8 ms·

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get an

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get anything out of it. Why break something when it wont benefit you to do so. Why do people rub feces all over public restrooms, break vending machines or graffiti hate filled messages on others property. why make to world a worse place for everyone including yourself for no gain.

gremloni 5y ago
That’s easy. America is a very individualistic society. A lot compared to Asia and a reasonable difference to Europe. It works well with our “rebel” mentality and the almost pathological requirement to stand out. It works really well when it comes to innovations and fostering a productive society but there are downsides and things like this are some of those side effects.
bobthepanda 5y ago
The people who are doing that are generally not thinking rationally in the first place. Mental healthcare in the US is absolutely awful, and so is the safety net.
smabie 5y ago
Because you are angry and unhappy and want to make other people angry and unhappy. schadenfreude is a very human and common emotion.
bloqs 5y ago
If you are looking for a serious answer, vandalism is generally explained as a response to a social hierachy. When you feel you are at the bottom of the pile in relation to others around you, it has a variety of psychological effects. One of the most notable is that it increases your impulsivity and irrationality, and also causes you to feel "judged" by other people simply being near you, even inanimate objects feel like a judgement (a nice car you can never afford, a building made to a high standard with so much visible cost it's insulting to your very existence). One reaction people can have to this is they can try to "dominate" their environment in the way it makes them feel dominated. Instead of facing the near impossible task of climbing the hierachy, they simply look to impulsively destroy it where possible.
- worrycue 5y ago
  > vandalism is generally explained as a response to a social hierachy Japan is even more hierarchical than the US. Their vending machines are fine.
  - m4rtink 5y ago
    You would thinks so! But one time in the middle of Shinsekai in Osaka I've seen a trash can for drink cans full of regular trash - oh, the horror! ;-) On related note, Shinsekai is nice - it remainded as a bit of back home & the hostels there are super cheap. :-)
  - bloqs 5y ago
    This is a canny observation, but not entirely complete. Japan has incredibly low unemployment, even lower rates of juvenile delinquency, homelessness and drug abuse. "Being more hierarchical" isn't really meaningful if you look at the core differences. The West is far more severe in its application of competitive consumerism, where inequality is supposed to act as a motivator.
  - handrous 5y ago
    I think the answer might be that the lowest large portion of their society—aside from some marginalized groups and outliers, talking the broad base of their social pyramid—is their working class, not something else even lower. There's enough affinity or in-group feeling among the working class that it's not divided into a whole bunch of categories, with some very low ones indeed that are very clearly and visibly way under the top of that stratum, but into a smaller set that still consider each other fairly similar and "one of us", for where-am-I-on-the-social-hierarchy purposes. (pure speculation)
  - heurisko 5y ago
    It could be that the relevant thing is the absolute position of the lowest rung of the hierarchy. In that case, the lowest rung of Japanese hierarchy could still be much higher than that in the US.
    - 5y ago
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ruined 5y ago
as someone who has been the vandal vandalism is the most accessible way to literally change the world. it's direct, visceral cause and effect before your very eyes, and it remains visible in daily life and to everyone around. i didn't have anything to lose, and it was more fun than sitting on a curb. in that position it did make the world a better place for me. if you want people to quit breaking shit give them a reason not to. no, legal penalties are not a reason, that just makes them hate you more
- quotemstr 5y ago
  > legal penalties are not a reason Don't be ridiculous. If we throw enough vandals in prison for long enough, then yes, vandalism will drop. It's not fashionable to say it, but it's true: the way to get criminals out of society is to get criminals out of society.
  - ruined 5y ago
    you can't jail alienation.
    - quotemstr 5y ago
      > you can't jail alienation. Want to bet?
  - stephen_g 5y ago
    The US has the largest prison population in the world (if I recall correctly both in absolute number and as a proportion of the population), it really doesn't seem to be working out for them. So no, it's not that simple...
    - deleted 5y ago
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    - deleted 5y ago
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Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago
I worked with a young urban type for a while, and one morning while walking to the office together I expressed my dismay at the sad state of our office block. He countered that it was actually an improvement over the otherwise dull corporate architecture. That it was dull I could certainly agree with, but not that scribbling illegible nonsense with spray paint on every surface is an improvement. So I think there actually are a lot of people with a sincerely held belief that they are actually improving their environment when they do these things.
- op00to 5y ago
  What’s an urban type?
  - Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago
    Someone who lives in the city. It comes from the Latin word for city “urbs”. I on the other hand would be considered a rural type.

