Not quite a compare - you can move house, you can’t move planet. It’s not that I would stop looking after my own garden if my neighbours weren’t looking after theirs. It just feels pointless. Using your analogy, if all surrounding neighbours had rotten rubbish in their garden, no matter what you would do, it would still stink in your garden.
I hear this argument over and over again:
“Why should I bother recycling? China is poisoning the planet.”
It’s like reverse-whataboutism.
I find it really lazy and a pointless attitude.
The argument generalizes to:
“Why do anything good when bad exists in the world?”
Cleanliness is its own reward.
I can tell you if I lived in stink-town where 100% of everyone else’s house was a festering mess, I would keep mine clean.
Being ecologically friendly is its own reward.
If your neighbor’s house and lawn is cluttered with garbage and rotting food, do you also let your house gather the same?
Or do you wish they did a better job and kept your house clean all the same?
What if you had 95 neighbors all full of garbage and rotted food? Is there any number that would make you do the same?
Not quite a compare - you can move house, you can’t move planet. It’s not that I would stop looking after my own garden if my neighbours weren’t looking after theirs. It just feels pointless. Using your analogy, if all surrounding neighbours had rotten rubbish in their garden, no matter what you would do, it would still stink in your garden.
I hear this argument over and over again: “Why should I bother recycling? China is poisoning the planet.” It’s like reverse-whataboutism. I find it really lazy and a pointless attitude. The argument generalizes to: “Why do anything good when bad exists in the world?”
Cleanliness is its own reward. I can tell you if I lived in stink-town where 100% of everyone else’s house was a festering mess, I would keep mine clean.
If you had 95 messy roommates would you not clean the kitchen sink?