# Why do some people have such little respect for parks? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065 "2015-05-28T19:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/1 "2015-05-28T19:10:06Z")
I understand only a small portion of people who do this, but it ruins everything for the rest of us. People go into parks of any kind, and trash them. I was at a popular rest stop today, and was talking to someone who said it was almost closed for good until a company bought it from the state and agreed to maintain it as a goodwill gesture. The reason the state gave up on it was because of people who liked to trash it. Why do people do stuff like this? It’s just asinine. It’s not like its hard to avoid smashing beer bottles everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/2 "2015-05-28T19:16:29Z")
People do things like this to ruin things for the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/3 "2015-05-28T19:20:15Z")
Because some people are inconsiderate assholes who never learned to respect common property. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/4 "2015-05-28T19:30:19Z")
Same reason other people kill, rob, rape, etc. No consideration for the rule of law or other people. [This is why we can’t have nice things.](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5283/5375667478_4bfed83e3f.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/5 "2015-05-28T19:33:32Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > People do things like this to ruin things for the rest of us. That’s wrong, by virtue of giving the douchebags too much credit for thinking of anyone else. You actually have to have other people in mind to decide to ruin things for them. This is just mindless taking. If other people ever cross the takers’s minds, it would be something like “I got mine, fuck all y’all.” But probably not even that. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/6 "2015-05-28T19:34:36Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Because some people are inconsiderate assholes who never learned to respect common property. Or in more scholarly terms, the Tragedy of the Commons. From [here](http://www.byrdseed.com/problem-solving-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/): “In ‘The Tragedy Of The Commons,’ there is a public resource that is unregulated. To keep this resource useful, people must make some sort of personal sacrifice. However, there’s no immediate reward for making this sacrifice and there’s no immediate punishment for _not_ making the sacrifice.” More thorough (i.e., long winded and boring) explanation [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/7 "2015-05-28T20:49:37Z")
I’ve known a few people (fortunately a long time ago), who would litter and what not. Their thinking? My taxes are paying for the cleanup, may as well get my money’s worth.☹ Too stupid to realize that if they didn’t trash things their taxes would go down or go to better things. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/8 "2015-05-28T22:49:15Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > I was at a popular rest stop today, and was talking to someone who said it was almost closed for good until a company bought it from the state and agreed to maintain it as a goodwill gesture. The reason the state gave up on it was because of people who liked to trash it. Why do people do stuff like this? It’s just asinine. It’s not like its hard to avoid smashing beer bottles everywhere. I heard of a recent case where a security company donated video cameras in the park & parking lot and their archiving service for the video at a state park. The vandals were quite surprised when a state trooper showed up at their door to take them to jail weeks later. (And their parents, who owned the car used, were even more shocked that the trooper included them.) But it’s still upsetting that we have to go to this extent to protect our public parks. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/9 "2015-05-28T23:17:49Z")
Stuff like this is why I almost welcome the Big Brother trend of cameras everywhere. And I think the “Tragedy of the Commons” thing, while technically true, is a bit of stretch here. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/10 "2015-05-28T23:30:59Z")
It’s true that there’s a difference between Canada and the US in littering. As a kid I was appalled at roadside litter when we drove through the US. Some 20ish years ago I was at a conference in Reno and another Canadian guy who I met up with decided we should take a drive to Virginia City. We stopped at various lookout points along the way and we were disgusted by the amount of trash just tossed on the ground: beer bottles, cans, wrappers, etc. So, although culturally similar there seems to be some unknown reason why Americans throw garbage on the ground and Canadians don’t. I’m guessing it’s part of the [Broken Windows Theory.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory) > [@](#): > > Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. > > Or consider a pavement. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of refuse from take-out restaurants there or even break into cars. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/11 "2015-05-28T23:39:38Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Because some people are inconsiderate assholes who never learned to respect common property. Or, to be more concise, they’re _pigs._ (With no disrespect meant for actual [biological pigs](http://7-themes.com/data_images/out/18/6827848-pigs.jpg), of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/12 "2015-05-29T00:13:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s true that there’s a difference between Canada and the US in littering. As a kid I was appalled at roadside litter when we drove through the US. The US may have got it from us, the English: a hundred years ago Jerome K. Jerome pointed out that foreigners ( natch the Germans, but also from non-europeans ) were horrified at the disgusting amount of litter in our — very beautiful then — countryside. And that was late Victorian times, when there was also a disgusting amount of public advertising crapping up the place ( and in America ). However, we also had policemen unafraid to use their fists to clout miscreants back then, which I’d say was a mixed blessing. