No, it's not just you — people really are, per a number of surveys, way less intelligent than they used to be.
  • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    43·
    3 days ago

    …Yeah? At least I don’t think I do. English is my second language so maybe I’m missing some nuance here, but no I have never heard of a “community” IRL.

    A community to me is just members of something like an online forum or a subreddit or subscribers of a content creator. Though the last one is a stretch, since they don’t talk to each other usually. I’m not that young either, I remember being on IRC back in the day and I’d call that a community.

    People I know IRL are disparate acquaintances and friends and friends of friends, none of them know each other or share anything in common or any desire to know anyone, I met them on dating apps mostly and through people I met on dating apps, so I don’t think that’s a “community”.

    People at work are coworkers, prisoners of wage slavery assigned to the same cell so that’s not it. Neighbours are just people forced to cohabit nearby due to finite amounts of land, you’re usually either enemies with them or on friendly terms, but you wouldn’t speak to them unless there was something you needed, so that’s not community.

    Most of the time I hear “community” it’s a dogwhistle meant to make something sound more polite than “people” so e.g. “LGBTQ community” - there is no such thing, it’s just people, but no one would read articles saying “LGBTQ people fight for rights” because that sounds too sad, so they say “community” or e.g. “migrant community”. It’s a euphemism.

    • Infynis@midwest.socialEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      Interesting. Well, community is a common word lol

      It’s usually used to refer, non-specifically, to people that live around you. You’ll see it in places like “community gardens” or “community centers”. The usage on the Internet is pretty recent, linguistically, obviously lol

      • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        1·
        3 days ago

        See that’s counter-intuitive to me because doesn’t it usually imply some level of knowledge of the people or at least something you have in common?

        I don’t know them, I’ve never seen any of them more than once, I’ve never spoken to or been spoken to by them anywhere I lived, because people IRL generally keep to themselves and just talking to random strangers is pretty weird all in all.

        With your usage of the word “community” in “community centre” i just figured it’s an extremely old timey generic way to generically refer to a settlement, including cities, towns, residential areas/neighbourhoods, districts, zones, boroughs, areas and other localities that’s fallen out of use.

        In that case I’m not sure how I’m meant to interpret @AnIndefiniteArticle’s usage of the word, because I don’t know how someone can destroy the social fabric of random collections of actual strangers on the street lol, there isn’t any, they’re just randoms on about their day.

        • Infynis@midwest.socialEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          …doesn’t it usually imply…something you have in common?

          Yes. That you live in the same area. You have the same elected representatives, you use the same public services, you shop at the same stores, you live with the same stakes. That’s why people say you need to get involved in your community. Whether or not you acknowledge it, you’re part of it

          Edit: to add, “community center” probably sounds old-fashioned to you, because of what they were talking about:

          it’s hard to get anyone to be willing to be remotely friendly or willing to admit that they are destroying the social fabric of their own Communities.

          Getting rid of places where you can engage with your community has been part of this effort. Community centers are run by local governments, and are often one of the first things conservatives try to cut