why are people so (explicit) stupid?

[raindogt]

So, I took the boys fishing yesterday during the day. There were a few people dunking worms, and a few spin casters.

Fast forward to later in the day-- I go out by myself. No one on the water, but all of their trash shows that they were there.....

I know I am preaching to the choir-- but why do people leave worm containers and sunflower seed packages and McDonalds wrappers and whatnot on stream and river banks and lake shores?

Secondly, short of picking it up, is there any recourse?

I know exactly what this group of people looks like-- and I saw exactly what they had in the way of throw away materials-- I know that they are the one's who left the stuff behind..... I don't want to waste a DNR reps time by having him/ her wait around and watch them leave the trash-- what to do?

As a former cage fighter, I'd like to take matters into my own hands-- but obviously wouldn't.....

 

[mojo]

So, I took the boys fishing yesterday during the day. There were a few people dunking worms, and a few spin casters.

Fast forward to later in the day-- I go out by myself. No one on the water, but all of their trash shows that they were there.....

I know I am preaching to the choir-- but why do people leave worm containers and sunflower seed packages and McDonalds wrappers and whatnot on stream and river banks and lake shores?

Secondly, short of picking it up, is there any recourse?

I know exactly what this group of people looks like-- and I saw exactly what they had in the way of throw away materials-- I know that they are the one's who left the stuff behind..... I don't want to waste a DNR reps time by having him/ her wait around and watch them leave the trash-- what to do?

As a former cage fighter, I'd like to take matters into my own hands-- but obviously wouldn't.....

I have to say it's their upbringing. And the B.S. political correctness that abounds all around us.

 

[wjc]

Because so many people have no respect in this country anymore for others' properties, the planet, and in many cases, their own stuff. Most are lazy *******s that the planet could well do without as far as I am concerned.

And I'm afraid the only way they would ever cease doing it is if they got their sorry asses thrashed immediately every time they did it by anyone who saw them. There is no way government will ever do anything about it.

The sad thing is that I see looks of shock when I reach into my pocket for change and pull out 5 or six cigarette butt filters out with the change. Not shock that I smoke, but shock that I don't just throw them on the ground or into the Gulfstream like everyone else does.

Sorry for the rant, but you hit a sore spot with me.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[flyfisher45]

People should be more respectful of the outdoors, I can only imagine what their houses look like. I took my girlfriends son out fishing at a local State Park and there was so much trash in the water it was unbelievable, It really isn't that hard to carry out your trash.

 

[fredaevans]

I truly feel your pain. Fortunately where I live this is a FEW and far between, but you can see 'it' building. Always have a real camera (diggie) in the car, or on me. Hit some place that's this may not be good will always take tons of pictures. (DON'T use your cell phone for photos, too damned obvious.)

People, the mess, cars, license plates etc. Just be 'discrete' as you're doing same. Makes for a hell of a pile of 'back up' material if I file a Police report.:thmbup:

Better yet, the Oregon State Police deal with most of the 'Ah Hell' type of reports .. and when you hand them a shief of photos ... it make what may/may not for them a bit easier.

Just maybe?:icon_roll

fae

 

[raindogt]

I have to say it's their upbringing. And the B.S. political correctness that abounds all around us.

Not trying to contest you, but what does b.s. political correctness have to do with this? This angle hadn't occurred to me...???

 

[Jimmie]

Here's my slant. Because many have no buy-in to our ediquette, rules, regulations, laws,nor just preserving our country. They seem comitted to making our country look third world. You should see what they are doing to the Sierras. We just had a law enforcement presentation at our FF Club of all of the trash and poaching being done by the illegal farming on your land. The pendelum will eventually swing, but for this society to make it happen the politically correct bs will have to be shelved. Just one mans opinion, but I think I'm right. I have tolerence for "what's right is right". Not for destroying what we built.

 

[FrankB2]

I understand your concern, but things are much better than they were when I was young. It was common to see the shoulders of highways absolutely packed with garbage, largely fast food trash that was routinely thrown from car windows. It took a monumental public relations campaign to end that practice, and people to adopt highways. Southeast Pennsylvania looked like a landfill during the late throughout the 1970's. I worked in at a fast food chain one summer while in college, and they didn't put trash cans in the parking lot. They said that not having trash cans would discourage people from sitting in the parking lot to eat their food....WHAT??? They ate in the parking lot anyway, and dumped their trash out the window...DUH!

Dumping tires, car batteries, household appliances, and everything else that is taken care of so nicely today was also quite common. The local lake was often the place of choice for all of these items, and it was horrible. The side of the road was once again used as a dump for this trash as well. The parks in New Jersey had a policy of not having trash cans when we lived there during the 1990's. Instead, they had signs that read take your trash with you. That worked in some cases, but not much better than the parking lot at the fast food joint.

