People will tend to behave badly when they feel rootless

We’re familiar with those parabolic graphs of human population, consumption, pollution, and depletion. The same trajectory-of-modernity applies to rootlessness.

More and more withering of local community life. More and more people with a sense of rootlessness. More and more pathological (or just bad) behavior.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/disgusting-bali-locals-fed-bad-164119587.html

Bali is part of a growing number of popular travel destinations fed up with overtourism. Hawaii is considering a bill to dissolve its government-sponsored tourism marketing agency. Amsterdam has been trying to reduce rowdy tourist behavior in its Red Light District, rolling out a ban on pot-smoking on the streets there, reducing hours for restaurants and brothels, and tightening some alcohol restrictions. Italian authorities have been fining tourists in Rome, Florence and Venice for littering, camping, vandalism and traffic violations.

Like Hawaii, Amsterdam and Italy, Bali is also fed up with tourists who aren’t breaking any laws, but show little respect for local life. “We have a lot of tolerance here . . . but it’s disgusting — people are tired of it. I’m tired of it.” Tjok Bagus Pemayun, the head of the Bali government tourism office, told The Washington Post in a written statement that Balinese culture is a source of happiness for locals, so “of course they would be angry” to see foreigners disrespect it: “Destroying their culture means destroying their life.”

* * * *

A thing that served to keep behavior in check for a while (a couple of centuries, in the West) was the idea of progress. Much of modernity sucks, but we can compartmentalize that as long as we’re focusing on the brighter future. As the latter dims, the sense of what we’ve lost weighs more heavily. “WTF” is a big theme now, and with it goes a lowering of standards of behavior. Decorum is fading rapidly in our time.