Community?
I had a bit of an epiphany the other day. It seems bloody obvious now but its one of those things that always been there but you just never saw it if you know what i mean.
There is currently an advert on some buses around london. It has been taken out by the Borough of Walthamstow's council.
It has a the faces of people from different faces next to each other: black, white, asian, chinese, men, women etc. Underneath the picture are the words "225,000 people, 1 community".
I had seen this advert a few times before and i understand they are trying to give a positive image of the borough. But when i saw it a few days ago, i had my epiphany as it were. It is quite simple really.
The advert is wrong. It is NOT a community. It is simply a borough with lots of different races and peoples living there but it most certainly is not a community.
People talk now of community leaders and stuff but it is not realistic. Whenever my area makes it on TV and they talk about the community leaders saying one thing or another, i always think to myself "who are these community leaders and where the hell are they?" I understand that people want to feel that they are part of a community, a sense of community somehow makes people feel slightly more at ease with their surroundings i think. But it is wrong to say that what they did on the advert, it is wrong for the media to say stuff like "people in this community are worried".
There is no community, not here in London. London is a city, a sprawling city with 7m people - 12m if you include the greater london area - and its full of strangers living next to one another. It has its strengths but a community spirit is not one of them.
Communities do exist and are mostly found in villages and perhaps - only perhaps - small towns. In a community, there is a culture shared by everyone. Everything from the way you greet people to the way ceremonies are celebrated is known and performed by everyone within the community.
I grew up in Africa and in my village there is most certainly a community. In a community you know pretty much everyone and there are community leaders. The village elders are pretty much known by everyone and they are respected.
Villages are a community because they are smaller and the population is not very big.
I think people miss the sense of community that perhaps existed in years gone by. Pretending that it still exists when it doesn't is folly IMO. London has a lot of plus points but communities aren't one of them and i think people should be happy with the plus points.
There is currently an advert on some buses around london. It has been taken out by the Borough of Walthamstow's council.
It has a the faces of people from different faces next to each other: black, white, asian, chinese, men, women etc. Underneath the picture are the words "225,000 people, 1 community".
I had seen this advert a few times before and i understand they are trying to give a positive image of the borough. But when i saw it a few days ago, i had my epiphany as it were. It is quite simple really.
The advert is wrong. It is NOT a community. It is simply a borough with lots of different races and peoples living there but it most certainly is not a community.
People talk now of community leaders and stuff but it is not realistic. Whenever my area makes it on TV and they talk about the community leaders saying one thing or another, i always think to myself "who are these community leaders and where the hell are they?" I understand that people want to feel that they are part of a community, a sense of community somehow makes people feel slightly more at ease with their surroundings i think. But it is wrong to say that what they did on the advert, it is wrong for the media to say stuff like "people in this community are worried".
There is no community, not here in London. London is a city, a sprawling city with 7m people - 12m if you include the greater london area - and its full of strangers living next to one another. It has its strengths but a community spirit is not one of them.
Communities do exist and are mostly found in villages and perhaps - only perhaps - small towns. In a community, there is a culture shared by everyone. Everything from the way you greet people to the way ceremonies are celebrated is known and performed by everyone within the community.
I grew up in Africa and in my village there is most certainly a community. In a community you know pretty much everyone and there are community leaders. The village elders are pretty much known by everyone and they are respected.
Villages are a community because they are smaller and the population is not very big.
I think people miss the sense of community that perhaps existed in years gone by. Pretending that it still exists when it doesn't is folly IMO. London has a lot of plus points but communities aren't one of them and i think people should be happy with the plus points.
posted by boy-man at 9:41 am
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