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Yes. I always wonder what a paradise we'd have if people's first impulse was to do what's best for those around them.
by UberFly 3y ago
Yes. I always wonder what a paradise we'd have if people's first impulse was to do what's best for those around them.
- n1b0m 3y agoTry Japan
- BobbyJo 3y agoHave you seen Japan's homeless?
- shiroiuma 3y agoI live here, and no, there really aren't very many of them, unlike America where they're everywhere in huge encampments. Japan actually has social services to help homeless people and provide them shelter; the ones you see are people who refuse help.
- refurb 3y agoCan homeless Japanese set up a tent on a sidewalk in the heart of Tokyo? What I’ve seen in other countries is that there certainly are homeless, but the attitude is “you go to a shelter or you go to jail”. Does wonders for keeping visible homeless to a minimum.
- tetris11 3y agoSame in London. You see large groups of them under bridges sometimes, but then a few days later they're all rounded up and just gone. I'd like to believe that they're under Shelter protection, but the cynic in me k ows that they've just been relocated out of the public eye.
- shiroiuma 3y ago>Can homeless Japanese set up a tent on a sidewalk in the heart of Tokyo? I don't know, but I seriously doubt it. I generally only see them in certain public parks. There's one weird encampment in some woods next to one of the rivers, in a large park that's on a flood plain; not exactly easy to find or heavily trafficked.
- automatic6131 3y ago>Can homeless Japanese set up a tent on a sidewalk in the heart of Tokyo? Yes. I encountered a homeless person in the CBD of Tokyo, sleeping in the bushes of a (very small) divider between a main road. Almost totally hidden, by those bushes. With enough items to look like they'd been there a while.
- hgdfhgfdhgdf 3y agoJapan spends $6k on average per homeless a year. The USA spends 5 times that.
- shiroiuma 3y agoTo be honest, I don't know much about homelessness in Japan besides what little I've read online, and what I actually see in public (and considering how much I walk around different places, I do see a lot of places). Anyway, I suspect this is probably another case where America spends a ton of money on stuff, but does so poorly and with bad effect. Just look at healthcare: the US spends far more per person than any other country, but outcomes are pretty lousy on average because it's so unequal and because treatment costs a fortune compared to anyplace else. I'm sure many other spending comparisons between the US and other nations are similar. How much money has the US spent on high-speed rail in California without getting much done?
- sofixa 3y agoI don't know what your point is, but the USA also spends tenfold on infrastructure per km with vastly worse results, and has the highest spend on healthcare per capita, with one of the worst outcomes in the developed world. So just spending more doesn't mean much.
- unicornmama 3y agoWe have it nice in Switzerland.
- 4ggr0 3y agoDon't forget that our paradise-like living standards require cheap labor and blood & sweat from other, not so well-off countries. To me, a paradise would be self-sustainable without exploiting others. Same can be said about other western countries.
- c420 3y ago[flagged]
- shiroiuma 3y agoWow, what an ignorant response. I live here and have never seen whale meat or pixelated porn anywhere in public spaces. But back in America I saw people carrying guns around in public all the time; it wasn't just some stupid internet meme or some ultra-rare thing.
- Mashimo 3y agoHave you ever seen a Bigmotor car dealership?
- c420 3y agoI love Japan, I just wouldn't characterize it as a paradise. Though I admit your criticism is apt if we're purely speaking about pubic spaces. I think most people are now aware of the yearly dolphin drive hunt in Taiji and how the whaling industry continues to harpoon hundreds of whales every year under the guise of studying their migrations, even with demand for the meat dropping every year. Scroll down to the "pornographic censorship" section: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Japan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Japan Yeah, I'm American, but I never said this was paradise. On the contrary, I could give much better reasons why it's not than your example of open carry laws. But let's not play "whatabout", as your public spaces argument is legit.
- shiroiuma 3y agoI'm not going to defend the whaling and dolphin or censorhip stuff, I'm just pointing out that when we're talking about people mistreating public spaces/property, public behavior, etc., these things really aren't relevant and every country has its policy flaws. Women in Japan don't have any trouble getting an abortion if they need one, and don't have to worry about one part of the country trying to prosecute them for going to another part of the country for a medical service that some religious politician has banned. And no one in Japan has to worry much about people with automatic weapons going on shooting rampages.
- Mashimo 3y agoUhh, they did a similar thing over there. Bigmotor https://youtu.be/ENl3eh1o-SM https://youtu.be/ENl3eh1o-SM > Bigmotor allegedly inflated insurance claims after employees intentionally damaged vehicles, in some cases with screwdrivers or golf balls. Japan's three major nonlife insurance companies stopped doing business with Bigmotor in June 2022 in response to the allegations.
- unicornmama 3y agoImagine if wealthy Bay Area denizens would focus their resources to take care of those around them. Instead they occupy their time with the endless pursuit of vanity, wealth without purpose, and decadence.
- raverbashing 3y agoYou mean the landlords and NIMBYs right?
- atdrummond 3y agoThe Bay Area has some of the most generous taxpayers in the country. The issue isn’t the amount of resources.
- TaylorAlexander 3y ago“most generous taxpayers” is quite the turn of phrase
- FredPret 3y agoThey could easily save a bundle of taxes by moving somewhere else, or at least moving their money. Some lower-tax (lower than California) destinations are incredible places to live as well - it’s not a choice between anarcho-capitalism and California. So there’s at least a tiny bit of generosity there.
- TaylorAlexander 3y agoI do not think “generosity” of any sort plays in here. They’re not considering leaving for personal reasons but deciding to stay to provide tax dollars to the state. They’re staying because they want to. They like it here, or it works well for their business to be here. I don’t see any reason to believe that generosity plays in to it. California, despite high taxes, is simply a nice place to live.
- kortilla 3y ago
- skrebbel 3y agoThis is most people’s first impulse. Don’t forget that the news only reports deviations from the norm. If it’s normal, it isn’t news.
- sparrowInHand 3y agoIts mostly a functional shizophrenic thing, to assume that everybody around you is out to get you and do the worst.
- mckn1ght 3y agoCan you imagine how thick each day’s newspaper would be if it mentioned all the nice–or even just neutral–things people do each day? There are billions of people on the planet. Plenty of good and good enough to go around.
- gongdzhauh 3y agoOne of the only newsletters I subscribe to is a weekly round up of all the good things that were under reported that week. https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews/ https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews/
- skrebbel 3y agoWow I love it. Thanks!
- kortilla 3y agoBut even a few ruin it completely.
- rand846633 3y agoDo they ruin it completely though?
- itronitron 3y agoThat really depends on how a person thinks about their community. For example, if my friends and family were in the upholstery business...