Technology, Community, and Early America

I wanted to add some thoughts to those of you who are wondering, “Great, but how does all of this relate to sex and sin?” I hope that in part what is unfolding over the semester is a sense that the early national through antebellum periods were concerned about the bonds of citizenship: were men supposed to be in a kind of brotherhood of the nation? Is that what a democracy or a republic requires?

If so, then what happens as the country becomes more alienated, even as it grows closer in physical proximity? Do we become a nation of Coverdales–people longing for connection but unable to consummate human relationships for fear of physical and emotional intimacy? And if we are a nation of Coverdales, then how will our democracy survive?

The texts we have read (and will read) investigate these questions by looking at the bonds that connect us—bonds of kinship, bonds of sexual desire, bonds of same-sex affiliation. Many posit that there is something unhealthy or damaging about the heterosexual coupling (or the nuclear family more broadly) because coupling further isolates people and because it thwarts a larger sense of community (and often is devoid of physicality, sensuality, and intimacy, which are arguably also essential to a democracy). I think where these texts differ is on their views about what are the possible alternatives to the traditional heterosexual coupling.

So, the reason I have brought up all of these questions in relation to technology is because I want us to consider what we as twenty-first century Americans think of these issues and whether we believe that technology further alienates us and further thwarts the practice of good citizenship. In other words, does technology turn us even further into suggestible crackpots like in Wieland or further into ogling voyeurs like in The Blithedale? Or does technology, despite (or maybe because of) its non-physicality, bring us somehow closer together? In other words, can technology “queer” citizenship?

Andrew brings up some really interesting and thought-provoking models to consider in his post below this one. I hope you will read it and comment on it, as well as post your own thoughts.