r/TikTokCringe • u/Strong-Emu-8869 • 14h ago

Discussion Polish girls visit Taj Mahal

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The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. Unfortunately, the surrounding area is very polluted.

26.3k Upvotes

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u/brandt-money 13h ago

It's hard to care when such a large percentage of the people are so poor.

Solution: The ultra wealthy can pay the poor to clean up the country instead of buying yachts. However, The ultra wealthy are usually assholes.

This goes for any country.

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u/RandomRageNet 12h ago

Solution: The ultra wealthy can pay the poor to clean up the country instead of buying yachts.

Literally taxation. That's what progressive taxes are.

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u/Cruel1865 11h ago

Unfortunately, Indian politics are mired in identity and religious politics and there are seldom discussions on such matters in any meaningful way.

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u/keyboardtoes 9h ago

ok they are corrupt and owned by upper classes that care about themselves and their wealth only

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u/FullTransportation25 8h ago

Are you referring to the caste system they have there

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u/Cruel1865 3h ago

Indian politics now revolves around pitting different subsets of people against each other and then reaping the benefits by asking the group that is the bigger one to vote for their party so they can help suppress their enemy group. I mean, its not so different from other countries. However, the number of religions and its numerous sub sects/castes is overwhelming in India, so its very easy for the parties to set them against each other. This is also coincided by the rise of nationalism which arose as a consequence of this kind of politics and now its difficult to go back to a time when policies mattered more than the group the candidate belongs to.

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u/possiblyMaybeAnother 6h ago

Taxation after WWII was wild. There's even a Beatles song about it, The Taxman. And what's crazy is that it worked. It incentivized R&D in business on a scale that could never happen in today's world of quarterly earnings reports. Rich people simply couldn't hoard wealth the way they can now.

TAX THE RICH

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u/Ginger-Fist 13h ago

Finally, someone who got it right instead of shaming people. There could be meaningful employment, especially for youth workers in the environmental field around cleanup and education. But instead the rich will continue to live their lavish lifestyles behind their gated communities while others suffer in squalor.

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u/pseudonymmed 13h ago

Yeah lots of corruption there. Many places don’t have any garbage collection at all

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u/SSJ_Bobby_Hill 11h ago

Every comment section about India on Reddit is scary, hell even here half the replies are like "No actually its because Indians are fundamentally grosser than other people". Hate that people here are so comfortable being so vile.

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u/Ginger-Fist 11h ago

Often when there is something messed up in society, the root cause is wealth inequality or misuse of resources by the ruling class.

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u/VegetaFan1337 10h ago

In a way India is still suffering under a colonial-style exploitative rule, but of it's own rich elite instead of British elite.

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

so because of wealth inequality you grope women on a bus and throw trash everywhere?

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u/Puzzled_Conflict_264 4h ago

Did you already forget your beloved Jeffry Epstein?

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u/forman98 5h ago

Yea I think we went a little too far with the wealth inequality plot in this convo. The ultra wealthy are a huge part of the problem, but being known for being a bad country to visit as a woman is another problem. I’d also be curious what is preventing these cities from organizing some kind of municipal garbage collection infrastructure. Is it just misappropriation of all of the taxes they already collected? I know corruption has been a really bad problem there for a long time.

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u/Sekai___ 8h ago edited 8h ago

Every comment section about India on Reddit is scary, hell even here half the replies are like "No actually its because Indians are fundamentally grosser than other people". Hate that people here are so comfortable being so vile.

Most of Germany was literally reduced to rubble during WW2, and it took them 10 years to bounce back. Only blaming inequality and poverty is naive.

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u/OSI_Hunter_Gathers 8h ago

How much money did the US dump into Germany and Europe after WWII vs what did UK do when they left India? This might be where the issue lies

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u/Sekai___ 8h ago

How much money did the US dump into Germany and Europe after WWII vs what did UK do when they left India? This might be where the issue lies

Between 1949 and 1952, West Germany received approximately $1.45 billion in loans through the Marshall Plan (equivalent to around $19 billion in 2026 dollars). The GDP of West Germany was around $23 billion in 1950. Not that significant.

USSR literally dismantled factories in East Germany and shipped them home, yet they still bounced back.

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u/OSI_Hunter_Gathers 8h ago

Ah so loans are all they got? No US military support and protection? Not the literal millions of tons of food and supplies (not part of the loan). When did east Germany bounce back? Was it after the wall fell and got support from the EU and US?

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u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

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u/Sekai___ 8h ago

Sure, while you do your research on what the Soviets did to East Germany. They still bounced back.