I was at the local lake this past week, and saw a few foil gigar wrappers and snelled hook packages in one spot. The rest of it was remarkably clean. The local state park has had a few worm containers left along the bank, but very few. While it's not pleasant to see, it's a far cry from the zillion corn cans I had to look at during the 70's and 80's. It's not a perfect world yet, but it's much better than sitting in stinking traffic during the pre-emission control days, and I haven't seen a family station wagon with everyone tossing their McDonald's trash out the windows in a LONG time. "You forgot your trash" might work if you see someone littering, and if it doesn't, they might begin to think about littering. Erecting a cage to smack around a litterer around will result in you being sent to the gray bar hotel, so that's not a good plan. I heard prison fishing stinks.

P.S. People didn't pick up their dog's mess until recently, and stepping in dog **** was very common. My neighbor (1978-1980's) was an engineer for Mobil, and he regularly poured his used car oil down the storm drain when I was a teenager. The drain was less than 1 mile from a great stretch of the Delaware River, and he just laughed when I expressed outrage. He somehow changed his thinking on that issue during the very late 1980's, and recycled all of his fluids. Things have improved
wildly, but there are people that need to be educated and reminded.....

 

[fishnskiguy]

Interesting thread.

I happen to be a team leader in what may well be the biggest community highway cleanup in the U.S. This year, on the first Saturday in early May, several thousand volunteers cleaned up 40 miles of Interstate 70 and 40 miles of U.S. 6 which parallels the interstate, through the Vail valley.

One of my team members and I filled 11 55-gallon bags with trash along one mile of road, and we did this same stretch last year.

I ride my bike along this part of the road every other day in summer. Once it gets clean, it stays clean for a long time, but once trash becomes visible, everyone seems to say, "What the hell" and out come the beer cans and bottles.

Wish I had a solution.

Chris

 

[mojo]

Not trying to contest you, but what does b.s. political correctness have to do with this? This angle hadn't occurred to me...???

For an example- In schools, no dress code, no "Board of Education", no diciplining by school officials. They're all afraid of offending someone. There is no respect for anything being taught.
I'm sure others feel the same and can add to it.

 

[littledavid123]

For an example- In schools, no dress code, no "Board of Education", no diciplining by school officials. They're all afraid of offending someone. There is no respect for anything being taught.
I'm sure others feel the same and can add to it.

I agree with Mojo, they teach tolerance in school not respect. And nobody today is held accountable for their own actions. And I am not afraid to say this after witnessing so many times, the illegal aliens have no respect for our land or country.

Dave

 

[wt bash]

I have to agree with Mojo, Wjc, and Jimmie but just about every post so far has had good points. I often carry a bag or sadly I can easily find one mixed with the other trash and pick up what I can but unfortunately it can bee seen in two different lights. One positive being hey some one does care and maybe I should pitch in too the other being agh @#$% it that guy will pick it up. Things are getting better but it often seems like for every small step forward there are two huge leaps behind. It is a refection of upbringing and our society as whole, the lack of discipline and "could care less" attitude branches out to all aspects.

 

[FlyBum]

IMO there is very little honor in our country. There is no honor in our local or national leaders. Most people just don't care about anything, but what make them feel good, what is convenient, and feeding their appetites. They can care less for our natural resources except for how they can use them and use them up and feel no sense of responsibility to care for and preserve them as long as they are there and taken care of by someone else. The only thing that will stop this is when it costs them significantly. The ethnic groups that used to line the Sacramento River during Striper season and keep everything they caught without regard for rules, regulations, laws didn't stop until our Fish and Game started giving them tickets with large fines and confiscating their gear.

 

[wjc]

I agree with Mojo, they teach tolerance in school not respect. And nobody today is held accountable for their own actions. And I am not afraid to say this after witnessing so many times, the illegal aliens have no respect for our land or country.

I too agree about the illegals. But it iis not just them.

[C

As a former cage fighter, I'd like to take matters into my own hands-- but obviously wouldn't.....

It's a good idea not to because this kind of thing can sometimes escalate very fast especially if the culprits are drunken punks and take offense.

This happened to me in 1973 while I was visiting the folks and finishing up a cabin I'd bulit for them on a lake outside of Bangor right next to a big rock where kids used to jump off into the lake. Private Property - No Trespassing.

I had been back for a year or so after 4 years in SE asia, and was heading off to the Belgian Congo on a job pretty quickly. I'd just driven into the drive and my mom, in a real panic, came running out and told me that Dad had grabbed a shotgun, and he and the two dogs went out after some motorcycle gang guy who had threatened to burn the house down.

So I ran upstairs, slammed a cllip into my 30-06 grabbed a spare full cllip, and headed out locked and loaded. All the while my mother was screaming at me to wait for Elmer - the local Sherif who was on the way. I heard my father screaming at them and I yelled out "it's me Dad" as I ran up, and he quieted down while I came up about 20' abreast of him and clicked off my safely in the now total silence except for a low growl from one of the dogs.

Fortunately none of them was drunk enough or stupid enough to make any sudden moves, or any moves at all, in fact. Only once before had I ever seen my father that angry, and I wasn't about to put up with that kind of threat or treatment of my mother either. Those guys were terrified, and with good reason.

