"...supercitizens and spark plugs, no matter how dedicated, should not be used as an excuse for governments to reduce public services, safe in the knowledge that devoted volunteers will compensate for their failings."
This is exactly what the far right conservatives in the US want and are actively pursuing. They've openly said that they want to force public services provided by government onto private civic organizations, especially the evangelical churches. They ignore that the needs are far greater than the churches can handle, even if they wanted to. I see little evidence on the whole that the churches are willing to do that.
Yes, I think it’s possible to amplify the efforts of people who benefit their communities but also ensure that we don’t use them as an excuse to cut government services. Extend the ladder further, but the ladder needs to be put there by the government.
Also masterful job keeping a straight face during your Philomena Cunk interview. I have no idea how you were not overwhelmed with laughter. Awesome show!
I volunteer four hours each week with my local police department. We patrol in a clearly marked “Volunteer” police car and help our residents by looking into issues that don’t require a sworn officer, checking houses when people are on vacation, and just being a friendly connection between the police department and the community. The result for me is I met my two best friends while volunteering with them.
I’m so glad you mentioned Bill McKibben. He is the first person I thought of when I saw this headline. There are people like this in companies, too, that help to keep people connected and have a sense of community. Smart leaders know to reward and recognize these people.
I bought and planted a multitude of trees for my local park, and I look after the tennis courts I play on in that public park. The city has told me that I am an outstanding citizen. No, I am not a supercitizen. I have the time and money-the security to do these things. Most people do not have the security-the time or money to do such things. We lack more citizens that are engaged in community activities because so many of us are financially insecure. They are too busy trying to get ahead or trying to keep their heads above water. We have an economic system that leaves so many insecure and too busy trying to get secure to contribute substantially to community.
I think this is partially true, but I also think that the bar of 1-2 hours per week is actually something that isn’t only possible for most people, but is also something that makes people happier and healthier, which in turn benefits financial prospects. To be honest, the average American spent 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media per day last year. I suspect most people would be much happier if they shaved off 20 minutes of that per day and used the extra time to volunteer 2 hours a week.
Its more than partially true. Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. They don't tend to spend their lives consuming social media they have developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
Suppercitizen falls into the same mythology of the self made great man fallacy. When human beings feel secure and are financially/emotionally secure they are inclined to do generous community building things. All through my life I have been surprised by people who are normally more selfish doing generous acts. But I noted that these were the times they felt secure, secure enough to release their innate generosity. A generosity dying to bust out! When society has people geared for getting more for themselves and never having enough for themselves then we get sick individualism and a lack of community. As Maggie Thatcher put it “there is no such thing as society just individuals” which is true only in economic conditions where so many feel insecure left out and alienated.
My cousin the economist said Glen, it’s the 10 percent rule...10 percent do the volunteer work the rest just follow along. I replied, it's about 10 percent that have that kind of financial/emotional security in our society.
Yes, I think there's a connection to security... But knowing that there are real benefits that come from being a supercitizen could encourage more folks to join the fun.
Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. They don't tend to spend their lives consuming social media they have developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
'...only individuals, and families...'- Maggie's nihilistic outlook, broadly dismissing the past 6000 years.
There are 15 comments here currently, and several fine points, many hovering around 'happy, comfortable citizens do like to help others, and thus they make for a better society, and for better lives'.
Maggie, Ronnie and the neocons think a proper Society is folks pullin' themselves up by their OWN bootstraps. In every which way. Societal Darwinism, period. I, me, mine ( thank you, George Harrison) It's the Right's ideology; it's global; it's selling
Gregg, Brian misses my point and says what I say is partially true. When it certainly is not the whole truth substantially true: Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. Emotionally well people don’t spend hours on social media with its short sensational takes but read long in depth takes on reality using their developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. It begins at home, but it is super reinforced at school. Climb the rungs of hierarchy and grab as much as you can for yourself. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough and indeed more than enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
Apparently,Mankind runs this here planet because of our keen brains, versatile thumbs and our (ongoing, but limited) interest in cooperation. Cooperation= cohesion.
Squatting on that African savannah, 'a number of years back', we learned the value of living as a tribe; hunting as a pack--that involved giving ground on some personal freedoms, but also personally benefiting from that choice. Chose to cooperate? Better food and accomodation can be yours.
But, where did altruism come from?
Indications are that Lucy ( Leakey's Lucy) had a midwife to assist her in giving birth. Why did that individual help her? What was 'in it' for them?? ( famously, this is THE question that trump simply cannot grasp)
Why would she/he have helped someone in distress when they could not derive any personal benefit?
