Think about how stupid the average peson is, then try to remember that half of people are even stupider than that. Now it should make at least a little sense...The layer in the fact that many of those people do not give even the slightest of shits about things that happen to other people, or things that aren't immediately in front of them. So even if doing something causes harm in the long term, even if the harm is done to them directly at that point, they won't notice.