Three and a half weeks ago, I started an experiment to see how long it would take me to find and pick up 100 bags of dog poop that had been discarded by neighbors of mine who don’t give a crap about anyone except themselves. My dog and I walk two-and-a-quarter miles, twice a day. I figured it would take me a few months to reach 100.
Yesterday, I picked up my 103rd bag. Sadly, I hit my goal in less than a month.
Before I get started, I want to mention that you’ll see from looking at the image for the article, that someone literally put their dog’s poop on a pedestal. I didn’t stage that picture. That’s how I found it.
Now, let’s continue.
“Social” Sharing
Because this is a local issue, I decided to post my story (I hate it when people call it “my journey”) on one of the most Liberal sites around, Nextdoor.com. I say it’s a Liberal site because, on Nextdoor, it’s nearly impossible to talk about something logical, reasonable and truthful.
If Nextdoor doesn’t just ban you outright for saying things people should hear, the people on Nextdoor will whine and complain until someone takes action. And typically, that action is silencing the only person telling the truth.
I think I can safely say that there’s nothing particularly special about my Nextdoor community. It’s probably a mirror of every other Nextdoor community. Even yours.
I didn’t make my post there because it’s a Liberal site. I posted it there because I thought people should know and because I figured it’s one of the few things I can say that wouldn’t get me banned (it’s happened before).
So, I don’t typically post on Nextdoor because the people on the site are…you know…a bunch of bitchy little babies. Which is just another way of saying “Liberal”.
But this time I made an exception. My first post was made after being on my quest for just half a week. By then I had already picked up 27 bags. Hardly anyone paid attention to it. Two weeks later, when I hit 77 bags, I posted an update. This one generated a bunch of comments.
Not all were helpful.
Go ahead…make my day.
One commenter said that I should be ashamed of myself for talking about such an unimportant topic when there are so many more important things happening. She went on to say that I should feel lucky that I’m not getting mugged or robbed on my walks. Seems like a fairly low bar to me.
I replied that I have a Rottweiler and a carry permit, and I pity the fool who tries to rob me.
A few minutes later her post was gone.
In retrospect, I can see now that she probably is one of the shitheads whose bagged dog poop I’ve been picking up. That seems like something she’d do.
Full disclosure, we just received the DNA test on our dog and she’s 54% Doberman. So, I misspoke when I said I had a Rottweiler. But had I said “Doberman”, the sentiment would have been the same.
Most of the other comments were people expressing their disgust at their fellow neighbors or offering ideas on how the problem could be addressed.
One person suggested maybe the city should place more patrols in the areas where I find the most deposits. Another suggested more signs to remind people to dispose of the bags properly. And somebody suggested installing more waste containers to make it easier for people.
Not bad ideas, but not particularly helpful either.
Poop Bag Control
The thing that everyone had in common, except the woman who tried to issue-shame me, is that they didn’t blame the bags. They blamed the person improperly using the bags.
Now, remember, this discussion took place on a site full of Liberal thinkers. And I use the term “thinkers” very loosely.
So, I was a little surprised to see that they didn’t suggest reducing the number of patrols in the area where the poop drops occur. And they didn’t think it would be helpful to make improperly disposing of dog bags more illegal than it already is. Nor did they believe that making it less illegal would have any kind of positive impact.
I also didn’t see anyone suggest making it more difficult for responsible dog owners to get their hands on bags, and I didn’t see anyone say that we should designate areas as “dog-poop-bag free”.
Of course, doing any or all of those things would be ridiculous. People, even the most Liberal among them, seemed to instinctively understand that the problem isn’t the bag. It’s the person wielding the bag.
Not a single person indicated that they believe the problem is caused by bags jumping out of pockets, filling themselves up with dog shit, tying themselves shut, and leaping into the bushes.
People who throw plastic bags full of dog shit onto the side of the trail are clearly mentally ill. In my uneducated opinion, I’d say they’re all sociopaths. And you can’t look at how you’d think and use that to predict how a sociopath would think. Unless, of course, you’re also a sociopath.
Time for a segue…
Which brings me to guns.
For some inexplicable reason, some people think that all the things they know won’t stop people from thoughtlessly throwing hermetically-sealed bags of dog crap onto the sidewalk will somehow stop people from committing gun crimes.
Yes, I said gun crimes. The statistic used to justify more gun control is “gun violence”. But that includes people who lawfully, and violently, protect themselves from being victims. So, we should stop talking about gun violence and start talking about gun crimes.
The “experts” will say that the number of people who use a gun to defend themselves is small. OK. Let’s say it is. Then there shouldn’t be any problem with subtracting from the total times a gun was used, the times when someone lawfully, and violently, used a weapon in self-defense.
But I digress.
A Stick is More Effective than a Carrot
People who commit violent crimes are mentally ill. And like their dog-poop-wielding counterparts, they’re probably sociopaths, with maybe a little psychopathy sprinkled on top.
You can’t use the same techniques on criminals as you do on law-abiding citizens and expect the same results. Even the Nextdoor Liberals can see that.
And yet, they can’t see that this rule applies equally to dog-poop-bag control as it does to gun control.
Liberal politicians have tried making gun crimes more illegal. For example, “Leroy Wayne Whatshisname was charged with 24 counts of murder, and one count of carrying a loaded weapon into gun-free zone.”
Like the possibility of an extra six months of time served consecutively with 24 life sentences is going to be any kind of a deterrent.
They’ve also tried to reduce gun crimes by making the crimes less illegal. If you’ve watched Law and Order, you know about the felony murder charge. That’s where someone can be charged with murder, if they participate in a crime where someone, even a fellow criminal, gets killed.
Well, California decided that wasn’t fair, and…I’m guessing…racist…so they got rid of the felony murder charge. So now there’s zero percent possibility that a slightly-less-deranged criminal will try to talk a totally deranged criminal out of killing someone while robbing a 7-11. But somehow that’s supposed to make deadly crimes less likely?
Lazy is as Lazy Does
Some cities have even tried paying people not to commit crimes. Like Chicago, for example, where the mayor recently announced he’s set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for “reparations” because he believes that will reduce crime. That doesn’t work either.
How do I know? I know because when I picked up the two bags that got me to 100, I noticed that those bags were the kind that the city gives away for free. You know, the bags that can be found attached to a container to be used specifically to dispose of those free bags when they’re full. Fifty feet away from where I picked up the bags, I walked past the “dog spot” the bags came from.
This person, probably the same woman that tried to issue-shame me, was too lazy to walk 50 feet to put her bags of dog crap in a container she knew was there for just that purpose.
The point is, you can make things as easy as possible, and even free, and if someone’s brain isn’t wired to respond to the stimulus you’re using, you won’t change their behavior.
People who commit violent crimes are mentally ill, as are people who won’t properly pick up after their pets. So, you have to treat them differently than people who follow the rules that are already in place.
Making more laws that restrict law-abiding citizens will have no impact on the number of violent crimes or the number of people who drop their bagged dog crap in the street.
The problem isn’t dog poop bags. Just like the problem isn’t guns. The truth is, both problems could be fixed if we just had better people.
Update:
On my walk this morning, I saw a sign posted by someone in my neighborhood asking people to please clean up after their dog. Next to the sign, on the neighbor’s grass, I saw two dayglo-green poop bags. So, putting up more signs definitely won’t solve the problem. And yes, I picked them up and disposed of them properly. <sigh>
