Chris

Miriam at Feministing posts about the importance of dating locally.  I responded there, so I'll reprint my comment here:

[...] I wouldn't have been so put off if the post had been phrased as an awareness-raising thing.  Like "That's a good point, Slate – what is the carbon footprint of LDRs versus local relationships?".  Then the post would contain stories about how LDR-folk cut down on costs where they can (both personal and ecological), and perhaps how they got into that LDR in the first place.

Instead, Slate says LDR-folk should feel guilty, and Miriam is joking about campaigning against LDRs and "Why don't we date locally?".  The post comes off as wicked insulting, at least to me – it assumes we haven't considered the ecological cost, it assumes we haven't god damn tried dating locally, and for heaven's sake, it compares relationships to food.

Not to mention, are there statistics on how many LDRs are due to things like a partner being in the military, or economic pressures (so one person moves for their job, and the other stays back for theirs), or other situations I haven't thought of because I'm hungry right now?  The prevailing assumption seems to be internets lovers, and that's bothersome in/of itself.

In conclusion, this whole thing is just a new twist on the old "The only way to build community is in person; the internet is destroying society!" thing.  Which I reject, so articles and posts admonishing me to date locally in order to build community don't work on me anyhow.

Originally posted at Xtinian Thoughts.  Comment here or there.