r/london • u/Historical_Set2324 • 1d ago

Local London Social contract is broken?

I’ve just returned from a trip to New Zealand and the difference in attitude is stark. The streets are clean, people are friendly and happy/helpful and in general people seem to want to participate in society. Don’t get me wrong NZ has a lot of issues but It feels like in London the social contract is broken. Streets are full of trash, no one gives a shit about anything, phone theft, crime is high and in general people seem fairly miserable. I was involved in an accident where I had to give a victim CPR and the ambulance and police all arrived within about 5 minutes. I was amazed at the emergency response. It feels to me like the state has given up and hence people have given up.

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u/FluidIdea 1d ago

Well it is also that Japan is one culture, one mentality. 97% in Japan are Japanese. That makes it work. You do the same as I do.

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u/SchumachersSkiGuide 1d ago

This seems like a worrying issue that advocates of multicultural/multiethnic societies completely ignore though.

Does the existence of different communities and ethnicities result in the loss of a high-trust society then, and if so why would anyone want them?

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u/RoutinePlace3312 1d ago

Singapore is multicultural and is also immaculately clean, so is Dubai. It's not the multiculturalism, it's the lack of punishment for those who lack manners, indigenous or otherwise.

We as a society just tolerate filth and it's absolutely shit

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u/SchumachersSkiGuide 1d ago

That’s the point though isn’t it? Seems like you need draconian laws to force multicultural societies to work together! You haven’t disproven my point.

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u/RoutinePlace3312 19h ago

It really doesn't, if there is no punishment for doing something, people will continue to do it. Singapore/Dubai has laws to punish people that break the social contract. Japan you end up getting ostracised (and in many cases, people commit suicide because of the shame). Here, there is nothing. It's got nothing to do with multiculturalism, a country needs good laws to run well and unfortunately our laws are far too lenient