6 ms·

You're conflating short-term renting with long-term renting. There is a vast difference between a hotel guest or AirBnB renter, who will only be staying a few

You're conflating short-term renting with long-term renting. There is a vast difference between a hotel guest or AirBnB renter, who will only be staying a few days or a couple of weeks at most, and someone who rents an apartment/house for years and is part of the local community. There are also cultural and personal differences, because neither I nor any of my friends would ever trash a short-term rental, whether it was an apartment, hotel room or a car. However I also know people who don't even give a damn about their own things, they trash everything they touch, it is absolutely not some universal trait in renters. Overall, the less egotistical a culture is, the better short-term renting, tool sharing and similar programs work.

WalterBright 7y ago
If you're renting, ask your landlord. > neither I nor any of my friends would ever trash a short-term rental, whether it was an apartment, hotel room or a car. It's not just "trashing". It's in general being harder on things. I'll give another example, this from the military, as told to me by my father, career Air Force. The military issued combat boots to soldiers, and when they'd wear out, the soldier would present the worn out boot at the supply office, and get a new pair. They had a rate of boot exchanges that seemed high. As an experiment, the military instead provided the soldiers with a uniform allowance. What they didn't spend they could keep. The boot consumption dropped by a factor of three. This was not soldiers "trashing" the boots. It was simply not caring about them.
- KozmoNau7 7y ago
  > It's not just "trashing". It's in general being harder on things. I will treat a rented or borrowed item better than one I own myself, as would my friends, simply because it is the right thing to do and because we would all hate to be handed a mistreated item the next time we rent something. What you're describing is a cultural issue of people lacking respect for other people, and it is by no means a universal trait in humanity. However a lack of respect usually correlates with immaturity, which is shown in your example from the military. Young men tend to lack the requisite level of maturity. When people mature, they usually start respecting other people and start caring about making things last for as long as possible. If the lack of respect persists well into adulthood, you're dealing with a major societal problem.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    It's great that you behave that way. > it is by no means a universal trait in humanity I didn't say it was universal. But it happens plenty enough that you cannot dismiss it when, for example, making public policy.
    - KozmoNau7 7y ago
      I will refer back to my original post: >" That is caused by putting disenfranchised, poor and troubled people there, and no longer giving a damn about them once they have a simple roof over their heads." It is not an inherent nor universal trait of humanity. It happens because people often feel uninvolved, disconnected, and self-concerned to a fault; they do not trust their neighbors, because they have been given no reason to do so. They have been propagandized for decades with the message that they must be self-sufficient, responsible adults, and the way you measure that is in wealth, and that in that regard they are, at best, in competition with their neighbor. One consequence of this is not giving a damn about anything you do not own yourself, which is a sick mindset, a symptom of a sick societal order. Most of the western world has adopted this neoliberal mindset, and it is making us increasingly more callous, the longer it goes on.
      - WalterBright 7y ago
        There is the way people are, and the way you wish them to be. I'm only pointing out the way they are. I suspect you're in for a lot of disappointment.
        KozmoNau7 7y ago
        You're pointing out how some people are, based on your own cultural and societal perspective, obviously one affected by negative experiences. I am merely pointing out that this is in no way universal, and that the behavior you've observed is not caused by human nature, but rather by societal pressures and the forced state of constant ego-centered competition that people find themselves in. Neoliberalism has made us callous and indifferent at best to the plight of our fellow human beings and the natural world.

WalterBright 7y ago

If you're renting, ask your landlord. > neither I nor any of my friends would ever trash a short-term rental, whether it was an apartment, hotel room or a car. It's not just "trashing". It's in general being harder on things. I'll give another example, this from the military, as told to me by my father, career Air Force. The military issued combat boots to soldiers, and when they'd wear out, the soldier would present the worn out boot at the supply office, and get a new pair. They had a rate of boot exchanges that seemed high. As an experiment, the military instead provided the soldiers with a uniform allowance. What they didn't spend they could keep. The boot consumption dropped by a factor of three. This was not soldiers "trashing" the boots. It was simply not caring about them.

KozmoNau7 7y ago
> It's not just "trashing". It's in general being harder on things. I will treat a rented or borrowed item better than one I own myself, as would my friends, simply because it is the right thing to do and because we would all hate to be handed a mistreated item the next time we rent something. What you're describing is a cultural issue of people lacking respect for other people, and it is by no means a universal trait in humanity. However a lack of respect usually correlates with immaturity, which is shown in your example from the military. Young men tend to lack the requisite level of maturity. When people mature, they usually start respecting other people and start caring about making things last for as long as possible. If the lack of respect persists well into adulthood, you're dealing with a major societal problem.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  It's great that you behave that way. > it is by no means a universal trait in humanity I didn't say it was universal. But it happens plenty enough that you cannot dismiss it when, for example, making public policy.
  - KozmoNau7 7y ago
    I will refer back to my original post: >" That is caused by putting disenfranchised, poor and troubled people there, and no longer giving a damn about them once they have a simple roof over their heads." It is not an inherent nor universal trait of humanity. It happens because people often feel uninvolved, disconnected, and self-concerned to a fault; they do not trust their neighbors, because they have been given no reason to do so. They have been propagandized for decades with the message that they must be self-sufficient, responsible adults, and the way you measure that is in wealth, and that in that regard they are, at best, in competition with their neighbor. One consequence of this is not giving a damn about anything you do not own yourself, which is a sick mindset, a symptom of a sick societal order. Most of the western world has adopted this neoliberal mindset, and it is making us increasingly more callous, the longer it goes on.
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      There is the way people are, and the way you wish them to be. I'm only pointing out the way they are. I suspect you're in for a lot of disappointment.
      - KozmoNau7 7y ago
        You're pointing out how some people are, based on your own cultural and societal perspective, obviously one affected by negative experiences. I am merely pointing out that this is in no way universal, and that the behavior you've observed is not caused by human nature, but rather by societal pressures and the forced state of constant ego-centered competition that people find themselves in. Neoliberalism has made us callous and indifferent at best to the plight of our fellow human beings and the natural world.