Shower thought: while Gofundme is probably generally a good thing, it really relies on commodifying one's situation to meet a new market for community participation as a kind of luxury good literally purchased in dollars
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I know *a lot* of culturally and intellectually secular people who are adopting religion just to have some semblance of a safety net built on being seen, understood and cared for as an individual rather than just being a diligent taxpayer or someone who constantly upskillshttps://twitter.com/HelloShreyas/status/1287522332890865665 …
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Volunteerism is typically pretty good for people and a lot closer to the mark, but it still relies on a very clear persisting distinction between "helper" and "helped" that doesn't seem to be so readily salient in the healthiest families/friendships/microcommunities
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People seem a lot better off when the ways they give help and receive help are fluid and generally nonmonetary, such that they don't have to allow themselves to be bilked by consistent game-players or feel like they're a "drain" on some system themselves
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Disclaimer: most things/services that people need can be bought with money. Trade is not bad. Money is not bad. Donating money is not bad. It's very good! I just think a lot of people are running up against the challenges of overly explicitly/scalably organizing social primates
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Do you think it also works in the other direction, too? It seems to me one thing functioning communities have is legible opportunities for successful people to be seen as being pillars w/o having to spend brainsweat on moral entrepreneurship. Car dealer buys church a roof, etc.
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(I’d note that there are all sorts of these things, including non-monetary ways to climb the status or warm fuzzy ladders, such as “The person everyone knows will always make themselves available to sing for a funeral no matter how little notice is available.”)
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Super unrelatable to me, just as a data point. I’ve been a member of a synagogue for years but for different reasons. What you’re talking about sounds like a nightmare.
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Most people in this situation I've talked to are unmarried men with no children, fwiw
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It seems there is a huge niche to be filled with a secular replacement for religion. Something with the community aspect, acknowledgment of your humanity and worth, rituals and celebrations, but without the mysticism. I hope a humanist version will emerge at some point.
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Perhaps the concept of surrogate/chosen family could use stronger representation in secular spaces. If you go to church, you get called "brother" or "sister" by people who you haven't even met. Secular communities seem much more reserved about this.
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