Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The pigs among us


Discarded
London, ON, September 2009


I often wonder what's going through the head of someone who knowingly leaves stuff like this behind. When I see this and begin to feel my blood boil, I often like to entertain myself with urban-cleanliness-vigilante scenarios where I swoop in, wearing a Guardian Angels red beret, t-shirt and camo pants tucked into my oh so perfectly tied boots, and proceed to berate said litterer until he/she repents.

The rules of modern society, however, dictate a far more passive approach. Namely, stay away from strangers, no matter how much their behavior ticks you off, lest they turn you into a hood ornament and tomorrow's headline. Vigilante justice is so '70s, anyway.

Your turn: Throwaway society. Please discuss.

About this photo: We've been exploring junk-themed photos all week as part of Thematic Photographic (click here if you're new to TP.) Tonight at 7:00 EDT, I'll be launching the new theme, leaves. I figured now was as good a time as any to have some fun with the seasonal change.

5 comments:

Erica said...

I grew up in the country on a dirt road. My Opa would go for a walk every day, bringing a plastic bag with him - not for the dog, but for the garbage. Without fail he would fill that bag with garbage, most often Tim Horton's cups or other fast food litter. Disgusting.
There are a lot of people out there that just don't respect the earth and I think that's really sad. I never toss anything on the ground, save for the occasional biodegradable apple core, and I'm going to make sure that my kids do the same.

David Edward said...

in my mountain / forest town the #1 way to get me on you case is to throw a lit cigarette out the car window. Grrr

Mojo said...

The only thing that could make this worse is something I see all the time -- and it mystifies me every time. I see this very scene, but right next to a trash bin. Now I can understand that somebody with good intent maybe tried to get it in there and missed. But if you went all that way aren't you going to pick up your own rebound and score? I mean come on.

My last couple of entries sort of fit in with what you're talking about here. One is junk that you know is there, but it's camouflaged by the night. The other is... well it's just sad.

Thematic Photographic 72: "Junk" v.6.0 - Fill In The Junk

Thematic Photographic 72: "Junk" v.7.0 - Fill In The Junk - Part Deux

MB said...

A few times I've been brave enough to pick something up and say "excuse me, I think you dropped this." Burning cigs. and gum that leaves black spots all over the ground are the worst.

Some people are slobs and just don't care where they throw their trash. It's awful.

Pamela said...

My mom would have mopped the floor with me had I littered.

And my kids know how I often judge a persons character on what they leave beside the road.

Our state has an 800 number to dial to turn them in (unless the financial melt down has cut that -- haven't called in recently)

I've called the number plenty