Rosenstock-Huessy devotes one of the essays in Die Sprache Des Menschengeschlects to an evaluation of modern urban culture, which includes a brilliant (albeit one-sided) screed about suburban life:

“In the new suburbs provision will be made for all the denominations. . . . . No one faith is absolute in claims or expectations. Faiths, in the plural, are a Sunday affair. The suburb is redundant with private activities all of which are perfectly harmless and without consequence. the best book for the suburb is Alice in Wonderland. The doggerel is its most pertinent poetry. Dante is funny in the suburb because in the suburb nobody can be exiled for his ideals. In fact, everybody has ideals there and they all differ. People read voraciously in the suburb. But in the old village, they had one single book through the centuries. Hence, the villagers would actually believe in what the book said. But a suburban reads the review of a new book before he commits himself. The words preached and read and rhymed in the suburb, all are uttered tentatively and in good spirits.”

And here’s the crucial bit: “By good spirits, we mean without giving offense to anybody. For the man who is never misunderstood to the point of offending can never have said anything important. Important words always give offense. They make a difference. The Holy Spirit is not a ‘good Spirit’ but the better Spirit!” (225-6).

He finds the same lightness of touch in urban intellectual circles: “If a Gallup poll can offer the publisher and authors a poll of what will sell, the last camouflage is dropped. Nobody any longer pretends that he is in conscience bound to write as he writes. He eagerly admits that he is going to write what pays” (226).