Robert Putnam has plenty of research on the subject of the disappearance of community, but he was called a Nazi for doing actual research and publishing the results because the data didn't show what many people, including the vast majority of Hacker News, wishes to be true. As long as we continue to insist that our wishes trump reality, things will continue to fall apart, and everyone will continue to act confused about why it is happening. Lots of unsupported theories that conform to wishes will be bandied about while actual research continues to be ignored.