precisely. the whole "dating culture" shit that really kicked off in the us was a shift away from that, that never should have happened. but even that initial shift still kept community in mind when it came to finding marriage. looking at the 1950 date on this graph, you'll see that some 85% of relationships formed then, were all formed within communities. couples met through family, friends, in grade school, and as neighbors. this graph doesn't even include church, but these are all communities. people know each other, they're far from being strangers. people have an idea of who is going to be compatible with who, and if they weren't outright setting them up together, they were at the very least supporting it and making sure it wasn't a free for all fuckfest. further, people were never meant to find a spouse by bootstrapping it with a total stranger. that's just retarded.
United States