Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Did your community celebrate last night?

[Yisraela (yisraela_hc]

i am sorry. . . Can someone tell me how to unsubscribe from this list? Thanks

Tim Mensch wrote: 
> Ann Zabaldo wrote:
>> Is there room for conservatives in cohousing?  Or are we islands of  
>> liberal/progressive thought?  (Not saying this is "bad" or "wrong." --  
>> just curious ...)
>>   
> I think that the "conservative/liberal" label makes the question too 
> simplistic. People are complicated, and as much as we like to assign 
> simple categories, it's not that easy. See http://politicalcompass.org/ 
> for one interpretation of political philosophy as two axes instead of 
> the traditional one conservative/liberal axis. I've talked with some 
> friends about their beliefs that indicate that even two axes may not be 
> enough.
> I do believe that people in cohousing (at least cohousing that works in 
> the ways I've imagined and experienced it) need to prefer what George 
> Lakoff calls the "Nurturing Parent" frame of thinking. Anyone who wants 
> to understand why Democrats were failing for so long, or rather why the 
> Republicans were succeeding, should read his book, "Don't Think of an 
> Elephant." It's seriously eye-opening.
> In brief, Lakoff believes that the two "frames" that people can see the 
> world from are the "Strict Father" frame, where a moral leader that you 
> follow without questioning is important, and people who don't should be 
> punished (think Arnold Schwarzenegger), versus the "Nurturing Parent" 
> frame, where the parents (or the government) tries to guide and help 
> their children (or the citizens) and protect them from harm.
> In broad strokes, Lakoff claims that folks who fall in the conservative 
> camp tend to think of politics in the Strict Father frame, where people 
> in the liberal camp tend to think of politics in the Nurturing Parent 
> frame. This is also probably too simplistic, but Lakoff argues 
> convincingly that these two frames can explain at least to a first 
> approximation the sometimes contradictory differences between liberals 
> and conservatives--things like why "pro-life" and "pro-death-penalty" 
> can be rationally supported by the same person. It's possible to apply 
> different frames to different aspects of your life (politics, family, 
> job, etc.), so it's likely also possible that even in one person the two 
> frames can be applied differently to different issues, which may explain 
> the other variations.
> Clearly (at least it seems to me) one needs to be at least comfortable 
> with expressing the Nurturing Parent frame to do well in cohousing. I 
> mean, who is the moral leader of a cohousing community? (Unless it's 
> affiliated, officially or not, with a religion and has an implicit moral 
> leader?) In the Strict Father frame, people are more comfortable either 
> leading or being told what to do, and in no cohousing community have I 
> experienced many people who like to be told what to do. :)
> Maybe I'm wrong, or making too much of a leap here, but it at least 
> feels intuitively correct. And this may be the underlying reason that 
> cohousing has attracted more people who describe themselves as "liberal" 
> than "conservative." Not that cohousing dictates politics, or even that 
> the current groups are liberal and therefore don't mix well with 
> conservatives, but that the frame you need to be comfortable seeing the 
> world from, which tends to dictate your politics, also colors your 
> decision to join cohousing.
> Thoughts? Or is everyone sick of talking about the politics of 
> cohousing? :) I'm hoping this is enough of a new angle that people find 
> it relevant, anyway. :)
> -- 
> Tim Mensch
> No longer living in cohousing, and instead trying out Superbia.
> Disclaimer: I strongly supported Obama, and though I didn't explcitly 
> celebrate, I was very relieved to see him elected, and would have probably 
> celebrated if I were still in cohousing.
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