I love this reframing and think it applies broadly to so much of our daily life. We don't necessarily love highly processed foods- we literally don't know any alternative. We don't love our careers but can't imagine making money outside of our chosen field (or even questioning the value of money at all). When somebody presents an accessible, viable alternative, we suddenly can't live without it, but we can't always imagine the alternative on our own.
"When somebody presents an accessible, viable alternative, we suddenly can't live without it, but we can't always imagine the alternative on our own."
YES. That's my whole point that sometimes some people think is alleging false consciousness or telling people they don't know what's best for themselves. All I'm saying is, if you've ever said "No I don't want that...oh wait, I love it!" and you've never lived in a place like what I describe re urbanism, you really, truly can't know whether or not you like it.
Perfect put about daily life and the built environment.
I also think about this concept a TON in relation to careers and ways of making a living. Many people grew up around one thing (maybe professional, white-collar class) and never saw alternatives (trades, entrepreneurship, etc.) —For others, maybe it’s the opposite.— We need to see the example before we can even desire it’s an existing option to consider! We don’t know what we don’t know.
And creating the alternative preferences "from scratch" rather than being inducted into them is SO MUCH harder! I think of the "cook like your grandmother" trope that gets handed around in natural food circles. I don't know how my grandmother cooked. And my mom relied very heavily on TV dinners and meals-in-a-box. So, when I decided I didn't want to eat so much processed food, I had to learn to cook from scratch without any real idea of what that was supposed to look like at first.
But for my kids, they KNOW what this kind of food looks like - and how to cook some of it! It's much easier to build on a foundation that is familiar.
The same thing is true of urbanism, or living car-free/car-lite. Once you KNOW how to do it, it feels easy. But that is hard to communicate to someone who has never seen it before.
This is a fascinating thought experiment. Keep sending out these threads. Some parents in the schoolhouse lineup love their cars. They just washed the red Mazda. They love a purring engine, the assurance of comfort, climate control, splendid brakes, and nimble handling. The cockpit of a new vehicle is an awesome chamber. Especially delightful for a lazy sally across the Great Plains on an empty highway. There's more to America than the schoolhouse pickup line.
Maybe if we designed our communities to be more walkable, this wouldn’t be a problem. The issue is that we always seem to give priority to cars over people, and that’s just wrong on so many levels.
I love this reframing and think it applies broadly to so much of our daily life. We don't necessarily love highly processed foods- we literally don't know any alternative. We don't love our careers but can't imagine making money outside of our chosen field (or even questioning the value of money at all). When somebody presents an accessible, viable alternative, we suddenly can't live without it, but we can't always imagine the alternative on our own.
"When somebody presents an accessible, viable alternative, we suddenly can't live without it, but we can't always imagine the alternative on our own."
YES. That's my whole point that sometimes some people think is alleging false consciousness or telling people they don't know what's best for themselves. All I'm saying is, if you've ever said "No I don't want that...oh wait, I love it!" and you've never lived in a place like what I describe re urbanism, you really, truly can't know whether or not you like it.
Perfect put about daily life and the built environment.
I also think about this concept a TON in relation to careers and ways of making a living. Many people grew up around one thing (maybe professional, white-collar class) and never saw alternatives (trades, entrepreneurship, etc.) —For others, maybe it’s the opposite.— We need to see the example before we can even desire it’s an existing option to consider! We don’t know what we don’t know.
Lifestyles, careers, relationships, spirituality, all of that… if we don't see it on the menu, we’re probably not going to choose it
And creating the alternative preferences "from scratch" rather than being inducted into them is SO MUCH harder! I think of the "cook like your grandmother" trope that gets handed around in natural food circles. I don't know how my grandmother cooked. And my mom relied very heavily on TV dinners and meals-in-a-box. So, when I decided I didn't want to eat so much processed food, I had to learn to cook from scratch without any real idea of what that was supposed to look like at first.
But for my kids, they KNOW what this kind of food looks like - and how to cook some of it! It's much easier to build on a foundation that is familiar.
The same thing is true of urbanism, or living car-free/car-lite. Once you KNOW how to do it, it feels easy. But that is hard to communicate to someone who has never seen it before.
This is a fascinating thought experiment. Keep sending out these threads. Some parents in the schoolhouse lineup love their cars. They just washed the red Mazda. They love a purring engine, the assurance of comfort, climate control, splendid brakes, and nimble handling. The cockpit of a new vehicle is an awesome chamber. Especially delightful for a lazy sally across the Great Plains on an empty highway. There's more to America than the schoolhouse pickup line.
Maybe if we designed our communities to be more walkable, this wouldn’t be a problem. The issue is that we always seem to give priority to cars over people, and that’s just wrong on so many levels.