Compassion: 'I understand what is occuring, and that you need help' seems to be the driver.
When and how did we start to have regard ( respect, appreciation, admiration of, love)for others-- others who are not spouses or offspring?
Ostensibly, we're running the show because of our use of Fire, the Wheel....Altruism got us where we are. Cooperation= Cohesion. Compassion= Humanity.
Great article. Thank you! I live on the NH Seacoast and don’t know of any parkrun type events near me. Boston would be a good place, since there are actually a lot of parks to run through. While it’s not parkrun (which sounds absolutely awesome - I’d do it and volunteer), we have a lot of Pub Runs through local running clubs which provide camaraderie and are open to all, but no real supercitizen opportunities. There ARE a lot of trail races and ultramarathons which require a great number of volunteers, and many of those same runners do volunteer there. Especially when the runs benefit local charities.
Talk to people and see if there’s interest if you’re so inclined. The organization provides all the tools and makes it easy. The one I went to this morning had just under 1,000 runners. It’s awesome!
I will do that. The local running group is pretty powerful and I’m not sure how they’d take to “free”, but stranger things have happened! I’m on the board of our city’s running series and have a few contacts I can tap into.
I honestly can’t say enough good things about it. It’s a wonderful hub for a community. It also motivates runners. Because of it, I run a 5k race every week…for free. It’s excellent motivation for training.
Absolutely fascinating. I'd never heard of Philomena Cunk; she's hysterical and you are the perfect straight man. Nor had I heard of parkruns. There's only a couple vaguely near me, not that I can get 5000 FEET, much less kilometers. If I work hard, I could volunteer to be that last in line guy.
Thanks for a post that is both inspiring and mind-blowing.
Do ANY well powered and controlled studies take the form of a trial, and show that engaging in volunteering/community improves lives, health and mental state of people, and that the causality arrow runs in this direction even partially, rather than simply showing that better adjusted, healthier, happier people who are less ground down by life are also more likely to volunteer and contribute simply because they have mental, social and physical resources to do so?
I stopped volunteering recently and I'm also quite depressed, but the latter was definitely more of a cause than effect (tho it's also possible that both resulted from external misfortune that made any extra activity more costly in resources).
Yes, there's a vicious circle to this, because the stopping leads to greater isolation which is obviously and directly making the depression worse, but mostly I think Glen Brown's comment in this thread is spot on. Leaving aside the small minority of people with hard wired sociopathic tendencies, most humans will engage in the community and help others of they feel secure (broadly speaking: not in physical pain, able to travel to the location and procure suitable clothing, material, childcare etc; not worrying constantly about losing the roof over their head or where the next meal comes from) enough to do so.
First off, I’m really sorry to hear that you’re struggling - and I hope it turns around soon!
For your questions: there are a lot of studies that adjust for socioeconomic status, leisure time, demographics, and all the other obvious confounders but I’m not aware of trials, though there may be some. But the adjustment should take care of a lot of the confounding risks. As for the second part, I don’t really think this is right. The US is the richest country in human history - and the overwhelming majority of people don’t have to worry about basic needs (not discounting the scale of severe poverty or grotesque inequality, but most aren’t at the level of basic subsistence) and the vast majority have some capacity for 1-2 hours per week of volunteering, but about 23 percent actually volunteer and it recently reached the lowest level in three decades. And the evidence base is really strong that it does help individuals too, particularly if the person finds the right kind of volunteer work that fits their personality and values. Thanks for the comment - and sorry again to hear you’ve been having such a difficult time.
Just because the United States is the richest country in the world does not mean that it is geared to use its free time healthy. We are a sickly consumer society not a society of engaged citizens. It's Ralph Naders life- long argument. Brian is giving Steven Pinker's positive take on the world. Whereas I see things more like Iain McGilchrist the polymath a English Professor who became a psychiatrist and wrote The Matter With Things: Our brains, Our Delusions and the unmaking of the word. Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. Emotionally well people don’t spend hours on social media with its short sensational takes but read long in depth takes on reality using their developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. It begins at home, but it is super reinforced at school. Climb the rungs of hierarchy and grab as much as you can for yourself. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough and indeed more than enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
"...supercitizens and spark plugs, no matter how dedicated, should not be used as an excuse for governments to reduce public services, safe in the knowledge that devoted volunteers will compensate for their failings."
