The Shopping Cart Debacle, Must We Put Our Things Away?

A whole new perspective on the classic trolley problem

Christyl Rivers, Phd.
2 min readJun 13, 2024
Photo by Bryan Papazov on Unsplash

Roaring Rivers

Torrents, currents, and ripples by Christyl Rivers, PhD.

Who are we judge shopping cart lady?

Shopping cart lady posted a video saying it’s unsafe to return your shopping cart if you are a woman, or, if you have young kids to attend to that take priority attention. Just leave the trolley in your parking spot.

She also said, “Judge me all you want…

Oops. That’s not something that someone who does not want death threats should ever say. Opinions, these days, are like posting bullseye targets on your back, and not just Pride month Target targets, either.

I know this is like last year’s news (I’ve been injured this week and not keeping up). But, what is not history is the classic trolley problem in philosophy. To what degree are we responsible for any harm to others? If others are tortured, bombed, starved, polluted to death, hit by runaway trolleys that we can deter with thought experiment levers, should we? If we can avoid harm to someone, what are we supposed to do?

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Christyl Rivers, Phd.
Christyl Rivers, Phd.

Written by Christyl Rivers, Phd.

Ecopsychologist, Writer, Farmer, Defender of reality, and Cat Castle Custodian.

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