Poor Us

I understand the sentiment completely regarding the banality of the modern suburb, the "sitcom suburb" as it was referred to in our reading. Yet as you read the piece of Jackson's regarding Ray's new house, I'm not sure we can help but wonder whether we did this to ourselves. The most staggering thing about Jackson's article was how deeply it contrasted the point of view of 50's America with 00's America about the use of suburbs. It seems it popular culture now, or even on campus, everyone hates the suburb, everyone hates the big chain, and everyone hates walmart (lower case on purpose). But what is underscored throughout the whole piece is that these sorts of characteristics where the exact reasons for the founding of suburbs. It seems clear that after the Great Depression and The Second World War somebody somewhere had the bright idea of saying to themselves "hey, lets make a place with safety and security!" and they did with the suburb. Most of all it gave the security of convenience, as Jackson said "convenience was all that mattered." The people of the time wanted this so bad, the detachment from work, the freedom of "no distinct code of behavior or set of standards." The ability to go to school close, or the hospital fast if needed, and the availability of commercial markets.
What they wanted, and what we still want is to break everything down to its smallest form and make everything simpler and easier. Ray's wife wanted to "reduce the functions of the house and to make it a convenience rather than a responsibility." This mindset is what led us to sitcom suburbs, and the ideas of having everything how we want it when we want it: the "automatic time of an electric range" or a dishwasher or garbage disposal or air conditioning or a washing machine, and now tv and the internet. We all can speak on end on how much we all apparently loathe suburban life and walmart, yet it is walmart who is still in business and thriving because they provide the American consumer with convenience and low cost. There is no sense in calling for the downfall of walmart if we as consumers are not first willing to stop shopping there. It is not about the things we have but rather about the people we are. The same applies for the discussion of suburbs. We can say all the houses look the same, or as in "little boxes" all the people come out the same (no time to explain that maybe the ultimate in a society's function is to provide equality for its citizens) yet until we become a people who value the things that seemingly bother us on end, we will not come closer to changing anything. Everything is in its place for a purpose and suburbs are no different, they suit the needs of Americans to a tee; life conveniences, the availability of a house for a home, the availability of nature in the yard, the availability of community in the neighborhood, and above all our own personal space and room to placate to our need for absolute freedom. Maybe we need to overhaul our priorities, maybe we need to rethink convenience and look towards co-ops instead of massive chains, or local vendors instead of walmart, or hummers instead of hybrids. We have begun to in small steps, yet we will not be a society full of virtue until we are a people full of virtue.