This is exactly what the far right conservatives in the US want and are actively pursuing. They've openly said that they want to force public services provided by government onto private civic organizations, especially the evangelical churches. They ignore that the needs are far greater than the churches can handle, even if they wanted to. I see little evidence on the whole that the churches are willing to do that.
Yes, I think it’s possible to amplify the efforts of people who benefit their communities but also ensure that we don’t use them as an excuse to cut government services. Extend the ladder further, but the ladder needs to be put there by the government.
Also masterful job keeping a straight face during your Philomena Cunk interview. I have no idea how you were not overwhelmed with laughter. Awesome show!
I volunteer four hours each week with my local police department. We patrol in a clearly marked “Volunteer” police car and help our residents by looking into issues that don’t require a sworn officer, checking houses when people are on vacation, and just being a friendly connection between the police department and the community. The result for me is I met my two best friends while volunteering with them.
That’s awesome. Good for you, Supercitizen!
I’m so glad you mentioned Bill McKibben. He is the first person I thought of when I saw this headline. There are people like this in companies, too, that help to keep people connected and have a sense of community. Smart leaders know to reward and recognize these people.
I bought and planted a multitude of trees for my local park, and I look after the tennis courts I play on in that public park. The city has told me that I am an outstanding citizen. No, I am not a supercitizen. I have the time and money-the security to do these things. Most people do not have the security-the time or money to do such things. We lack more citizens that are engaged in community activities because so many of us are financially insecure. They are too busy trying to get ahead or trying to keep their heads above water. We have an economic system that leaves so many insecure and too busy trying to get secure to contribute substantially to community.
I think this is partially true, but I also think that the bar of 1-2 hours per week is actually something that isn’t only possible for most people, but is also something that makes people happier and healthier, which in turn benefits financial prospects. To be honest, the average American spent 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media per day last year. I suspect most people would be much happier if they shaved off 20 minutes of that per day and used the extra time to volunteer 2 hours a week.
Its more than partially true. Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. They don't tend to spend their lives consuming social media they have developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
Suppercitizen falls into the same mythology of the self made great man fallacy. When human beings feel secure and are financially/emotionally secure they are inclined to do generous community building things. All through my life I have been surprised by people who are normally more selfish doing generous acts. But I noted that these were the times they felt secure, secure enough to release their innate generosity. A generosity dying to bust out! When society has people geared for getting more for themselves and never having enough for themselves then we get sick individualism and a lack of community. As Maggie Thatcher put it “there is no such thing as society just individuals” which is true only in economic conditions where so many feel insecure left out and alienated.
My cousin the economist said Glen, it’s the 10 percent rule...10 percent do the volunteer work the rest just follow along. I replied, it's about 10 percent that have that kind of financial/emotional security in our society.
Yes, I think there's a connection to security... But knowing that there are real benefits that come from being a supercitizen could encourage more folks to join the fun.
Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. They don't tend to spend their lives consuming social media they have developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
'...only individuals, and families...'- Maggie's nihilistic outlook, broadly dismissing the past 6000 years.
There are 15 comments here currently, and several fine points, many hovering around 'happy, comfortable citizens do like to help others, and thus they make for a better society, and for better lives'.
Maggie, Ronnie and the neocons think a proper Society is folks pullin' themselves up by their OWN bootstraps. In every which way. Societal Darwinism, period. I, me, mine ( thank you, George Harrison) It's the Right's ideology; it's global; it's selling
Glen: Bingo.
Gregg, Brian misses my point and says what I say is partially true. When it certainly is not the whole truth substantially true: Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. Emotionally well people don’t spend hours on social media with its short sensational takes but read long in depth takes on reality using their developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. It begins at home, but it is super reinforced at school. Climb the rungs of hierarchy and grab as much as you can for yourself. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough and indeed more than enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.
I always feel better after reading your substacks! Thank you 😊
Apparently,Mankind runs this here planet because of our keen brains, versatile thumbs and our (ongoing, but limited) interest in cooperation. Cooperation= cohesion.
Squatting on that African savannah, 'a number of years back', we learned the value of living as a tribe; hunting as a pack--that involved giving ground on some personal freedoms, but also personally benefiting from that choice. Chose to cooperate? Better food and accomodation can be yours.
But, where did altruism come from?
Indications are that Lucy ( Leakey's Lucy) had a midwife to assist her in giving birth. Why did that individual help her? What was 'in it' for them?? ( famously, this is THE question that trump simply cannot grasp)
Why would she/he have helped someone in distress when they could not derive any personal benefit?
Compassion: 'I understand what is occuring, and that you need help' seems to be the driver.
