Bring back the town hall meeting! In our ever increasing electronic world humanity has fell quite literally out of touch with humanity. We now shake hands electronically. We sign our new mortgage loans electronically. We “friend” people over the internet, people we may have never met, perhaps people we knew years ago. Many of us will go for days without any real human contact. Of course we see people at work everyday but are these actually people we would share our true feelings with face to face? How many times have you pictured the new Norman Rockwell portrait with everyone sitting around texting others who aren’t even in the room? The new American, even the new international family fits this description quite nicely.

We take pictures of everything! Literally everything since now we no longer have to go to photomat. We can delete what we don’t like, enhance what we want click and send! Look at all the cat and dog pictures! Our new celebrated celebrities. Most of us don’t go for a single day without giggling at some newfangled animal in the perfect ridiculous pose for our amusement. Hell we’ve even replaced the need for human contact to an alarming degree. Sex? Yes of course! Just seek out your new electronic fantasy the venues are virtually limitless. No birth control necessary, no awkward moments the next morning, free from STDs and any emotional investment.

We seek and choose our news. Don’t bring us down with the real world. We need our paradoxical utopia. Please don’t unplug our game! We have important tasks to complete! We started sorting those bricks, killing those aliens and eating those ghosts and now we are killing mutant zombies, destroying hostile villages and tilling imaginary fields vicariously living our existence in fantastical imaginary cities. Life is wonderful, life is great, our painless reality why should we wait? Disconnected? Not at all! Just pick up the controller and join the ball!

Which brings us to our inherent loneliness. Our huge disconnect with the physical world. We ignore reality at our own peril. Bring back the town meeting. We need face to face contact and human interaction. We need oxytocin. We need to feel like a valuable part of something but not electronically. If we don’t seek to embrace each other in the true physical sense our world is in serious peril. Sure our vicarious existences can be very cool but in the long run we need the real embrace of true friends! Bring back recess to our grade schools first thing in the mornings. Let the kids run around and interact with each other before sitting them in a chair. Watch the incidence of ADD go down, naturally!

We disagree with each other all the time. In our electronic world we bitch and insult constantly. How much more might we accomplish by coming face to face to discuss our differences? We need to break down our huge disconnect with other people living in different ways. After all is said and done we are quite human everyone. This of course comes with quirks and limitations but it’s better to recognize them and deal with them than to pretend that they don’t exist and continue to ignore each other. The human condition should be a cause to gather and celebrate rather than one to build walls and destroy. Spread the Word!

“Share your opinion. Don’t be shy. Just pick up a Dr. Seuss book and bastardize it to make your speech. Can’t think of anything creative? Just choose you own reality. Ignore the scientific facts.” — Jake Shween

“Criticism is always easier than constructive solutions.” — Jaron Lanier

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