Comments on: On The Promiscuous Use of “Community”

By: Emil Kramer

Emil Kramer — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:06:23 +0000

I’ve walked, kissed, defecated and, at least in a very general sense, given the finger apud te. You’ve never set foot in my place, let alone kissed or defecated therein (should you come, at long last, I’d prefer you did the latter in one of our bathrooms — both recently remodled, so ideal for that function). Granted I’ve never invited you specifically, but I’m a democrat at heart when it comes to those things. Just sayin’.

Community is so much about place. You can’t walk home (easily) from my place, nor I from yours. Sadness. It seems like a great river seperates us.

By: Doug Sangster

Doug Sangster — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:29:59 +0000

I will go one step further than Mr. Peters and suggest that incipient Gnosticism is the driving force behind the sloppy use of “community.” Those who superimpose on the word amorphous nuances would do well to pay attention to the earthy explanation above.

By: John Gorentz

John Gorentz — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 01:24:00 +0000

What about the term “Communion of Saints” from the Apostles Creed? Communion comes from the same root as community. The Communion of Saints does eat and drink together, but not in the same place. They probably do give each other the finger, but they don’t all walk on the same ground.

Back when I taught a pre-confirmation class for 5th and 6th graders I tried to get young people to think about the meaning of the word by thinking of the relationship between Community, Communion, and other words from the same root.

By: Hans Noeldner

Hans Noeldner — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 03:42:30 +0000

Well said, Jason!

Here is something I penned recently on the topic of “community”:

Community grows where we plant our feet

Sprawl grows where we drive our cars

By: Front Porch Republic » Blog Archive » FFA Liberal Arts Style

Front Porch Republic » Blog Archive » FFA Liberal Arts Style — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:02:49 +0000

[...] because it has identifiable “outcomes,” even though it is but one more example of the promiscuous use of “community”). Our LC, “Environmental Literature and Landscape,” is comprised of paired courses taught [...]

By: What’s Modernity Marx Got to Do With It? (FPR vs. PoMoCon, Part Drei) | Front Porch Republic

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:41:54 +0000

[...] laying out here doesn’t represent the common self-understanding of the FPR community (some of whom would reject even labeling it a community); I don’t know if there are any other Taylor fans [...]

By: Friday Brain Drain « Tugging on the String

Friday Brain Drain « Tugging on the String — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:08:46 +0000

[...] great post from Front Porch Republic, this time dealing with: community. I found myself nodding in agreement for most of the piece, but then was left wondering: well, [...]

By: Steve Berg

Steve Berg — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:25:46 +0000

As a ham radio operator for nearly 50 years now, and who has frequently operated his radio whilst standing on his front porch, hoping to spot tornadoes before they hit his community, I am curious as to why there is not a ham radio “community”? Some of my longest lasting friendships grew out of ham radio activities at my local high school, except for Chuck W5TTP, who went to a different high school with us. So, while we are now geographically separated, we are still in frequent contact, do favors for one another, console each other on the deaths of parents and illnesses of spouses. So, there is a social support function to ham radio that would certainly operate as one would in a geographical community. I mean, we even gossip, which is about as communal as it gets. We prefer to live in rural and exurban areas. We have raised chickens and cattle on our modest homesteads, along side our antennas and towers. I suppose that if Wendell Berry got his ham radio license, he would be booted off of the Front Porch Republic’s front porch? ._ _ …. ._ _ _ _ . . . . . . _ . . . . . . _ _ . .

By: Poop as a Community Element « This Ringing Bell

Poop as a Community Element « This Ringing Bell — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:30:03 +0000

[...] as a Community Element The eminently witty and wise Jason Peters has a great post up at FPR about what a true community is. I think that he is pretty spot on in his [...]

By: A-gu

A-gu — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:09:33 +0000

You will find that like (interj.) has a number of well studied uses and cannot be called verbal spackling. See the following papers, for example:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VCW-3YCMTH6-N&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5e19bd8cf93bfaafccfcccf5ef5cae4e

http://www.jstor.org/pss/455910

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:01:25 +0000

Empedocles – your comments point to an interesting phenomenon. The “marketplace” for community. One can choose that format which best fits one’s goals. But where have we arrived then, except at that which is its not real community, if by traditional definitions your community is the place you find yourself more by forces outside your control, in as much as you can’t really truly “choose your friends”, or to the extent you have, perhaps you haven’t, really…but I digress again… One could argue that community is the people and place closest at hand. Who is my neighbor? There you have it.

It seems that in seeking some “intentional” community of the current professional/fundagelical/lifestyle variety, we have people actually running from the community of their place.

Perhaps I’m only stating the obvious to this choir. But it feels to good to say it.

By: Wellsy

Wellsy — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:09:34 +0000

How do you think language changes without first disregarding the original definition of certain words, or doing more heretical things with even the grammatical structure?

Regardless, the American Heritage Dictionary makes allowances for all the meanings you discussed above.

com·mu·ni·ty
A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
The district or locality in which such a group lives.
A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community.
A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the community of color.
Similarity or identity: a community of interests.

I agree with Nathan, however, that the lines of language are blurred for certain reasons, among them laziness and deception. That’s nothing new.

By: Empedocles

Empedocles — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:38:12 +0000

This essay is a fun look at community as “a place where…” But surely there is a sense in which a community is a group of people with certain things in common. It seems to me that in this sense a community must at least have a shared language, and some moral beliefs in common. But being a community can be a matter of degree. Communities become more “tight knit”, that is, have greater social capital, the more they have in common, especially to the extent that they share a history and all that entails.

By: polistra

polistra — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:08:32 +0000

In most media circles, the word “community” by itself has precisely one meaning: the Authentic Black Community, as organized by Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to protest city police doing their job properly.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:59:59 +0000

Agree with most here. The amorphous nature of language in no way obviates normative arguments for word definition. To cherry pick an FPR-appropriate analogy, Wellsy’s point (or what I perceive his limited statement to mean) is akin to arguing that recent discoveries in quantum physics negate meaningful use of the word “place”. My goodness, the scandal. A cursory read of Berry’s “Way of Ignorance” is recommended here.

Having studied Romance, Germanic, Semitic and Slavic languages, I’ve gained, if not proficiency, a tremendous appreciation for the incomparable expanse of modern English. Katherine has aptly noted our penchant for word playfulness. English is incomparably robust among the major tongues, with its aptitude for absorbing and coining new phrases without giving an inch on structural matters. The nuance and subtlety of such an able-bodied language is reflected in the range of words that describe similar but distinct concepts.

This leads me back to the examples Jason put forward of the varying uses of the word “community”, and begs the question of “why”?. Why do people/organizations blur the lines like this? Laziness, deception and stupidity seem to encompass the possible range of answers. And yes, motive is relevant, me’thinks.

Jason, your quote: “someone who flips you off from a moving car is a placeless coward” is going on my all time best list which may ultimately be etched into an extra headstone for my grave. This is one of my biggest peeves, and I have a tendency to chase these sorts of badgers down to put them in their “place”. That is, I concede, indubitably unwise – particularly here in Texas with such liberal concealed carry regs. And further, as I write this, I am compelled to retreat to a quiet place of introspection to consider what it is I am doing with sufficient consistency to warrant getting flipped off so frequently in the first place…

By: Kate Dalton

Kate Dalton — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:27:58 +0000

I think very soon we are going to have enough entries for a McDonald’s Devil’s Dictionary. Is there an agent in the house?