Today I’m introducing a groundbreaking bill - the National Strategy for Social Connection Act.
It creates a federal office to combat the growing epidemic of American loneliness, develops anti-loneliness strategies, and fosters best practices to promote social connection.
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1681350024200962053
People don’t realize how important this is. Loneliness and the fear of it is one of the biggest reasons why people fall into tribal thinking and extremism. Gangs, neo nazis, even flat earth groups survive because lonely people can find a sense of community in them. People don’t wear maga hats because they look good, they do it to make new friends.
Any attempt at fixing things is just a whitewash job? Whatever. We might as well all march I to the sea, huh?
Japan recently created a Minister of Loneliness and Isolation and I wouldn’t be surprised if more advanced nations follow suit. We’ve created a society that puts productivity, growth, and competition above all else. I hope we’re slowly moving towards a society that realizes we can still be productive with less work and more free time.
A huge part of the problem is that people just don’t have enough money to go out and do things.
Just as long as being an introvert isn’t made illegal.
This honestly just reads like a way to make some cushy DC jobs for the bastard morons of some mega donors.
Yeah, I don’t doubt Murphy’s heart is in the right place - he’s been a big advocate of mental health legislation since his House days, and he was the congressman for Newtown when Sandy Hook happened - but I’m skeptical that the sorts of techniques we use to combat smoking or obesity would work on loneliness; it’s more of a symptom of a larger problem than a problem in its own right.
