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by throwaway19884626 days ago |
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upvoteby rayiner26 days ago|
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Parts of America still are high trust: https://qctimes.com/entertainment/dining/article_5371e735-53...

When Lee Kuan Yew visited London for the first time after World War II, he was impressed by the fact that it had unattended newspaper stands where people were trusted to take a newspaper and leave money: https://youtu.be/b_6H26fpZp8. As someone from a low trust society, I fully concur with his assessment that this was the mark of a truly “civilized society.”

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upvoteby hattmall26 days ago|
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These sort of unmanned roadside stands are all over the southern US.
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upvoteby rayiner26 days ago|
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In major cities? LKY was talking about an unmanned newspaper stand and cash box in Trafalgar Square. Would that work in Times Square today?
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upvoteby nerdsniper26 days ago|
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We do have "little libraries" where anyone can take or leave books in many people's yards. But I haven't seen the honor system produce stands in urban areas for the past 10+ years.
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upvoteby rayiner26 days ago|
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We have a little honor system library in our neighborhood near the playground. But I’ve never seen anything like that in Baltimore, DC, or Philadelphia.
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upvoteby fingerlocks26 days ago|
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They are everywhere in Seattle. Some neighborhoods have them on almost every block. This had led to some creative variations on the concept, such as the Little Free Pantry, Little Free Art Gallery, Little Free Toolbox, Pottery, Boutique, Toybox, etc.

Not complaining. It’s a neat concept. And if you have a bunch of crap you want to get rid, it’s a lot of fun to build a big birdhouse looking thing, prop it up on the side walk, and keep it stocked with all the crap you don’t want anymore. This is why I created the Little Free Lumberyard to discard my woodworking offcuts. Seriously considering expanding into e-waste because it works so damn well.

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upvoteby nerdsniper26 days ago|
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I’ve seen them in Arlington, VA. Which is basically DC.
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upvoteby rayiner25 days ago|
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It’s good to see that’s still a thing in Arlington. But it’s basically the Palo Alto of DC. It’s one of the wealthiest counties in the country. I’m sure you could do it in Mclean or Great Falls too. Certainly, you could when I was growing up.
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upvoteby drstewart26 days ago|
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Would it work in Trafalgar Square today?
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upvoteby graemep26 days ago|
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Probably. There certainly used to be places in London with similar systems not long ago.

That said, the UK is becoming lower trust.

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upvoteby mock-possum26 days ago|
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Literally bought pumpkins to carve, firewood for the stove, and a carton of eggs from unmanned ‘honor system’ roadside stands last year. All three made it easy, venmo code posted, boop, on your way.
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upvoteby rcbdev26 days ago|
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> Venmo code posted

This is the mark of a low-trust society masking its issues with technological band-aids. In high-trust countries, you still pay exclusively with cash at these unattended roadside stands.

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upvoteby gavinsyancey26 days ago|
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No, it's the mark of "many people no longer carry exact change." An unattended box of produce and a sign saying "please pay this code" still requires trust that people won't take the produce without paying.
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upvoteby GrinningFool26 days ago|
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How is making it easier to pay (cash is not as commonly carried) a mark of a low-trust society? The important part here is that the roadside stand is still unattended - it's still up to the purchaser to purchase instead of stealing.
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upvoteby pjc5026 days ago|
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No, it's just a cash replacement, the trust lies in expecting people to make the payment in the first place rather than just steal unattended goods.
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upvoteby losteric26 days ago|
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Right after WW2, trust was way higher. There was a belief in common good and progress and all that.
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upvoteby 26 days ago|
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deleted
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upvoteby shimman26 days ago|
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Something tells me this trust evaporated once the Vietnam War was in full swing and the USA started murdering labor activists in South America.
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upvoteby dmd26 days ago|
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In the General Social Survey, the share of adults saying “most people can be trusted” fell from 46% in 1972 to 34% in 2018, and Pew found the same 34% in a 2023 to 2024 poll. - https://www.pewresearch.org/2025/05/08/americans-trust-in-on...
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upvoteby uejfiweun26 days ago|
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I don't think we were ever a "high trust" society in the way that like Denmark is or something. But I'd find it hard to argue with the assertion that rather, the US has become increasingly more of a low trust society recently, more than we already were.
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upvoteby paulpauper26 days ago|
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Obviously subjective, but I would argue it was higher before stores began putting the items behind glass/locks.
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upvoteby hattmall26 days ago|
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Sort of, but there's a difference, the rise in anti-shoplifting stuff is in contrast to a decline in things like burglar bars. Stealing from residential property is seen as mostly the domain of drug addicts. Stealing from a multi-national corporation doesn't have the same stigma.
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upvoteby nradov26 days ago|
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It's not a matter of stigma, it's a matter of lax enforcement. The majority of shoplifting is done by organized criminal gangs. They'll do it if they can escape without serious punishment, regardless of any stigma.

