Little Boxes: High Tech and the Silicon Valley

So, I think part of this article makes a very valid point in how we as a society responds to media, music, and (as an umbrella) sources of information. Here’s my point, Ms. Malvin Reynolds was driving along, saw the suburban development of very similar (if not identical) houses peppering the hillside, and she had an emotionally driven knee jerk reaction gave it a catchy tune and the general public and even some influencers ate it up. Making the claim that these houses were being inhabited by “upper middle class, educated, martini-drinking lawyers and businessmen” was not only inaccurate, but harmful and polarizing. The reality of this houses as stated in the article is that the little boxes were filled with “blue collar and white collar families taking advantage of the last burst of the postwar housing boom”. Her knee jerk reaction just fed the fire of a moral panic that was happening during that time. Unfortunately, I feel like this pattern of misunderstanding information and context followed by emotionally charged and polarizing knee-jerk reactions is still very present today. This article even claims that as soon as little boxes was written, events occured totally undermining its implications. I know this post seems more political than architectural, but I can’t exaggerate this enough. As architects, designers and a human race we have to be aware of the implications and the weightt of our influence, we carry more power than we are aware of.