Comment by dheera
2 days ago
Exactly.
People taking advantage of other peoples' kindness systematically and at scale is the reason why people are less kind today.
2 days ago
Exactly.
People taking advantage of other peoples' kindness systematically and at scale is the reason why people are less kind today.
I do like that the article touches exactly this, and even though I'm a stranger to the entire concept, it makes sense:
>Hardly anyone hitchhikes any more, which is a shame because it encourages the habit of generosity from drivers, and it nurtures the grace of gratitude and patience of being kinded from hikers
I can see how it becomes a healthy feedback loop
yes. There are mafia&organized beggers and cheaters in every major tourist city. Someone looking for your pity $, but is actually faking it. especially gypsies
Not sure I agree, the systematicness can be cultural as well.
In my area there's a bunch of Islands with ferry service, but the ferry terminals are often remotely located on these islands, away from lodging and population centers.
It's fairly common to see people hitchhiking their way to hop off the islands. Every time I've chosen to do it, I'm still filled with the same sense of gratitude Kevin Kelly describes. The folks picking me up always feel like they're experiencing the sense of levity and kindness, not habituality and scorn.
people getting increasingly hung up on enforcing reciprocity is just as likely a culprit
I wasn't trying to enforce reciprocity. I'm just saying that if you don't need help you shouldn't be asking for it from strangers.
If you have a job and income you can afford transportation. Behaving like a broke person when you are not is taking advantage of other people, and taking limited kindness resources away from people who actually need help.
Perhaps kindness isn't a zero-sum game
If you are morally obligated to use your own resources if you have them, then you're stratifying society. The financially comfortable can never ride a bus. The rich cannot drive themselves. Nobody can ever learn what those less fortunate are like, and must necessarily look down upon them and use their imagination to figure out what "those people" care about and need.
So that's not a great outcome either.
(I don't exactly disagree with you either. Accepting a scarce resource from someone when you possess significantly more? That rubs me the wrong way too. Get their mailing address and pay it back later, in spades, if it deprived them of something!)