When and how did we start to have regard ( respect, appreciation, admiration of, love)for others-- others who are not spouses or offspring?
Ostensibly, we're running the show because of our use of Fire, the Wheel....Altruism got us where we are. Cooperation= Cohesion. Compassion= Humanity.
Great article. Thank you! I live on the NH Seacoast and don’t know of any parkrun type events near me. Boston would be a good place, since there are actually a lot of parks to run through. While it’s not parkrun (which sounds absolutely awesome - I’d do it and volunteer), we have a lot of Pub Runs through local running clubs which provide camaraderie and are open to all, but no real supercitizen opportunities. There ARE a lot of trail races and ultramarathons which require a great number of volunteers, and many of those same runners do volunteer there. Especially when the runs benefit local charities.
Talk to people and see if there’s interest if you’re so inclined. The organization provides all the tools and makes it easy. The one I went to this morning had just under 1,000 runners. It’s awesome!
I will do that. The local running group is pretty powerful and I’m not sure how they’d take to “free”, but stranger things have happened! I’m on the board of our city’s running series and have a few contacts I can tap into.
I honestly can’t say enough good things about it. It’s a wonderful hub for a community. It also motivates runners. Because of it, I run a 5k race every week…for free. It’s excellent motivation for training.
This is really inspiring, Brian. Thank you.
Absolutely fascinating. I'd never heard of Philomena Cunk; she's hysterical and you are the perfect straight man. Nor had I heard of parkruns. There's only a couple vaguely near me, not that I can get 5000 FEET, much less kilometers. If I work hard, I could volunteer to be that last in line guy.
Thanks for a post that is both inspiring and mind-blowing.
Do ANY well powered and controlled studies take the form of a trial, and show that engaging in volunteering/community improves lives, health and mental state of people, and that the causality arrow runs in this direction even partially, rather than simply showing that better adjusted, healthier, happier people who are less ground down by life are also more likely to volunteer and contribute simply because they have mental, social and physical resources to do so?
I stopped volunteering recently and I'm also quite depressed, but the latter was definitely more of a cause than effect (tho it's also possible that both resulted from external misfortune that made any extra activity more costly in resources).
Yes, there's a vicious circle to this, because the stopping leads to greater isolation which is obviously and directly making the depression worse, but mostly I think Glen Brown's comment in this thread is spot on. Leaving aside the small minority of people with hard wired sociopathic tendencies, most humans will engage in the community and help others of they feel secure (broadly speaking: not in physical pain, able to travel to the location and procure suitable clothing, material, childcare etc; not worrying constantly about losing the roof over their head or where the next meal comes from) enough to do so.
First off, I’m really sorry to hear that you’re struggling - and I hope it turns around soon!
For your questions: there are a lot of studies that adjust for socioeconomic status, leisure time, demographics, and all the other obvious confounders but I’m not aware of trials, though there may be some. But the adjustment should take care of a lot of the confounding risks. As for the second part, I don’t really think this is right. The US is the richest country in human history - and the overwhelming majority of people don’t have to worry about basic needs (not discounting the scale of severe poverty or grotesque inequality, but most aren’t at the level of basic subsistence) and the vast majority have some capacity for 1-2 hours per week of volunteering, but about 23 percent actually volunteer and it recently reached the lowest level in three decades. And the evidence base is really strong that it does help individuals too, particularly if the person finds the right kind of volunteer work that fits their personality and values. Thanks for the comment - and sorry again to hear you’ve been having such a difficult time.
Just because the United States is the richest country in the world does not mean that it is geared to use its free time healthy. We are a sickly consumer society not a society of engaged citizens. It's Ralph Naders life- long argument. Brian is giving Steven Pinker's positive take on the world. Whereas I see things more like Iain McGilchrist the polymath a English Professor who became a psychiatrist and wrote The Matter With Things: Our brains, Our Delusions and the unmaking of the word. Secure people/emotionally well people are generous. Emotionally well people don’t spend hours on social media with its short sensational takes but read long in depth takes on reality using their developed independent thinking skills. Our innate nature is to share to contribute to community. As a teacher I have seen how children love to share. It's a first instinct. Until we train that out of them. It begins at home, but it is super reinforced at school. Climb the rungs of hierarchy and grab as much as you can for yourself. We disincentive that generous nature. Our society is geared for never having ENOUGH for ourselves. Even billionaires feel they never have enough. Our society has the disease of more. People that have a sense of having Enough and indeed more than enough for themselves reflexively are inclined to share-to be giving-to be community building.