Once people accepted that there were certain other who were able to go certain places and have certain things that they don't, and that was simply the way it was.We don't accept that today. Privilege is for everyone. (Ken Dryden, The Game, pp.301)
He's talking about hockey games here, but it certainly applies to all sorts of aspects of Western life. It's an unsustainable pattern of consumption that pervades our culture, and perpetrated, at least in part by our cities and patterns of development. How and at what point do we interrupt those patterns?
Can we disrupt the system that privileges not just elite people, but elite attitudes?, where if you deserve it whether you can afford it or not. This is at the root of the next oncoming financial crisis - spending above our means, but at the same time the choice to do things cheaper or more simply becomes harder and less apparent. Strikes me as a conundrum of the American Dream mentality: there is a hierarchy built into the system that is self-sustaining - in the same way a pyramid scheme is self sustaining. It's called keeping up with the Jones', but this doesn't even imply a conscious effort.
Suburban development is the low-hanging fruit in this argument: big house and a big yard beget a certain lifestyle. Equally though, the patterns of downtown development are aligned to support the same goals and attitiudes. Urban living is pitched as a money-saving, time-saving endeavour - the up front costs are greater (per square foot) but the time you save and access to all the amenities (including pro hockey) is priceless.
Now I'm just going to post this half-baked for posterity. "Better than nothing", says my new social regime...
