Harm-reduction is a communal and cultural process as much as anything else.
I keep seeing harm-increasing and harm spreading behaviors online and in real life. I remember being in New York in the 1990's. People would call you out for doing minor harm, like needlessly holding up a line. Fast forward to 2017, I see a guy at West Oakland do a ridiculous dance standing on the yellow strip to purposely hold up the BART train. No one besides the conductor says anything. Our culture has lost the ability to spread and enforce such norms.
I think people are rationally not stepping in, as those who do step in don't get recognition. They do however risk getting a lot of flak for having been insensitive or whatever.
Alternatively, New York and West Oakland have different norm enforcement behavior.
Of course.
I notice that people are very enthusiastic about calling me out for running across the crosswalk so the driver can get through the intersection. It's even happened to me in the Financial District. So it's alright if it's in support of harm-spreading?
I think the phenomena you’re describing is not uniformly common.
Of course. It's different in different times and places. I think the overall trend is a good hypothesis, however.
I keep seeing harm-increasing and harm spreading behaviors online and in real life. I remember being in New York in the 1990's. People would call you out for doing minor harm, like needlessly holding up a line. Fast forward to 2017, I see a guy at West Oakland do a ridiculous dance standing on the yellow strip to purposely hold up the BART train. No one besides the conductor says anything. Our culture has lost the ability to spread and enforce such norms.