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I’ve thought for a while now that there is a special depravity to things like littering that makes them worse than, for example, small-time theft. At least the
by marcoperaza 8y ago
I’ve thought for a while now that there is a special depravity to things like littering that makes them worse than, for example, small-time theft.
At least the thief has a rational reason to steal and gains from his crime roughly what he has taken from another. The litterer by comparison gains so little but does so much harm.
- abecedarius 8y agoI get the impression theft usually pays the thief a lot less than the value of the loot -- they have to fence it, etc. You could view that as a quibble about profit-sharing, but OTOH in the bigger picture theft is highly negative-sum because of the costs around prevention and the thief's extra work in overcoming it (and other costs). So theft actually is rather like littering in this way.
- mcny 8y agoThe saddest thing I've seen this year was a family waiting for the path train at 33 street and the (I assume parents drop some trash in the floor and yell at one of the kids who proceeded to pick up after the adults. Like not only are these adults actively littering, they are penalizing their children for trying to clean up after them. I wish I could say these people were tourists but sadly I have a feeling they're a product of our communities in the greater New York City area.