health services) you are going to have 'solutions' like gated communities.

[NashVegas]

13. I Think the Problem Is Much More Basic Than That

White collar crime, perpetrated by the finest familes, exists, too. It's just not as visible.

I think we're headed for a total breakdown.

We worship Hollywood and football icons, all coked up the ass. Students resort to lawsuits - and their parents support them in this - to achieve the grade they want.

I've watched "Survivor" only once - caught enough of the show to get the idea it's a manual for a post-apocolyptic world. We delight in national humiliation. We are not a fun tribe anymore.

[dorktv]

14. This is true.