Practicing Practices
From Internet: Knowledge and Community
- Hoyle Hodges
- INTERNET: Knowledge and Community
- Response for 12 January 2011
- Practicing Practices
We have been practiced in the politics of alienation, separation, and blocked initiatives rather than in any “practices of commitment” which might give us the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. (Kemmis pg 73) The author when he is talking about “Practices” is those things that many people do together in a civic like minded way to accomplish a goal. Examples such as barn building, softball leagues, sailing races, book clubs, or any of the thousands of things humans do together are the building blocks that teach us to speak and act in a truly public way. When we gather together for these practices we drawn by certain core values of excellence that all members of that particular community strive for. It develops a character that values and understands that individual success is dependent on the common good. MacIntyre describes them as the virtues of justice, courage and honesty (Kemmis pg 76) Kemmis goes on to explain that there must be something solid, real, in his words concrete, specific, and tangible (Kemmis 78) to establish the type of practices that encourage and teach people to behave in a public way. As we as a society and a culture become more digitized and further removed from accomplishing physical tasks and things, it follows that it will become even more difficult for individuals and groups on opposite sides of issues will be able to gain the common ground so necessary for true progress. His insights on inhabiting a place vs. living in an environment are critical to fully understanding how practices develop within groups and communities. I believe this line of thinking has much more value for our society and the development of a public life than Oldenburg’s Third Place or lack of neighborhood taverns. Practices as defined by Kemmis are going to be critical to society as we march further down the Internet road. I think Wikipedia and projects like it are a good example of a practice with a value on excellence and the ability to teach and encourage the needed virtues of its members to achieve a real and tangible goal in the virtual world as a community actively engaged in a public life.
