We get into the first five episodes of the HBO series Neighbors. What begins as a collection of petty disputes over lawns, fences, animals, and property lines quickly reveals something much deeper: a culture defined by paranoia, hyper-individualism, and the slow collapse of shared reality.

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From beachfront property battles in Florida to rural land feuds in Montana, suburban homesteading experiments in Indiana, and conspiracy-fueled standoffs in Texas, the show profiles a collection of misfits. And every one of them is convinced they’re in the right. And every one of them is also completely incapable of resolving their conflict.

We have some chilling takeaways about how prominently surveillance culture (everyone is filming everyone) figures into nearly every neighbor feud, how actively posting about their beefs on social media virtually guarantees disputes will escalate, and how the convergence of conspiracy thinking, New Age spirituality, and political identity all but ensures a person will be a pig headed ass.

We get into property rights and the legacy of Enlightenment brain worms, home ownership as a retirement plan (bad idea), American's obsession with lawns, and how getting the police involved never helps.

If there’s one lesson to take away, it’s this: if you have neighbors, you’re on your own. You’d better figure out how to live with them.

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Music:Airglow - Spliff and Wesson (CC-BY)