Community is Most Important Thing We Have

Why do I feel alone? And why is it Ronald Reagan’s fault?

ZOË MEYER

I have been obsessively watching every single Josh Johnson comedy special on YouTube that I can get my hands on. In his most recent video, the The Daily Show host talked about how to survive a recession, mostly exclusively about how community is the only thing that will save us. Your neighbor is the most important part of any struggle. His monologue perfectly blended his wittiness with important resistance-building teachings.

This concept has been on my mind a lot in the past few years as I moved away from home, found friends, lost friends, went through a major breakup, found new roommates, and so much more. I have been slowly realizing that the people I surround myself with are the single most important part of my life.

This led me to the questions of, why is community so important and why is it so hard to find? Well, the United States is one of the most individualistic countries in the world, and it can mostly be boiled down to Ronald Reagan’s presidency and policies (key word mostly, but it’s more fun to blame him entirely).

Many equate the birth of neoliberalism to Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher (our favorite evil geniuses). This word is thrown around all the time, but what does it actually mean, and how does it connect to community building?

Neoliberalism is “a political approach that favors free-market capitalism, deregulation, and reduction in government spending.” This “deregulation” and “free-market” nonsense comes on the back of many government subsidies, but that is an entirely different conversation. The social implications of neoliberal capitalism is the destruction of community and the promotion of the individual. The entire philosophy is based on the idea that competition is the driving factor of human interaction when sociology has shown us this is historically untrue.

Capitalism and corporations rely on people feeling isolated and individualistic. They create problems and drive solutions of individual actions to solve those issues. No one person is going to solve the climate crisis, no one person is going to create less income inequality in this country—yet those are the solutions capitalism feeds us. That drives the competition they want, and shifts the focus away from their evils. Learn your neighbors’ names, borrow a stick of butter from them. Invite your friends over to help you move. Ask a coworker to drive you to the airport. Ask your community for these favors rather than play into the capitalist ideologies that you are an inconvenience, and paying a random stranger is in your better interest.

This article was originally going to be about women’s sports (classic Zoë article), however I realized the thing I loved the most about women’s sports, both as an athlete and now as a fan, is the community. My basketball team was the single most important way for me to build relationships and community as a kid. I became friends with people I never would have met, created bonds with kids and adults alike, and learned so many intangible skills I would not have received in other places.

As an adult, I have continued to find solace within the Women’s sports community. Last week I was at A Bar Of Our Own, the women’s sports bar in Seward, and the community I felt there was electric. I knew no one besides my three friends, and yet every time our team scored we all cheered. There were high fives, smiles, and commentary being shared across the bar from one stranger to another. I felt such a connection to people I never talked to and will probably never talk to again. So yes, there is something radical about going to watch sports with your friends.

However, it is also important to remind ourselves that entertainment is not going to be the thing that liberates us. Joy and love is important, and is the thing that should fuel our activism. But it is not the only thing needed. Community education (not just education on the individual level) will be the thing that creates real change. Read books! Take hard classes! Find community organizations to join! Talk to your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers and everyone else about the hard topics. Call out people when they say something weird, recommend books or movies to watch, listen to people about their experiences and their opinions.

The balance between continuing to fight and seeking joy can be hard to find. But what’s most important is to fight for those you love, and fight for those that are around you. So go riot during the day, and dance your little heart out at night. The way to keep fighting is to uplift the people around you so they can help uplift you.