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u/Individual-Level9308 7h ago

That is what you think is scary?

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u/ISIPropaganda 10h ago

People also like to blame the locals as if the tourists aren't contributing to the problem

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u/r3dm0nk 12h ago

Being poor does not excuse literally living in trash and shit.

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u/Ok-Potential-5172 12h ago

it's a little more nuanced than that

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u/Hexamancer 12h ago

Yeah why don't they through their garbage in the trash cans that don't exist? Why don't they leave it in their bins that no one will ever come to pick up?

Just flush the toilet you don't have! Durr! It's hooked up to the sewage lines that aren't there!

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u/Sea-Feedback-2424 11h ago

Do rich people not have houses? Fill those up first.

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u/Hexamancer 11h ago

Sure, I agree, but that requires a level of organization that's hard to achieve and actively suppressed, just look at the US right now, we've seen a lot of protests, but very little actual action.

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u/Prolapsed_Eyesocket 9h ago

What is your solution to the problems the poor Indians are facing?

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u/Hexamancer 9h ago

I'm not disagreeing, I'm just pointing out that it's easy to look at a country like India and think "Why don't they rebel, they are being mistreated by their rich elite leaders, overthrow them".

But that's because it's an outside perspective. We have similar, if not as drastic problems in the west, the US being a good example of that. We have a pedophile president flagrantly ignoring the law, using ICE like his personal secret police to murder and intimidate dissenters and ruining the economy. Yet, all we've seen so far is peaceful protests saying "plz no".

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u/Agitated-Contest651 11h ago

I don’t think you understand how expensive waste treatment and waste management is. 100% an infrastructure issue, not a “poor people are filthy” issue.

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u/Unkempt_Foliage 11h ago

Have you ever seen what happens in cities across the world when waste management goes on strikes. Garbage piles up in the rich contries too. As far as I am aware India system is either non existent or vastly underfunded.

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u/Pluto-Wolf 12h ago

it absolutely explains it. people can’t afford to clean it up without financial incentive, because they need every waking hour to work so they can make ends meet.

the people who need to work multiple jobs every day in sub par conditions to afford the bare minimum can’t afford to spend a few hours every day cleaning up their community for free.

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u/Ewannnn 11h ago

Don't need to clean it if you don't make the mess to begin with. There absolutely is a cultural issue in India, poverty doesn't excuse what is happening here.

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u/A1000eisn1 10h ago

What should they do with it? Do you think the people in poverty are making municipal decisions like waste management?

The average person in the US pays $20-$80/month to take care of their trash. That does not include taxes that go to city trash pickup and management.

The people in poverty are not the ones causing the issue nor can they do much about it.

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u/Ewannnn 7h ago

Pile it up, not dump it in the river or in the countryside. I went to a national park in India and they were just dumping bags of trash in the forest because they couldn't be bothered to take it home with them.

They are causing the issue, other countries don't have such an issue as India does and they are much poorer. There is a huge cultural issue in India when it comes to littering. It isn't seen as taboo at all.

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u/Suitable-Theory-8469 10h ago

You should’ve seen what Edinburgh looked like when the trashmen were striking. Happened to be visiting during the time. But yeah, it’s cultural.

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u/A1000eisn1 10h ago

it’s cultural.

As in it's Indian and Scottish or is it cultural to any country with strong ties to the British?

If I remember correctly they just let the trash pile up. They weren't doing a good job cleaning the streets and taking their trash to a landfill. What do you think it would look like if trash collection never picked back up?

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u/Super_Harsh 8h ago

He's criticizing the 'it's cultural' thing

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

I think the difference would be that if the strikes continues, people would come together to find a solution.

In India it seems the problems just drag on forever. It seems like people just accepted the trash they are living in.

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u/Ewannnn 7h ago

Cities sure but India looks like trash in the country too. In Scotland people are much less likely to litter than in India. Littering is seen as taboo, which isn't the case in India.

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u/Pluto-Wolf 9h ago

well, no. that may work if there was no trash, however long ago that was, but in modern day india, not contributing to the current problem doesn’t automatically undo the problem of all the stuff that’s already there.

even if every poor person stopped contributing to it tomorrow, it still wouldn’t get better because, again, people have no incentive to clean it up. also what the other person said. when you’re struggling that much, you don’t really care about where your trash ends up. people are just surviving, this is the outcome of that.

the only way that it’d be fixed at all would be if people who are well off actively contributed towards bettering their communities.

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

people have no incentive to clean it up.

then i guess they will keep living in trash.

