The previous discussion on Bhutan’s effort to measure Gross National Happiness raised the issue of gated communities that exist across America (in particular).

Some eight million people in the United States live in gated communities. Most are designed as “security zones”, keeping out the riff-raff, although some focus on leisure facilities, such a golf. There are also more modest gated communities in poor neighborhoods, intended to protect from crime.

The fact is that these arrangements have apparently have very little effect on security. Crime goes on, as sure as the sun rises and sets. The guards, paid the minimum wage, might check visitors in a conscientious way, but are hardly going to risk their lives to protect the inmates.

Were the inhabitants of gated communities gathered together because they have the same outlook and interests (a mutual interest in living a good and happy life in an Epicurean “garden”) then they would be Epicurean in intent. But they are mostly self-selected by income, and the back-biting and politics must be quite something to behold. These communities are divisive, largely exclusive and contribute little to civilization. They all contribute to the increased fragmentation of society, which is not in the long-term interest of the nation. Epicurus would be disappointed to recognize the motivation behind them.