Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Political diversity - Confession

['Judith Wisdom (wisdom]

Sorry, coho-l folks, I replied to Tony Rocco's post, then realized that 
it went to his personal address and not the list though that was 
where I saw it and responded.  Hence I'm forwarding my reply to the 
list.  That's why it looks like one big quote.  It is not.  It's an 
original message.

Ah, the wonders of email!

Judith Wisdom
 (I'll remove some of the top garbage to keep disc space down)

> 
> Tony,
> 
> While as you anticipated some, I among them, would find your "experiment" 
> very distasteful (there's a whole history to the issue of ethics on being 
> experimented upon without informed consent that isn't pretty) and while 
> your portrait of yourself in that experiment wasn't a portrait of someone 
> I personally cared for, I didn't flame you, feeling that you did have a 
> right, if interested, to join a cohousing community if with your 
> possessions and values it appealed to you.
> 
> What I really mind is what you said in your recent confession, about 
> people working hard and enjoying the fruits of their labor being 
> dissed.  
> 
> First of all plenty of people in this country and all over this world 
> work VERY hard  and don't have as a result of their very hard work fruits 
> like Mercedes Benz cars.  So don't link such accumulation of goodies to 
> hard work.  That's really naive and and insulting.  Second, yes, in your 
> portrait in your little experiment, you did seem like a contradiction.  I 
> personally would not, were I living in a cohousing community, as I hope 
> to, or living elsewhere, begrudge someone of their Armani clothes (I 
> think that was the brand you spoke of) and their fancy cars.  What I 
> minded was the more than slight hint that you would want to also ignore 
> the kind neigbhorliness that I think is so much a part of the cohousing 
> ethic.
> 
> As a child in a small lower-middle class urban neighborhood, where NO ONE 
> was well off, and no one knew about the concept of community, neighbors 
> helped neighbors and shared their goods to some extent.  If you were sick 
> they looked in on you.  Brought you flowers and food.  Some did more.  
> Much more.  But the fellow you portrayed in your experiment didn't seem 
> like he'd do that sort of thing.  I'm not talking her of giving his 
> Mercedes Benz away either.
> 
> I'm offended by your fantasy.  I'm offended by your experimenting on me.  
> And I don't think you "proved" anything by your so-called experiment.  
> Nothing, except something not real attractive or cogent about you.
> 
> Judith Wisdom
>