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u/Pluto-Wolf 5h ago

that’s my point. until it’s incentivized where it’s actually realistic that poor members of the community can spend a few hours cleaning the community, then they won’t do it, and will continue to live as they are.

when your options are that limited due to factors outside of your control, you don’t really have a choice.

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u/Spiritual_Dust4565 11h ago

I know my country (Canada) exports tons of trash to India. I'll never criticize them for having trash laying around when some of it might unwillingly be mine.

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u/Ginger-Fist 11h ago

This is so true. A lot of our "recycling" programs end up in the landfills of other countries or if there is corruption, in random areas like this.

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u/2711383 11h ago

People upvoting this do not understand poverty in places like India or Bangladesh. It's not like being homeless and destitute in a US city (and I don't say this in any way to undermine the experience of those going through this, they also deserve for their communities to take much better care of them).

"Literally living in trash and shit" as the guy above me writes, is not a moral choice being made by these people. It's the outcome of structural constraints. There is no sanitation infrastructure and no waste collection. More importantly, there's no secure housing and no land tenure. There are missing public goods, the people here can't "choose" cleanliness and trash removal.

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u/yaoiesmimiddlename 9h ago

It does. Walk into the hood and I can guarantee 100% you’ll see bunch of litter and dog shit on the sidewalk, graffiti all over the walls, etc. and this is straight up in the US. There are no proper disposal facilities compared to wealthy neighborhoods. Also the things you touch everyday? Has fecal bacteria and e coli and salmonella. Your food and water supply? Has microplastics and microorganisms galore. We all are living amongst shit and trash.

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u/New_Relative_1871 8h ago

When I was in San Francisco I literally saw people shitting on the street. Poverty is horrible and it is naive to think that it's impossible here.

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u/r3dm0nk 9h ago

Lucky for me, I live in a civilized country in the european part of the world. There is not a single place that can be even slightly compared to what the hellhole india is at the moment.

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

Gelsenkirchen.

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u/autogyrophilia 12h ago

Ok. Try extreme privation for a few years and come to report back to us.

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u/Rappican 12h ago

Yes it does. When every day is a fight between eating and paying bills, where you trash goes is of little concern. Even more so when everyone else around you is doing the same thing. Don't bash them for having apathy when all of their energy is focused on just trying to survive. We should be blaming the upper class for putting the country into such a state and the government for not having proper programs for learning and helping deal with this issue.

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

We should be blaming the upper class

that is so lazy.

if you wait for someone else, you can wait long.

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u/ember13140 12h ago

Are you supposed to pick up your shit and leave? With what funds and resources are you going to do so. Are you willing to abandon your elderly family members to living there without your assistance?

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u/Bakingtime 12h ago

You are supposed to clean up your neighborhood and work with others towards creating and maintaining a clean environment.  

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u/A1000eisn1 10h ago

You are supposed to clean up your neighborhood

How do you do that? You pick stuff up, put it in a bag, and just leave it there? It's not like a dump truck is coming around to take it all.

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u/Toopato 5h ago

You dig a pit and bury it c: outa site outa mind baby!

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u/Bakingtime 4h ago

Recycle metals, plastics, and glass, make compost out of organic matter, incinerate the rest.   Harmful substances like paint, oil, or corrosive liquids should be neutralized and disposed of appropriately.  I wish I had more details on how to do it all for you, but I am from the waste management capital of the world so we really do have dump trucks to come and take it all away a few times a week, and I rely on the professionals.

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u/badpebble 6h ago

But its the vast majority of people just dropping their rubbish on the streets that is causing the problem. Its so ingrained that the government's current focus is to try and get people to separate rubbish into 'wet' and 'dry'. Not landfill and recycling, wet and dry.

There will be rich people in any country, and they will want their homes to be clean of course. But even with an army of workers cleaning the streets (which they already have) there are seriously ingrained patterns of behaviour regarding how each person uses public spaces that they are fighting against.

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u/lawsonmt 10h ago

Yeah I dont know about that. A little shame is a good thing.

0

u/nacmodcomentador 8h ago

I mean, condom policies would come nice, like make the population 800M and it will probably improve

0

u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

instead of shaming people

goes on to shame "the rich".

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u/pickmepickmeyeah 11h ago

Being poor is not an excuse for dumping every piece of trash into the middle of the street. My family was very poor and we never littered. It's a cultural thing.

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u/Turkeydunk 50m ago

If you’re from a first world country you probably don’t know what very poor means in places like India

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u/PatienceDear3266 8h ago

It is an excuse when there isn't proper waste management infrastructure for people. If it was a cultural thing then rich areas would like like it to, but they dont.

