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I don't chew as much gum anymore now that I'm old. But even when it was a more common habit of mine, I'm pretty sure that I never just spit it out on the paveme
by kleiba 12y ago
I don't chew as much gum anymore now that I'm old. But even when it was a more common habit of mine, I'm pretty sure that I never just spit it out on the pavement -- not even in my "rebel" teen years. As a matter of fact, I don't understand how you can just not care so much.
But then again, I remember an incident where a friend of mine threw a candy wrap right onto the street as we were walking about. When I asked him what that was all about, he argued that this would keep the people who clean the streets in their job. I just gave him a blank stare.
But then again, we do teach little children that it's not okay to just drop your garbage, and at the same time I've rarely met a smoker who doesn't snick their cigarette butts onto the pavement as a matter of course when smoking outside.
While theoretically speaking it does seem to sense that everybody cleans up their own garbage, reality is not always sensical. I guess we have come to accept that it's just a fact of life that people litter -- that's probably why a chewing gum ban seems like such a weird thing.
- kstenerud 12y agoAnd then you have Japan, where tossing your litter (including cigarette butts) or vandalizing property are simply unthinkable. It's all in the culture.
- sosborn 12y agoI'm not sure if you've spent any significant time in Japan, but this is certainly not the case for cigarette butts.
- kstenerud 12y agoI couldn't speak for Tokyo, but it is in Nagoya and many of the smaller townships. There was a massive "smokin' clean" campaign a few years ago, accompanied by sales of portable ashtrays.
- smcl 12y agoThe comedian Doug Stanhope has a bit where he talks about how it's OK to drop litter, because the whole City/Town you live in is a giant piece of litter on the natural landscape. He's obviously only kidding, but it's quite a nice (if slightly sad) way to reflect on our impact on the planet.
- artmageddon 12y agoLouis CK also had the same line of thought about New York City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTH8htzsrX4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTH8htzsrX4
- smcl 12y agoIt's likely Louis CK I was thinking of actually! Oops
- sliverstorm 12y agoI suspect most people do clean up after themselves, but it doesn't take very many litter bugs to trash a town.