- Joined
- Feb 10, 2020
Wanted to start a discussion about the third places thing that's been in the zeitgeist for some time now. Third places are social settings separate from your home and place of work (the first and second places, respectively.) People (mostly leftists and zoomers) are quick to repeat the narrative that there are no more third places, or that they're dwindling, or that the existing ones aren't enough/have changed somehow, and I'm not so sure about that. I think perhaps the issue is overblown, or maybe the issue is something they can't name and can't differentiate from what they think the problem is.
The reason it's an issue at all is because everyone has become shut-ins who do everything online, especially after the pandemic. Doing everything online is "convenient," but it also makes people go insane. So you want to get outside and Do Things, okay, go to a restaurant, a bar, a mall, a museum, a concert, a convention, all of these places let you show up and congregate and meet new people. But that's not enough for these types, they narrow it down further to places that don't require a purchase AND places that don't require a car to get to. While that really limits things, there are still parks, playgrounds, the woods, bike trails, libraries, churches, community centers, small-time museums that don't typically charge admission, and fwiw shopping malls don't require a purchase. You can just show up and hang out all day and not buy anything, it's not illegal. But none of these are good enough, apparently, and my question is why not?
I think maybe the issue they notice but aren't able to discern, is that these "perfect" third places are usually full of drug addicts, criminals, and the homeless. They also don't have money or a car, and will spend all day somewhere that will let them get out of the weather, but they inevitably fuck up the place. There's a homeless man sleeping under the playground structure who threatens people with a knife if they get too close, there's a camp in the woods that will mug you if you pass by, the library is full of screaming-ass kids whose mom dumped them there because she can't afford to do anything else with them during the summer. They shit in your church's nice chairs, they threaten you or beg you for money or trap you and make you listen to their schizo ramblings, and now suddenly all these nice third places that were hyped up are unsafe and everyone knows not to go there, so they get abandoned and neglected. Or the place fights back and now there's hostile architecture and NOBODY can sit, NOBODY can hang out all day, NOBODY can use the bathroom or get a drink of water or get out of the weather because SOMEBODY did and took advantage of it and nobody wants that in their building.
But nobody can acknowledge that. There's this weird leftist idealization of society where everywhere is safe, everyone gets along, and issues are only caused by The Man being Mean For No Reason. It's optimistic, but fucking frustrating when you're living in reality and the person you're talking to clearly isn't. It's like they see the world as a child, it's all friendly and happy and nothing bad happens unless you go ridiculously far out of your way, but that's not real. I think there'd be more "third places" if the other social problems were dealt with, but these same people can't seem to acknowledge that it's an issue. They either can't see it, which I doubt, or they won't see it. There's this weird liberal fear I've been noticing where they don't see the "things that never happen" (dangerous homeless, pervy troons, woke pandering, you name it) because if they see it, it makes them a bad person, thus worthy of being excommunicated, and I think this fear keeps them from actually solving the issues that they're upset about.
They SAY they're upset that there are no more third places, but I think what they're really upset about is the third places that have always existed aren't immediately accessible (either because they can't drive, have no money, or are full of dangerous people.) Actual solutions would be to learn to drive, get a job, and find a way to deal with the homeless (easier said than done, I know,) but it looks like the solution they've chosen is "bitch on the Internet," which is SO helpful /sneed.
So what do you guys think? Let's talk about it. Or if there are examples of people bitching about the third place thing, post it below.
The reason it's an issue at all is because everyone has become shut-ins who do everything online, especially after the pandemic. Doing everything online is "convenient," but it also makes people go insane. So you want to get outside and Do Things, okay, go to a restaurant, a bar, a mall, a museum, a concert, a convention, all of these places let you show up and congregate and meet new people. But that's not enough for these types, they narrow it down further to places that don't require a purchase AND places that don't require a car to get to. While that really limits things, there are still parks, playgrounds, the woods, bike trails, libraries, churches, community centers, small-time museums that don't typically charge admission, and fwiw shopping malls don't require a purchase. You can just show up and hang out all day and not buy anything, it's not illegal. But none of these are good enough, apparently, and my question is why not?
I think maybe the issue they notice but aren't able to discern, is that these "perfect" third places are usually full of drug addicts, criminals, and the homeless. They also don't have money or a car, and will spend all day somewhere that will let them get out of the weather, but they inevitably fuck up the place. There's a homeless man sleeping under the playground structure who threatens people with a knife if they get too close, there's a camp in the woods that will mug you if you pass by, the library is full of screaming-ass kids whose mom dumped them there because she can't afford to do anything else with them during the summer. They shit in your church's nice chairs, they threaten you or beg you for money or trap you and make you listen to their schizo ramblings, and now suddenly all these nice third places that were hyped up are unsafe and everyone knows not to go there, so they get abandoned and neglected. Or the place fights back and now there's hostile architecture and NOBODY can sit, NOBODY can hang out all day, NOBODY can use the bathroom or get a drink of water or get out of the weather because SOMEBODY did and took advantage of it and nobody wants that in their building.
But nobody can acknowledge that. There's this weird leftist idealization of society where everywhere is safe, everyone gets along, and issues are only caused by The Man being Mean For No Reason. It's optimistic, but fucking frustrating when you're living in reality and the person you're talking to clearly isn't. It's like they see the world as a child, it's all friendly and happy and nothing bad happens unless you go ridiculously far out of your way, but that's not real. I think there'd be more "third places" if the other social problems were dealt with, but these same people can't seem to acknowledge that it's an issue. They either can't see it, which I doubt, or they won't see it. There's this weird liberal fear I've been noticing where they don't see the "things that never happen" (dangerous homeless, pervy troons, woke pandering, you name it) because if they see it, it makes them a bad person, thus worthy of being excommunicated, and I think this fear keeps them from actually solving the issues that they're upset about.
They SAY they're upset that there are no more third places, but I think what they're really upset about is the third places that have always existed aren't immediately accessible (either because they can't drive, have no money, or are full of dangerous people.) Actual solutions would be to learn to drive, get a job, and find a way to deal with the homeless (easier said than done, I know,) but it looks like the solution they've chosen is "bitch on the Internet," which is SO helpful /sneed.
So what do you guys think? Let's talk about it. Or if there are examples of people bitching about the third place thing, post it below.