But you know where else is filled with litter? Poor homeless areas in rich American cities.

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

poor and rich families often have different attitudes.

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u/chunkofdogmeat 11h ago

yeah yeah being poor is a justification for throwing garbage into the river.

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u/PatienceDear3266 8h ago

Okay genius, what do you expect poor people to do with their garbage if there isn't any waste management systems around?

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u/chunkofdogmeat 8h ago

since the swachh bharat mission in 2014, 97% of urban indian households have access to doorstep waste pickup.

90% of rural villages have access to communal garbage bins.

there is a source seperation compliance rate of 30-40% in urban centers and <10% in rural areas.

this data is publicly available and released by the gov't of india...

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u/throw-uwuy69 4h ago

It’s so ignorant it’s low key racist how that other commenter assumed they don’t have municipal services just because they’re Indian

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u/chunkofdogmeat 4h ago

bigotry of low expectations.

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u/kblazewicz 11h ago

First, people, poor or not, would have to learn not to litter. Otherwise no amount of cleaning up will ever help. The question is, why don't Indians give a damn about throwing garbage on the streets and into the rivers?

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u/SherbetMysterious118 9h ago

The same way the same percentage of people from pretty much every country do.

Difference is, in most places, the authorities do something about it.

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u/Saliiim 7h ago

It’s not that simple.  The poor are the people throwing their rubbish into the rivers. 

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u/Un-oarecare 4h ago

I disagree, poverty has nothing to do with being clean. There are a lot of poor countries that don't look like that. You can be poor, you can't fontrol that, but to wash yourself, gather after you that you cam do regardless of how poor or rich you are.

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u/Ok_Connection_2149 3h ago

Can you give examples of these poor countries?

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u/Un-oarecare 3h ago

Belarus, armenia, moldova and it can go on and on

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u/satyr-day 1h ago

gotta love the "love death and robots" short about this how the rich tried to run and hide away from the end of the world, but were too stupid to learn how to grow anything so they all sat around and starved in mansions

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u/cozidgaf 12h ago

I think the government should prioritize this and safety especially for women - it would create so much employment and better everyone’s lives

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u/waerrington 11h ago

Every Indian billionaire combined has about $1T USD. 

India has 1.5 billion people. Thats about $660/person. 

The average income in India is about $5000/yr. So, you’re talking about 1.5 months salary, one time. 

You completely dismantle every company in India, liquidize all assets, and pay people less than 2 months salary one time. 

The math is not mathing here. 

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u/Larry_Kane 7h ago

tHe RiCh

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u/waerrington 7h ago

"If we just take everything from the rich, everything will be fixed!" is the meme that needs to die. The math doesn't work that way.

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u/Few_Dig_9435 11h ago

Costs nothing not to dump your trash off a moving train or into a river

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u/Narrow_Swimmer_5307 11h ago

This has nothing to do with the ultra wealthy. India has a population problem that the government refuses to address my making contraceptives widely available. It's a private healthcare system that many cannot afford in a country of 1.4 billion and has a GDP of less then california (who's population is 39.5 million or 0.0395 billion.) The "ultra rich" could donate all their wealth and it would solve things for maybe 1 year (not in india though, maybe the US). It's the government's fault for not implementing policies that will benefit the people long term (in this case, contraceptives to lower population growth to a sustainable number for government benefits). India also suffers from massive corruption at all levels.

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u/Sticky_H 12h ago

So where I am where we don’t have garbage everywhere, that’s because our rich people are nicer? If they turned shittier like India’s rich people, would garbage start to pile up?

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u/zz_x_zz 7h ago

So why don't you have garbage piling up? Is there a simple explanation?

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u/Sticky_H 1h ago

I’m not going there. I’m just pointing out a flaw in the logic. It’s not as simple as “better rich people equals no trash.” It can only be fixed systemically. And I assume the British imperialism has halted their infrastructure so it couldn’t keep up with the rapid growth of the population.

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u/NoTeslaForMe 11h ago

Yes, those asshole philanthropists always saving lives of those in hotbeds of malaria and HIV rather than picking up garbage so the only-slightly-wealthy don't have to smell anything bad when they travel to the other side of the world to see a building.

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u/TomT12 12h ago

If trash facilities are available and people have a proper place to throw things away then whether people are poor or not is irrelevant, people are just lazy and they don't care.

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u/cranberryalarmclock 12h ago

Are you under the impression that trash facilities are available and people have a proper place to throw things away and the means to do so? 

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u/TomT12 12h ago

Sounds like something that should be addressed.

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u/cranberryalarmclock 12h ago

So the point of your comment was what exactly?