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Auntie writes:<BR>
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"What our proximity to one another does is make us more cautious about leveling criticism."<BR>
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Judging from the flamings between locals on V2020, I wonder how true this really is. <BR>
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Maybe the assumption we know each other better leads to less fear about what will happen if we criticize each other, because we may assume there is less danger of someone going psycho than there is in a big city. <BR>
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I am also not so sure about the assumption we really know each other better in a small town than in a big city. The populations of small towns often assume they know each other better, and this quick, easy assumption can lead to incomplete or stereotyped notions about who others are. Then people get trapped in rigid oversimplified stereotypes that become how someone is seen, leading to less real understanding of who that person is in their totality, stereotypes that do not allow for change.<BR>
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How many people flee small towns because they feel misunderstood with little hope for this to change? You can find a thousand novels and songs based on this theme.<BR>
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Ted<BR>
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