A friend and I were talking about what’s wrong with the world, and one of the things we discussed was there aren’t any consequences for minor infractions. We’re all too polite. Someone does something shitty, like this person in their car, or someone taking up 4 seats on the bus, or throwing their trash on the street, and no one does anything. No one wants to start a fight or make a scene.
Many people operate at a very basic level of moral reasoning: avoid punishment. Some people, some of the time, achieve higher levels of reasoning like “I should follow the rules” or even “I should do what’s good for society.” But many people chill out at the toddler level of “I don’t want to be punished.” So it follows that when these oversized toddlers never get punished, they think they’re doing just fine.
But concurrently, the institution we have to enforce laws and norms, the police, sucks dog shit. Racist, corrupt, no accountability, and lazy. If I see a guy littering, I’m not going to call the cops. They wouldn’t even come, for one thing, but I also don’t want to bring a bunch of armed assholes into the scene.
I don’t know what the best way forward is. My friend suggested local “guardian angel” volunteers that patrol and “Deal with” people who are shitty, but that feels like it could just turn into the police-but-worse. But I really want people who shit up the world to stop, and it feels like they don’t have enough empathy to understand anything more complex than “you took up four seats on the bus and were blasting youtube out of your phone, so we threw you out. Enjoy walking home, asshole.”
Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Not long ago, I was going through an intersection on a green… from one bike lane, continuing into the other on the other side of the intersection.
While I had a green, a driver making a left nearly ran into me, honked and did the same “what the fuck are you doing” to me.
It’s pretty amazing that we don’t hear of crashes every minute of the day, because some people quite literally have no idea what the hell they are doing.
BassTurd@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’ve been road biking a lot more frequently training for a triathlon. You gotta keep you head on a swivel because too many people don’t understand right of way. I have a few roundabouts near me, and when I get to one, it’s a coin flip as to if the other drivers no how they work. They aren’t new. I had to lay on the horn the other day when someone stopped in the roundabout to let a car in. It was warm and windows were down so they definitely heard me yell, “don’t stop in the fucking roundabout, dumbass”. I haven’t called someone a dumbass in a while. I’ve grown harsher in my insults, and bringing out a classic like that felt good.
Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 21 hours ago
I wish more people realized how dangerous some nice acts can be.
I’ve been in plenty of situations where someone might wave me on in situations where it really isn’t appropriate or safe, so I have to basically yell at them to continue.
The last thing I want is for a driver with good intentions to be rear ended, and me getting hit. Three people’s day would be ruined, at the very least.
Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 hours ago
One of my top rules for driving - don’t be NICE, be PREDICTABLE!
BassTurd@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
When I’m driving, if there is a path crossing that has a light, and if there is someone sitting there waiting that hasn’t pushed the button, I’m not stopping. It’s not to be a dick, it’s for safety reasons.
A few years ago, there was a fairly high profile local situation where someone hit and killed someone in a cross walk. What happened is it was a 4 lane in town road and someone was waiting to cross. Car A stops and waves then through, car B in the other lane drives through unaware there was someone crossing in front of the car that stopped in the middle of the road. Predictable transportation is safe transportation. Whether you’re walking, biking, driving, or whatever, be predictable and consistent with the rules.