http://www.dancewithshadows.com/extra/2009/10/28/cut-the-crap/ quick notes, now and then. Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:06:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 http://www.dancewithshadows.com/extra/2009/10/28/cut-the-crap/comment-page-1/#comment-10468 Meg Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:11:49 +0000 http://www.dancewithshadows.com/extra/?p=95#comment-10468 I've never been to India, but I live in the States, and I've traveled a lot in Europe and Japan. I find it really interesting that you're holding modern countries up as a standard to aspire to, because I think most western cities are actually pretty disgusting. I was just in Philadelphia last weekend, where many streets are full of trash and the risk of stepping in dog poop is pretty high. In Paris, the dog poop situation is even worse, and there are whole sections of the city that reek of piss because drunk men apparently prefer to pee outside on a stone wall instead of in a public toilet just a few meters away. I think your basic premise is right, that we should all aspire to keeping our cities clean and safe... but I don't want you to be misled into thinking that western cities are somehow clean enough that you can eat off the sidewalk, or that the clean downtown areas in cities are nice because the citizens actually care and make an effort to keep them that way-- if there weren't cleaning crews, they'd probably be full of litter just like the less-central, less touristy areas. To be fair, though, I admit I've never seen anyone defecate in the street in a western city. That would be... surprising. I’ve never been to India, but I live in the States, and I’ve traveled a lot in Europe and Japan. I find it really interesting that you’re holding modern countries up as a standard to aspire to, because I think most western cities are actually pretty disgusting. I was just in Philadelphia last weekend, where many streets are full of trash and the risk of stepping in dog poop is pretty high. In Paris, the dog poop situation is even worse, and there are whole sections of the city that reek of piss because drunk men apparently prefer to pee outside on a stone wall instead of in a public toilet just a few meters away.
I think your basic premise is right, that we should all aspire to keeping our cities clean and safe… but I don’t want you to be misled into thinking that western cities are somehow clean enough that you can eat off the sidewalk, or that the clean downtown areas in cities are nice because the citizens actually care and make an effort to keep them that way– if there weren’t cleaning crews, they’d probably be full of litter just like the less-central, less touristy areas.
To be fair, though, I admit I’ve never seen anyone defecate in the street in a western city. That would be… surprising.

]]>