It's a tragedy..... The tragedy of the commons. The tragedy of the commons is a term, originally used by Garrett Hardin, to denote a situation where individuals acting independently and rationally according to each's self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting some common resource. This depleted resource is goodwill, fairness, sense of community, trust, respect. Tragedy of commons killed off the buffalo. It lays waste to beautiful public parks. Also, it can kill a community.