Generally speaking, consideration for others is inversely proportional to the desperation of a given community. Think about how hard people have to work these days and still can’t afford a decent place to live and food to eat. It makes perfect sense that someone who feels that the system is keeping them down, and wearing them to the bone won’t be conscientious of how their actions will affect others. That mixed with Western ideals of extreme individualism, and a political climate that promotes divisiveness, it’s truly a wonder that anyone has any consideration at all for their fellow countrymen.

It’s the prime source of despair for me at work, as a custodian. Be it staff, clients, or coworkers - being a lazy selfish piece of shit feels pretty common.

Everyone in this thread is ignoring all of the invisible things we do everyday as part of the social contract:

-Every time someone stops at a red light

-Every time we accept a piece of paper and in return render some service or surrender some treasure

-Every person waiting in line everywhere

-Every person who pays taxes

-Every time we go to the grocery store and just take it for granted that there will be food at the grocery store

I get it some a-hole cut you off in traffic. But we rely on our social contract to literally stay alive. It is a miracle and the pinnacle of human achievement. Maybe just say thank you?

Answering the title: yes. All the fucking time.

One of the little things that annoy me to hell and back is the “lack of decency” from marketing companies that robocall you nonstop. Knowing that someone is profitting off my (and millions’) misery makes it even more infuriating.

Then there’s the actually small, dumb stuff that people also insist, like refusing to get out of the way and thinking -you- are wrong for wanting to get past them. In a fucking public space that their fat ass is almost fully blocking.

I keep in mind that observation bias is a thing and I can’t remember the people around me who are constantly following it.

Many years ago I was walking out of Port Authority and a women, clearly mentally ill, ran up to me and wacked me in the back. There is zero doubt that I have passed well over 10k people in that area in my life. I only remember 1 of them because of what she did 1 time to me.

I was on the subway, standing, recently when an elderly man got on board. I’d guess he was in his 70s. Had a crutch under his arm. Had one or a few small bruises on his face. He looked frail. No one with a seat made any effort to offer him their seat. He stayed right near the doorway of the subway, and I thought “oh, maybe he’s just going one stop.” He wasn’t. He just didn’t expect anyone to vacate a seat for him.

I remember the subway before personal music players, and now ‘smartphones’ were ubiquitous. From what I can see, common courtesy has fallen sharply with the rise of ‘smartphones’ (and the concomitant “I’m walking around completely oblivious to my surroundings and focused on what’s on the 4 inch screen 4 inches from my face”)

The shopping cart test for a community. Or seeing trash on the ground in public places, tells you alot about a area.

The golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Culture is learned from your peer group. Feeling a investmemt in your environment and a sense of ownership in it’s condition change behavior. “This is our public park, so I won’t littler”, vs “This is their public park so I don’t have to clean up”.

I just want to live in a nice world, so I treat my world nice. Even when nobody is looking.

It’s a bit of confirmation bias. Once something “big” happens to you, you start seeing little things that you’d before just write off.

But a part of it is the increase in homeless people. Many of them, thanks to mental illness and drug addiction, can’t follow a social contract.

Of course, naturally, they get left on the street where they ruin everyone else’s day instead of being forced into an area where they can exhaust themselves out, and get their illnesses treated.

Because that would cost too much money, of course, as if letting those people lose their grip on reality and break shit doesn’t already cost money.

My biggest aggravation are people who cut into entry lanes whilst in traffic just to get maybe ten cars ahead because their time is soooo much more important than anyone else’s.

I had a much longer list of other things that I had typed out, but I cut it out. I don’t want to be putting more negative out into the world than needed.

So yes, despair is constant, seeing people have so little regard for their fellow human beings. We’re all sharing this world, we’re all trying to exist. Though that’s not to say it’s all bad, there’s a lot of very selfless things people do every day too. It’s easier to see the negatives, but there’s definitely good out there too.

As an American: “How will my choices affect the people around me in this moment?” Is almost comical to see.

Most assholes of my fellow Americans think “That nosey sonofaremoved needs to get out of my way! I want to light fireworks off at 4am how dare he say I shouldn’t! FREEDUMB!”

I used to live behind a gas station. 3am and almost every shithead going get gas had their subwoofers set to “shatter windows a mile away”

Yes. Quite often, sadly. Usually when I’m driving, but also when I see someone blatantly littering in front of a perfectly good trash can or absent-mindedly blocking an aisle at the grocery store.

Integrity is no longer valued in our society because it’s an intangible virtue that you can’t directly benefit from, so many people toss out that decorum for marginal gains. The reason I throw my trash away in a trash can is because I respect the social contract and I don’t want to leave a mess for someone else to have to clean (even if it might be their job to clean it) not because I’m afraid of being judged or confronted by others, which I think is the only thing keeping most people on the right side of the equation these days.

The Shopping Cart Theory is a fantastic way to determine if you are dealing with somebody who doesn’t respect the social contract, and indeed, that attitude transcends mere niceties and seeps into their personality - laziness, selfishness, and a general lack of respect for other people’s time and property.

My spouse and I talk about this often. A very obvious example is how rude (and recklessly dangerous) people are while driving. And myriad minor things out in public in general. No sense of community and a complete lack of consideration for others is the new normal. It got worse during and after the pandemic.

I don’t know, but I just spent two days at an amusement park, so I’m in the sort of mood where I hate all people everywhere.

Like why the fuck are you just standing in the middle of a walkway? No, your group of 20 can’t jump the line to catch up with the one 6 year old who’s been alone for an hour. And double fuck everyone in the wave pool.

I don’t know if it’s actually real but I feel like since Corona and the Lockdowns many people are even nastier than before.

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