Quotes About Community

the evening crowd on University Avenue appeared to be living in an earlier American era, one lacking desperation, hysteria, and Fox News.

under suitable conditions, cooperation can indeed emerge in a world of egoists without central authority. To

Normal science," Kuhn writes about the limitations of such scientific belief systems, "the activity in which most scientists inevitably spend almost all their time, is predicated on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like.

Our core identity—the most precious legacy we have been given by the generations who came before us—is the ideals we share, the good we hold in common. If we are losing our national identity, it is not because we are becoming browner or speak in more languages than we once did. It is because we are losing our sense of the common good.

Patriotism based on the common good does not pander to divisiveness. True patriots don't fuel racist or religious or ethnic divisions. They aren't homophobic or sexist or racist. To the contrary, true patriots confirm the good that we have in common. They seek to strengthen and celebrate the "We" in "We the people.

We can help restore the common good by striving for it and showing others it's worth the effort.

But in modern America we often shame the wrong people. Instead of deterring behavior that undermines the common good, shame is too often deployed against people who don't fit in—to ostracize them even further.

them. In this way, civic trust is self-enforcing and self-perpetuating. As James Madison put it when advocating the Bill of Rights, the mere knowledge of its existence would "extinguish from the bosom of every member of the community any apprehensions, that there are those among his countrymen who wish to deprive them of the liberty for which they valiantly fought and honorably bled.

As more windows shatter, other aspects of community life also start unraveling. The unspoken norm becomes: Do whatever you want here because everyone else is doing it.

Rather than come together for the common good, we come together to get the best possible deal. We're clustering by income—attracting members who can contribute the most while excluding those who are more costly.

The idea of "the common good" was once widely understood and accepted in America. After all, the U.S. Constitution was designed for "We the people" seeking to "promote the general welfare"—not for "me the selfish jerk seeking as much wealth and power as possible.

A concern for the common good—keeping the common good in mind—is a moral attitude. It recognizes that we're all in it together. If there is no common good, there is no society.

Rand, Nozick, and their more modern incarnations are dangerously wrong. Not only does the common good exist, but it is essential for a society to function. Without voluntary adherence to a set of common notions about right and wrong, daily life would be insufferable. We would be living in a jungle where only the strongest, cleverest, and most wary could hope to survive. This would not be a society. It wouldn't even be a civilization, because there would be no civility at its core.

Without voluntary adherence to a set of common notions about right and wrong, daily life would be insufferable. We would be living in a jungle where only the strongest, cleverest, and most wary could hope to survive. This would not be a society. It wouldn't even be a civilization, because there would be no civility at its core.

I believe we're bound together by the ideals and principles we share, and the mutual obligations those principles entail.

All things being equal, you root for your own sex, your own culture, your own locality…and what you want to prove is that you are better than the other person. Whomever you root for represents you; and when he wins, you win."88

Once again we can see that social proof is most powerful for those who feel unfamiliar or unsure in a specific situation and who, consequently, must look outside of themselves for evidence of how best to behave there.

WHO WE ARE IS WHERE WE ARE Whenever

when we are uncertain, we are willing to place an enormous amount of trust in the collective knowledge of the crowd.

It states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct.

All things being equal, you root for your own sex, your own culture, your own locality…and what you want to prove is that you are better than the other person. Whomever you root for represents you; and when he wins, you win.

Así pues, solemos seguir la corriente de aquellas personas de nuestro entorno a las que nos parecemos.

Si no tenemos paz es porque hemos olvidado que nos pertenecemos unos a otros.

Un resultado interesante de este proceso es que los niños que ven que sus padres abren sus casas a diferentes personas, será muy probable que, cuando lleguen a adultos, ayuden a otros.