Most of us have bought into a radical individualism that, as Tocqueville predicted, causes us to see ourselves as self-sufficient monads and cuts each secluded self off from other secluded selves. Most of us buy into a workaholic ethos that leaves us with little time for community. Those of us in the media know that the way to generate page views is to offer Pravda-like affirmations of your tribe’s moral superiority. Most of us hew to a code of privacy that leads us to not know our neighbors. Most of us live with technology that aims to reduce the friction in any encounter, and you get used to
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