[jmcdl]

I ask myself quite genuinely if under the same circumstances I would live like that. It's really very hard to imagine that I or anyone I know would just accept living in trash like that. We would surely all agree to get some shovels and at least clean up the sidewalk in front of our house...right? What stops them from doing that? It seems like a choice.

[neurostimulant]

Not sure if it were the case here, but here in my country the slum would look like that because there is no organized garbage disposal in the neighborhood, so everyone is simply dumping their trash whenever convenient and burn them later. I mean, you could pick up a shovel and clean up the front of your house, but where would you throw those trash you just shoveled if there is no garbageman picking up trash every week? Chance that you'll just dump them across the street and burn it and the wind will pick up some bits of trash and spreading them again throughout the neighborhood, completing the cycle.

[colinb]

I’ll confused. What has San Francisco got to do with this?

[earthboundkid]

Lol, I a Baltimoron, also live amongst garbage. It’s what happens if you don’t pay for street sweepers.

[Viliam1234]

You perceive the sidewalk in front of your house as something that is related to you, and you know people in your culture would judge you if the sidewalk is dirty. But this is a cultural concept. You could also have a cultural concept that only things inside your house reflect on you, and the sidewalk is... just a random part of universe. Then there is no reason why you should go and clean up a random part of universe.

You probably don't feel that it is your duty to go and clean up garbage everywhere in your city. At some distance, it's simply not your problem anymore. This is the same, but the distance ends at the threshold of your house.

Any norm makes sense, internally, if you know that this is the norm others will use to judge you. Most people don't go beyond what is required of them.

[loxs]

Nothing stops them. It's their own choice. And the government literally pays them to not have to work and be able to live like this.