Elmer showed up within half a minute or so of my arrival, also with a shotgun, and told us to point our weapons at the ground. Probably the only time in ther lives those jerks were happy to see the law.

After going through the ID business and before escorting them to the other side of the county line, Elmer told them that if he saw them around again, they were going to jail, then added that if he (pointing at my father) saw them around again, they would probably be going to the morgue.

That bunch wasn't even from Maine, and I'm sure after Elmer got on the radio, they were dogged by cops everywhere they went in the state. How they found out about "The Rodk" with no internet, I have no idea.

It all started when one of them walked wandered onto the folks property, probably after taking a dump in the woods, and encountered my mother planting vegtables. When she told him that he was on pivate property, he threw a beer can down in front of her and said, "Shut the **** up ***** or I'll burn your ****ing house down".

My father was within earshot inside the camp and had already had it with the "rock crowd" as he called all of them that got loaded, yelled and screamed profanities and left trash all over there. But this was just waaaaay too much for him to handle.

But you are right not to take matters into your own hands - unless you are on your own property and have some reliable backup. Doesn't hurt to be good friends with the Sheriff either.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[littledavid123]

I have carried out bucket loads of trash from where I fish and will continue to do so.

When I used to own a canoe livery I would always give free canoes to the game officials. They would go down the river in street clothes handing out $200.00 tickets to anyone dropping empty beer cans in the river. Folks would come in after the float complaining about the tickets...And if they only knew it was me providing the canoes.

Dave

 

[Guest1]

For an example- In schools, no dress code, no "Board of Education", no diciplining by school officials. They're all afraid of offending someone. There is no respect for anything being taught.
I'm sure others feel the same and can add to it.

Nailed it right on the head.:clap:

 

[wjc]

That's great David. If tickets like that were given out everywhere this country could be cleaned up.

Singapore used to be the pits. Then sometime before about 1968 they elected a new mayor, or whatever the head hauncho was called. When I went there in 69 the place was spotless. I got into a cab and lit a smoke. The cab driver said, make sure you use the ashtray, don't even put an ash out the window.

I said," an ash?" He told me that if a cop saw so much as an ash go out his window the fine he would get amounted to almost three months of his income!

Singapore was far and away the cleanest city on earth.

But how could we possibly do that when we can't even execute people who torture children before murdering them? Their brains are broken and can't be fixed. How many Americans do you think want to pay for their food, clothes, toothpaste, dental work, medical care, TV's and libraries, when 250 million people could split up the cost of one shotgun shell and a cremation? Or a long length of rope and a slightly longer flight of stairs?

When we first moved to Bangor from S. Florida in 1959, there were signs in downtown Bangor that said - "No Spitting on the Sidewalk - $10.00 Fine" and it was enforced by the cops that walked a beat. We've come a long way in the last 50 years, and I don't know many people who like the destination.

The trash is just one more of the symptoms.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[ben664]

I think living in US, France or other country, there are always ass-holes leaving trash in the nature. It's a lack of nature respect.

Today, I turn on the radio, and says: "In 2021, Germany want to be a nuclear free country." Very good news ! I hope it willbe true !

I'm working in photovoltaic industry, and in France, we have the last f****g place of renewable energies.

 

[wabi]

Went to the local lake a few weeks ago and a group of 4 people (2 men/2 women) stopped at the same spot I was parked at (only room for 2 vehicles) and started unloading fishing poles, chairs, coolers, etc. I decided to move to another location to give them room to fish even though I was there first.

I moved my vehicle on down the road to the next parking area and fished there.

When I came out at dark I noticed they were gone, but left enough trash to fill a trash bag or two at the first spot. I know it wasn't there earlier, so it had to be the 4 slobs that crowded me out.

What makes me mad is that I didn't even check the type of car (only noticed the color and general body style) or license number.

I did have a talk with the park manager a few days later and told him about it. I asked him if in the future if I get details and/or pictures if he will follow up. He told me if I had proof of who did it he would first contact them and give them a chance to get back there quickly and clean it up, and if they refuse he will turn it over to a wildlife officer.

I now take notice (and pictures) of a lot of the other people around me. If I catch someone leaving trash I WILL turn them in!

I do pick up small items such as empty worm tubs or pop cans, but I don't carry large trash bags (I keep a couple plastic grocery bags under the seat to use for my own trash) with me. Guess I should. There are no trash cans at the lake anymore since the state cut funding for the parks, but there is a dumpster at the park office and the manager told me it was fine to throw my trash (or any I pick up at the park) there. Takes maybe a minute to stop and throw it in the dumpster, but if it's my own trash I just take it home with me.

 

[creeker]

Don't come to Southern California..... It's got to be the worst offending population in the country. I pulled 36 bags of garbage from our designated wild trout stream last season. I watched, and confronted, several folks do serious damage to a treasure.

The diaper brigade makes me puke.