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Where did all the public bathrooms go?

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Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#531

Post by tomhow »

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #485
b0rtb0rt wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in japan the homeless people clean up after themselves and don’t destroy everything what’s the difference here?

[flagged]

We've banned this account. We've asked you multiple times to observe the guidelines, and a comment like this, shitposting or whatever else you're trying to do here, is obviously a step too far. If you don't want to be banned, you can email us (hn@ycombinator.com) to discuss ways of demonstrating your intention to participate earnestly in future.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#532

Post by dspillett »

ajmurmann wrote: post #409
b0rtb0rt wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in japan the homeless people clean up after themselves and don’t destroy everything what’s the difference here?

How many of their homeless are addicted to drugs or nectary ill? It seems in the US almost all visible homeless fall into at least one of those groups. Fentanyl and meth seems to be largely a North America issue. I previously was curious how other countries dealt with it. The only country I found that had previously had a meth issue was Estonia or Latvia (not sure anymore). It apparently was really bad for years. The…

> Fentanyl and meth seems to be largely a North America issue. I previously was curious how other countries dealt with it.

It isn't a particular drug: if it isn't Fentanyl or meth it will be something else, whatever is available. In the UK it is a mixed bag, but for many the problem substance is alcohol which isn't controllable the way other drugs are because of it being legal and so commonly used in a non (or at least less) problematic manner.

The problem hits from two directions: many homeless people start the path to addiction by needing an escape and that escape method spirals and takes control, and a lot (not the majority by any means, but a sizable segment) end up destitute because of spiralling substance problems to start with.

Of course many homeless do not have a substance problem, or at least not one that would be insurmountable on its own. Financial issues (that wouldn't go away if you strip the cost of the illicit substances out, accommodation is not cheap and suitable jobs are not readily available, etc) and mental illness (separating this from drug issues is complex: "self medication" is of course a major complicating matter) are probably far more common.

> curious how other countries dealt with it

Not well, for the most part. From an outsiders PoV (sat in my small but comfortable flat with the paid mortgage and no drug issues, though the mental health thing needs work) it doesn't seem to be a bad as it has been in the past (maybe in part due to efforts to make it less visible rather than fixing the issues?) but is growing again and I suspect will do so more rapidly if AI does what it promises to the job market.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#534

Post by selfmodruntime »

Someone1234 wrote: post #335
beebmam wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has very little to do with public amenities. It has everything to do with toleration of homelessness and drug use. I don't understand why the west tolerates it at all.

I'm genuinely concerned to ask what you're proposing? Drug use is already unlawful, and the homeless are routinely criminalized for existing - so if that is "tolerate" then what proposals are you trying to promote?

Asylums.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#535

Post by mns »

mstaoru wrote: post #94

This really hits home. As a person with IBS I basically cannot peacefully go outside in EU. I lived for many years in China and Thailand, and toilets are free, clean, and plentiful there, and you can easily ask any place to use their toilet - there's no stigma. I even had to run into a police station in rural China once. They were 100% chill about it, though they had to unlock a gate for me. Xi Jinping really will be…

Is this some sort of psy-op here against EU, this isn't the first message like this where someone is praising China and accusing EU, as if it's a unitary entity, about being a "horror show". If only we would have some dictators or extremist parties back in power to break up the EU and take our countries back to the good old days. I'm finding it harder and harder to come back to Hn with all of this stuff.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#536

Post by seanmcdirmid »

handle584 wrote: post #393
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst toilet I ever saw was in China, but at 5000 meters in Sichuan, it was two slippery two by fours that you had to straddle on over a big open pit (don't slip or lose balance!). That was such an awesome trip circa 2005.

> 5000 meters in Sichuan Pretty sure you were in Tibetan areas at those altitudes, a large part of Sichuan is actually Tibetan.

Yep, somewhere between Chengdu and Siguniang (4 sisters) if I remember correctly (it could have been on a later leg on to daocheng, but I think it was really early in our trip). You get into Tibetan areas very quickly if you go west from Chengdu, if you are looking for some interesting touring in China, you could do a lot worse than that area. Today the roads are much better and you avoid really high pass driving with lots of tunnels.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#537

Post by defrost »

jimnotgym wrote: post #527
defrost wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And there's an argument that the ignorance and poor comment quality is exactly why they should be kept, highlighted, and passed about.

But what does one learn, if one is ignorant and is only reading ignorant comments?

The reason red-backs have the publicly visible red stripe is so others can identify them for what they are.

You're advocating for making red-backs less visible?

Consider Meta-borg, it's their own comment history that may damn them in the multiplying deliberate child manipulation trials as common people clearly see how they think.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#538

Post by selfmodruntime »

jimnotgym wrote: post #519

I feel like HN should ban discussion of homelessness, due to the extreme ignorance and prejudice of the comments. A bunch of people who don't know the first thing about it jumping to conclusions. The quality of the comments here is so so poor.

Even if a lot of discussion is ignorant, we can still observe that it works infinitely better for 95% of society in other countries where they handle it differently.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#539

Post by andrepd »

giardini wrote: post #420
cortesoft wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States is certainly part of the west, and we incarcerate people at a higher rate than any other advanced nation, BY FAR. The idea that we are soft on crime is insane. Harsher punishments do not lead to lower crime.

[flagged]

People _2000 years_ ago were writing books about why this is not true, but in the year 2026 there's still people saying "just give them the death penalty bro"....

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#540

Post by willbebanned »

tomhow wrote: post #531
TurkishPoptart wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

We've banned this account. We've asked you multiple times to observe the guidelines, and a comment like this, shitposting or whatever else you're trying to do here, is obviously a step too far. If you don't want to be banned, you can email us (hn@ycombinator.com) to discuss ways of demonstrating your intention to participate earnestly in future.

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