gremloni 5y ago

That’s easy. America is a very individualistic society. A lot compared to Asia and a reasonable difference to Europe. It works well with our “rebel” mentality and the almost pathological requirement to stand out. It works really well when it comes to innovations and fostering a productive society but there are downsides and things like this are some of those side effects.

bobthepanda 5y ago

The people who are doing that are generally not thinking rationally in the first place. Mental healthcare in the US is absolutely awful, and so is the safety net.

smabie 5y ago

Because you are angry and unhappy and want to make other people angry and unhappy. schadenfreude is a very human and common emotion.

bloqs 5y ago

If you are looking for a serious answer, vandalism is generally explained as a response to a social hierachy. When you feel you are at the bottom of the pile in relation to others around you, it has a variety of psychological effects. One of the most notable is that it increases your impulsivity and irrationality, and also causes you to feel "judged" by other people simply being near you, even inanimate objects feel like a judgement (a nice car you can never afford, a building made to a high standard with so much visible cost it's insulting to your very existence). One reaction people can have to this is they can try to "dominate" their environment in the way it makes them feel dominated. Instead of facing the near impossible task of climbing the hierachy, they simply look to impulsively destroy it where possible.

worrycue 5y ago
> vandalism is generally explained as a response to a social hierachy Japan is even more hierarchical than the US. Their vending machines are fine.
- m4rtink 5y ago
  You would thinks so! But one time in the middle of Shinsekai in Osaka I've seen a trash can for drink cans full of regular trash - oh, the horror! ;-) On related note, Shinsekai is nice - it remainded as a bit of back home & the hostels there are super cheap. :-)
- bloqs 5y ago
  This is a canny observation, but not entirely complete. Japan has incredibly low unemployment, even lower rates of juvenile delinquency, homelessness and drug abuse. "Being more hierarchical" isn't really meaningful if you look at the core differences. The West is far more severe in its application of competitive consumerism, where inequality is supposed to act as a motivator.
- handrous 5y ago
  I think the answer might be that the lowest large portion of their society—aside from some marginalized groups and outliers, talking the broad base of their social pyramid—is their working class, not something else even lower. There's enough affinity or in-group feeling among the working class that it's not divided into a whole bunch of categories, with some very low ones indeed that are very clearly and visibly way under the top of that stratum, but into a smaller set that still consider each other fairly similar and "one of us", for where-am-I-on-the-social-hierarchy purposes. (pure speculation)
- heurisko 5y ago
  It could be that the relevant thing is the absolute position of the lowest rung of the hierarchy. In that case, the lowest rung of Japanese hierarchy could still be much higher than that in the US.
  - 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ruined 5y ago

as someone who has been the vandal vandalism is the most accessible way to literally change the world. it's direct, visceral cause and effect before your very eyes, and it remains visible in daily life and to everyone around. i didn't have anything to lose, and it was more fun than sitting on a curb. in that position it did make the world a better place for me. if you want people to quit breaking shit give them a reason not to. no, legal penalties are not a reason, that just makes them hate you more

quotemstr 5y ago
> legal penalties are not a reason Don't be ridiculous. If we throw enough vandals in prison for long enough, then yes, vandalism will drop. It's not fashionable to say it, but it's true: the way to get criminals out of society is to get criminals out of society.
- ruined 5y ago
  you can't jail alienation.
  - quotemstr 5y ago
    > you can't jail alienation. Want to bet?
- stephen_g 5y ago
  The US has the largest prison population in the world (if I recall correctly both in absolute number and as a proportion of the population), it really doesn't seem to be working out for them. So no, it's not that simple...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago

I worked with a young urban type for a while, and one morning while walking to the office together I expressed my dismay at the sad state of our office block. He countered that it was actually an improvement over the otherwise dull corporate architecture. That it was dull I could certainly agree with, but not that scribbling illegible nonsense with spray paint on every surface is an improvement. So I think there actually are a lot of people with a sincerely held belief that they are actually improving their environment when they do these things.

op00to 5y ago
What’s an urban type?
- Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago
  Someone who lives in the city. It comes from the Latin word for city “urbs”. I on the other hand would be considered a rural type.