CounterPunch+ Exclusives

CounterPunch+ Exclusives

We Shape Our Buildings, Then They Shape Us

“We shape our buildings,” Winston Churchill said, “And after that our buildings, they shape us.” What he had in mind was the House of Commons, Badly damaged in the war. Some There were who thought it best to change the shape In building it anew. But no, said Churchill, We must retain it long and narrow, that’s The heart of our democracy. With long Benches face-to-face our system ended Up with two parties both opposed And several leaders in a row instead Of having one distinct superior Apart, as thrones will designate a king. The process then of making laws involves Debate by confrontation, contestation, And polemic, rather than cooperation, Harmony, or doing business with The other side. In contrast to all this, The U. S. Congress meets in chambers Built in semicircular style with aisles Radiating out and facing one Distinctive chair where a party leader sits. Here there is no face-to-face debate At all, the lines between the parties Blur, and as the room resembles more A theater than a boxing ring, the business Of passing laws becomes more egotistic Than communal, more stagy, showy, than Effective in achieving anything.

Churchill’s deep remark applies with equal force To buildings everywhere, of any kind, To all the built environments we find: The shape that they impose affects the course Of people’s lives: the good ones are the source Of pleasure, peace, and social intercourse, The bad of stress, dispute, the unquiet mind. It’s all in the way the spaces are designed. I’d choose the kind that Churchill would endorse.

QAnon is Dead. Long Live QAnon!

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