what would it feel like to live in an undivided society?

[grasswire]

I can't even imagine all the ways life would be different or better and how I would feel each day waking up and going about business.

A society in which there were clear goals structured for the common good? In which the social contract was intact? In which news organizations did not pit one faction against each other because to do so would be unthinkable?

Was there ever such a place?

Could modern America ever be that place?

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. It would feel like totalitarianism

Perhaps that would be better than this fascism we live in currently, perhaps not.

[cemaphonic]

4. It would probably be racially/ethnicly homogenous too.

And have a strongly enforced social conformity.

No thanks.

[Cronus Protagonist]

18. Yup. When I hear "unity", a feeling of dread wells up inside

I'll have nothing to do with such a flawed and evil concept.

[Echo In Light]

2. "Propaganda is to democracy what violence is to a totalitarian state" Chomsky

[smalll]

3. Um,

[scheming daemons]

5. It would suck.... it would be like a cult...

... it would feel like a southern baptist church service 24/7.

[liberal N proud]

6. Democracy requires opposing views.

You wouldn't like the your version of Utopia.

[LeftinOH]

7. Its called North Korea -n/t

[OHdem10]

8. The Common good is a four letter word to the GOP and there are

DUers who cringe when some of us have used it.

No conflict might prove to be too boring.

Conservative Rugged Individualism versus Progressive Common Good is
the way our country will be for a long long time.

Progressives have to step up to the plate and fight and I mean
fight for the Common GOOD. The constant rolling over and caving
in to the Right just makes them more boisterous. You know how it
is with bullies. If Progessives put up a hard fight, this would
do more for compromise and a more peaceful country.

[tblue]

9. Has there ever been one?

Don't think we'd like it and it certainly wouldn't last. Think of the Jews in Germany who had to hold Shabbat in secret.

On the other hand, the idea of certain states seceding doesn't sound entirely unreasonable to me. Some huge swaths of our country are a tremendous cultural drag on the rest of us. If we could just excise those pockets, let them keep their unrestricted guns and their Bible verses on their state house, and their Flintstones-nostalgic amusement parks, it'd be okay by me.

[Kermitt Gribble]

11. "Flintstones-nostalgic amusement parks"

:rofl:

[Kermitt Gribble]

10. I don't know...

Wouldn't you miss making fun of all the freeperisms?

I guess people have different ideas about the "common good". Most conservatives don't comprehend that bettering society as a whole improves the quality of their own lives, as well. All they care about is me, me, me.

[Prism]

12. It would be oppressive

Think of all the artists and thinkers who were great and changed society for the better even though their ideas went against the prevailing grain. A uniform society would not allow for that kind of progress. Volatility is one of our strengths.

[grasswire]

13. a lot of people misunderstand what I mean

Why would there need to be conformity? All I said was "undivided" people considering the need of each one individual as part of the common good.

How could there be totalitarianism if there are no oppressors?

[MissMarple]

15. You mean like Sweden or Denmark?

That they are small and much more homogeneous helps a lot. We have a long way to go before we can be anything like that. We are still fighting the Civil War. Most of us have no idea what the U.S. Constitution is really about, and others just want to shred it. And, overall, our education system sucks.

[anigbrowl]

22. That's not what you expected, but that's how it often actually turns out

I don't think people were being snide when they suggested you look at North Korea. Read the history of the country, or that of China under Mao. When enough of a country is sold on a particular idea, disagreement can easily become mistaken for disloyalty. Look at how intense disagreements can get on DU, and then consider that such bitterness exists in a free and open society. Then, re-evaluate your visions of national unity. Utopian plans usually turn out quite differently from the way they are intended to.

[MissMarple]

14. That would be "Utopia". It would be boring, and it doesn't exist.

Thank God.

Working with people is a messy business, it just is. It's in our nature, some more so than others.

[Greyhound]

16. Borg. n/t

[stray cat]

17. Afghanistan - no divisions just punishment if you don't follow their law

[Brigid]

19. In a word:

Boring.

[Sinti]

20. I don't think people are responding to the intent of your question

I think you mean if the propagandists didn't create and exploit the divisions in our society, i.e. wedge issues.

If we all wanted all of us to succeed, have a decent life, secure that our families would be fed and housed, secure that our companies were actually providing a public good - versus just trying to suck money from the system, secure that our politicians actually cared about our well being, or could be tossed for being selfish ... in some shamanic cultures, some of us would call them uncivilized, the number one thing that could be called "crime" is being greedy. Imagine that. if you won't share, there's something wrong with you and you need to be schooled by the elders. Greed kills the whole tribe eventually.

I think we'd be extremely productive, happy, and healthy. Anyplace could be that place, but you have to create it in the minds of men first. Imagine how much farther we'd be technologically if we actually supported and encouraged every mind on the planet.

I have a feeling we got to this weird, psychotic, man-hunting place because of really horrible hard choices that had to be made during the ice age. Imagine living in one of those shamanic cultures and, due to lack of food, having to choose who gets to eat and who does not. It must have been really harrowing to watch the weak starve, so the tribe could survive. I think something like this would have created an incredible mental illness, that gets passed along even into the modern age. I have absolutely no evidence for this, but it makes sense to me.

We are not lone hunters like tigers, we are not technically parasites, yet we do things that both of these types of creatures do. It must have some origin.

[grasswire]

21. thank you (eom)