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A rant on bus stops

walkingtheworld.substack.com

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Re: A rant on bus stops

#31

Post by civilitty »

BMc2020 wrote: post #5

We used to have rent subsidies, mental hospitals, all night movie theaters. All gone.

> all night movie theaters

We've lost a sense of community. Look, years ago, before the Internet, we would all go out to the movies together.

It used to be you give the creep-show at the window a couple of bucks, you could spend all day in there popping off. And the joy of it was there were people popping off at the same time. I mean, not that you looked at each other. It was dark. You weren't looking for the gay thing. But it gave you a sense of something bigger than yourself.

Now, they... you know, got rid of all these movie theatres. They're taking all the sex out of the movies. And what am I supposed to do? Go home, turn the lights off, and pop off in front of Charlie?

No, thanks.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#32

Post by bergie »

antisthenes wrote: post #14

Some points in the article are hit and miss, but mostly correct. For example, Istanbul is flourishing because it's the Turkish capital, so it necessarily is the most dense and rich city in the country. The high trust is a positive factor, but plenty of more rural cities and towns in Turkey look quite dumpy (perhaps not as bad a Philly, though) The pictures don't really support that either. They depict a fairly averag…

Istanbul is a big city, but is not the capital. It was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and before that the East Roman Empire, though.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#33

Post by high_priest »

fbdab103 wrote: post #15

>A removal of resources for the majority, because of concerns over “misuse” of less than one percent of residents. Ah yes, the American way. The same justification I have heard as to why bathroom stalls need to have gaps and be unpleasant, "What if someone were to have sex and/or do drugs in there?!" Let them do it, just let me have a minor moment of privacy while I am pooping.

Well. Allowing for 'safe haven' for drug abusers in 'private' spaces comes with the side effect of attracting unsanitary behavior aswell, not letting you have a 'poopoo-peepee' time whatsoever.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#34

Post by Retric »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #21
ajuc wrote: post #6

Because homelessness. Because medical bankrupcy and opioid crisis. Caused by THE SAME industry. Nobody's responsible. Because USA is designed by and for small groups of people owning the companies providing for ridiculous money at insane conditions what everywhere else is cheap or free and well regulated.

So unbridled Capitalism?

Capitalism doesn’t inherently mean companies get to alter the laws to favor themselves or government should decide winners and losers with bailouts. That’s a function of the political system involved.

This is something else. In some ways it’s closest too feudalism where the rule of law is subservient to various powerful entities and limited competition exists parallel to various monopolies. Though obviously it’s very different from the historical examples of feudal societies.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#35

Post by SpaghettiCthulu »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #21
ajuc wrote: post #6

Because homelessness. Because medical bankrupcy and opioid crisis. Caused by THE SAME industry. Nobody's responsible. Because USA is designed by and for small groups of people owning the companies providing for ridiculous money at insane conditions what everywhere else is cheap or free and well regulated.

So unbridled Capitalism?

More accurately, corporatism.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#36

Post by pyuser583 »

ajuc wrote: post #6

Because homelessness. Because medical bankrupcy and opioid crisis. Caused by THE SAME industry. Nobody's responsible. Because USA is designed by and for small groups of people owning the companies providing for ridiculous money at insane conditions what everywhere else is cheap or free and well regulated.

Which industry are you talking about?

The pharmaceutical industry is international. Many of the big players are headquartered in UK, Canada, etc.

Hospitals are mostly non-profit, and mostly purely domestic.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#38

Post by rippercushions »

permo-w wrote: post #24
fbdab103 wrote: post #15

>A removal of resources for the majority, because of concerns over “misuse” of less than one percent of residents. Ah yes, the American way. The same justification I have heard as to why bathroom stalls need to have gaps and be unpleasant, "What if someone were to have sex and/or do drugs in there?!" Let them do it, just let me have a minor moment of privacy while I am pooping.

it’s not just in America. all over Europe you have "hostile architecture"[1]; for example, benches designed to be uncomfortable so that homeless people don’t sleep on them [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_architecture

There is a lot more of this in the US than anywhere else in the world though, and that's because the US also has by far the worst homeless problem.

Re: A rant on bus stops

#40

Post by pyuser583 »

psychlops wrote: post #26

The US doesn't have a homeless problem, California has a homeless problem.

I was stunned when I first saw San Francisco.

I’ve traveled a lot, and never seen anything like it.

It’s like a gigantic refugee camp. That’s not something you see in any other major city, including California.

That’s not “America” - that’s San Francisco.

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