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/13 "2015-05-29T02:25:00Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Or in more scholarly terms, the Tragedy of the Commons. > > From [here](http://www.byrdseed.com/problem-solving-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/): “In ‘The Tragedy Of The Commons,’ there is a public resource that is unregulated. To keep this resource useful, people must make some sort of personal sacrifice. However, there’s no immediate reward for making this sacrifice and there’s no immediate punishment for _not_ making the sacrifice.” But it seems less about making a personal sacrifice than it is about not going out of your way to be an asshole. I mean it takes effort to go out of your way to trash a park. There is something in some people where they just think it’s funny or whatever to break things for no reason. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/14 "2015-05-29T02:42:48Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > But it seems less about making a personal sacrifice than it is about not going out of your way to be an asshole. I mean it takes effort to go out of your way to trash a park. There is something in some people where they just think it’s funny or whatever to break things for no reason. And, when drunk enough inhibitions, it takes more effort to restrain themselves than to indulge their destructive tendencies. It’s not as if we don’t all have some of it. There’s a reason why Myth Busters always makes things go boom at the end of their experiments. There’s a reason so many of us experiment with fire. People will get pleasure out of destroying something they plan to throw away, like TVs or even pay to beat on a car. The problem isn’t the destructive urge. It’s the lack of caring about others. It really just, like most shitty people, goes back to that [Dark Tetrad](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150130-the-man-who-studies-evil). ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/15 "2015-05-29T03:34:18Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > . . . And I think the “Tragedy of the Commons” thing, while technically true, is a bit of stretch here. Agreed. The Tragedy might explain someone taking up more than his fair share of the park, like taking up a whole picnic table to himself, or filling up water bottles from the drinking fountain, or even taking his household trash to the trash receptacles near the picnic area. It’s “rational self-serving” disproportionate usage. But kicking over the trash cans, breaking the drinking fountain with a hammer, and spray-painting “SHED” on the picnic tables – that is not rational or self-advancing in any way. It’s just ordinary ugly evil. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/16 "2015-05-29T04:05:50Z")
I wonder if it isn’t partially a generational thing, seems like sometimes we’re living in the “don’t give a shit, not my problem” years now. When I was a child I would go to this lake/park with my grandmother to walk her dog and she would stop and literally pick up every piece of litter and trash that she saw and throw it in the trash can. I don’t ever see people nowadays doing it. Some of it rubbed off on me but I admit I’m not as good about doing things like that as she was. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/17 "2015-05-29T04:29:16Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Why do people do stuff like this? It’s just asinine. It’s not like its hard to avoid smashing beer bottles everywhere. Tempting as it is to attack the people who do these things, the real answer is that everyone is part of a culture. Some people live in a culture that values cleanliness and respecting public property. Some don’t. Culture shapes behavior. There are some parts of the world where everybody dumps their trash by the roadside or wherever is most convenient. There are other places where it’s normal for everyone to use a garbage can. It’s cultural. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/18 "2015-05-29T04:39:54Z")
It helps if there ARE trashcans. Many parks you have to look far and wide to find them. I think generally having them every 50 feet or so is good. Also it is darn hard and expensive to throw away things like mattresses, furniture, and old tv’s so people find it easier to just dump them off. If trash companies would take this stuff or let there at least be a “no-questions asked” dropoff point I think it would solve most of this. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/19 "2015-05-29T05:23:02Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, although culturally similar there seems to be some unknown reason why Americans throw garbage on the ground and Canadians don’t. I’m guessing it’s part of the [Broken Windows Theory.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory) > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Tempting as it is to attack the people who do these things, the real answer is that everyone is part of a culture. Some people live in a culture that values cleanliness and respecting public property. Some don’t. Culture shapes behavior. There are some parts of the world where everybody dumps their trash by the roadside or wherever is most convenient. There are other places where it’s normal for everyone to use a garbage can. It’s cultural. Culture/broken windows theory can be adjusted. DisneyLand, etc. have very little problem with littering. First, they have trash receptacles all over the place, then staff members who immediately pick up any trash they see and throw it away. But they have reported that they have much less littering than other amusement parks – people see that it’s all so clean, no litter anywhere, and so they make the effort to throw it in the trash containers. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065/20 "2015-05-29T09:26:42Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Culture/broken windows theory can be adjusted. > > DisneyLand, etc. have very little problem with littering. First, they have trash receptacles all over the place, then staff members who immediately pick up any trash they see and throw it away. But they have reported that they have much less littering than other amusement parks – people see that it’s all so clean, no litter anywhere, and so they make the effort to throw it in the trash containers. I’ve heard even Disney CEO’s when walking thru the park will pick up trash. Some say they even vacuum the grass. In contrast though public parks might only be maintained once a week or so when the trash crews come thru. I know in our parks the trash cans are often overflowing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-have-such-little-respect-for-parks/721065.md?page=2)