https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/shoplifting-gangs-have-pla...

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upvoteby wallst0726 days ago|
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High property rights, low crime rates are [among others] is textbook definition of high trust societies. It doesn't matter whom it's from.
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upvoteby ComplexSystems26 days ago|
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You know, back when it was a noble democracy where all men were free, or something.
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upvoteby rayiner26 days ago|
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Being a high trust society isn’t the same thing as being a fully egalitarian society.

Getting to “high trust for the majority” is the 0 to 1 of civilizational development. Most societies never get there—they’re low trust for everyone.

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upvoteby Longlius26 days ago|
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Given your username, you're not going to like the answer to that question.
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upvoteby throwaway19884626 days ago|
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What do you think my username mean? Some kind of a dog whistle? In reality it is me misremembering 196884 from monstrous moonshine.
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upvoteby burnt-resistor26 days ago|
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Up until the Powell memo.
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upvoteby platevoltage26 days ago|
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Back during the Red Scare obviously \s
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upvoteby heggerd26 days ago|
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[flagged]
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upvoteby array_key_first26 days ago|
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It is most definitely disputable that it destroy social cohesion. The US was cohesive after WWII, by that point we already had a LOT of non-white people. Also black Americans have been here since the start.
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upvoteby newfriend26 days ago|
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Wrong.

  1950 Census
  ---------------------------------------------
  Race           Percentage of Total Population
  ---------------------------------------------
  White          89.5%
  Black          10.0%
  Other Races    0.5%
Keep in mind the black population was essentially segregated at this point.
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upvoteby array_key_first24 days ago|
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I think it's important to note that our understanding of whiteness has changed over time. And, during that time, there was division amongst even what we consider today as white people. Polish and Italian immigrants often faced discrimination, for example.

If you get rid of race it doesn't fix anything because the underlying cause was never race - it was, and remains, humanities perverse desire for hierarchy and prejudice.

The white people will just then find some other irrelevant bullshit to be mad at each other about and will then segment themselves more. They will literally invent new races and ethnic groups, if they have to, to distinguish themselves from others.

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upvoteby ok_dad26 days ago|
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Tell that to Hawaii. Your whole argument is destroyed by Hawaii’s culture. America (the continent) is broken socially because American whites cannot get along with others and they’ve gone mask off, destroying the cohesion we once had when they were trying to seem less hateful.
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upvoteby runsWphotons26 days ago|
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Hawaii is rife with ethnic tensions, not some exception.
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upvoteby ok_dad26 days ago|
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Nah everyone gets along except the haoles
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upvoteby fhn26 days ago|
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you're just racist
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upvoteby anonymars26 days ago|
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It might not be quite that simple. See for example: https://www.jstor.org/stable/48588978
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upvoteby bloqs26 days ago|
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It later resolves, but by definition of the human condition, it does initially I'm afraid. It's less about colour and more about values and creed
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upvoteby datsci_est_201526 days ago|
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Chicken or the egg: multiculturalism doesn’t work or multiculturalism doesn’t work because assholes treat people with different cultures like shit.

Also what’s the definition of multiculturalism? Can orthodox Christians be chill with Catholics? How about Japanese with Korean?

Stupid shit.

Also what’s your definition of white? Does it include Mediterranean climates? Fair-skinned Arabs? How about the Irish? What about a French citizen born in Morocco who has a passing French accent but is fluent in Arabic, but isn’t Muslim - is he white?

Can’t believe in the year of our lord 2026 we’ve still got buffoons writing shit like this in earnest.

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upvoteby anonymars26 days ago|
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Imagine using Japan to argue about multiculturalism
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