Lately, I've seen more and more people littering openly. Power windows are rolled down on their cars and fingers come out with little bits of plastic or paper. People at a restaurant drop a napkin and don't even bother to bend over and pick it up, even though they're looking right at it.
People walk to business entry doors and walk around the bag or paper laying on the ground between them and the door. Even if there are multiple bags or papers, they walk around them.
The move that gets me the most lately is the intersection drop of a bag of garbage. A car pulls up to a red light. Usually a turning lane, but not always. Sometimes a "going straight" lane. Just before the light turns green, the driver's side car door opens up a couple of inches and then a neatly tied plastic bag full of fast food restaurant refuse is placed gently on the asphalt beside the car.
The light turns green, the door closes quickly and the car speeds off. I find it funny that the bag is neatly tied. It's almost like they can hear their mother telling them they need to clean up or be polite when they do things.
But it's not always young people. I've seen older ladies do it. I've seen middle-aged guys do it. It's like they don't want to be bothered to have garbage in their vehicle while they drive around. So they'd rather pollute the neighborhood.
Especially if it's not their neighborhood. Since they're just passing through it's obvious to me that this is an outcome of the balkanization of our entertainment media. Now that everybody's staring at phone screens and streaming on their as-big-as-they-can-fit living room screens (or bedroom screens as the case may be) nobody sees the commercial I grew up seeing with the Indian sitting on his horse with one tear falling down his cheek and the announcer reminding us that we should not litter.
Sad.
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