Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Diversity, what diversity?

[Tony G. Rocco (tgr]

The different strokes for different folks argument about cohousing is all 
well and good, but I think it highly ironic that people look to cohousing 
to isolate themselves from the people they don't like, and to surround 
themselves with people just like themselves.

The appeal and advantage that cohousing (intentional communities, etc.) 
offers lies in its potential for breaking down the isolation and alienation 
of contemporary urban and suburban American society, and to replace it 
with community. I repeat: breaking down barriers by creating community 
among ALL kinds of people is the greatest single potential benefit of 
cohousing, in my view.

To use cohousing as just another way for people to isolate themselves 
from one another based on class, politics, religion, or even more 
ludicrously, the food they eat, is a perversion of the spirit of cohousing 
and completely self-defeating. That's why I "go ballistic" when I hear all 
the exclusionary rhetoric that seems to get bandied about by cohousers 
and intentional communitarians. I absolutely can't stand it.

Give me a community with all kinds of people. Don't even tell me what 
they think, believe, do in their bedrooms, pray to, or eat, 'cause I don't 
give a damn. The point is that we can all work together to build 
community, and that we can all learn to live together peacefully, 
pleasantly, and supportively regardless of our differences.

- Tony