Did you hear about this life lost?
A toddler in China wandered into a street and was struck by 2 vehicles. She lay
there critically injured while at least 18 people and other cars simply
navigated around her rather than reach out and help. Finally, one senior
woman stopped to help and pulled her to safety. After being on life
support - she died of her injuries yesterday. This incident has sparked
much discussion in China and around the world about the failure of others
to act in an emergency. The lesson here is don't walk away when your help
is needed.
So here is an instructional video on how to work together to get it done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39i89NJNCRQ[/url]
If you live in China, be sure to watch the above video as many times as
necessary, until you learn how to handle your business, take care of your
family and save a stranger if necessary.
The influence of anything specific to Chinese culture here is likely insignificant. Instead this seems to be one more shocking example of bystander syndrome that could happen anywhere. What the driver did was unfathomable to me, but the people walking by who didn't help could be anybody, unaware of just how vulnerable to particular social and psychological forces human beings can be. See concepts like social proof, bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility. If the first guy at the burning car had stood there with his hands on his hips instead of rushing in there might have been an entirely different response from everybody else. It may be of interest to note that at least two people stood at a window recording the event when there were other options.
Although I have only just seen the Chinese toddler clip, I do know a couple of things that havent been brought up here.
1 -The drivers of the cars have apparently been caught by the police.
and
2 - This clip explains why there was so many "ignorant" bystanders.....
Very interesting - thanks for posting that.
So judges in China don't believe it's possible to help someone you didn't injure, and it's cheaper to bury someone than pay for their medical bills.
And picking up the phone to call for help also falls under "helping the person you injured" (whoever made the video misses that point).
Something is very wrong with that country.
NEW YORK -- A van traveled for nearly an hour over busy New York City roads before its driver discovered the horrific cargo it had dragged almost 20 miles: the partially scraped-away body of a man who was plowed over by an SUV just before he got caught under the van.
Police said the gruesome episode was accidental and that they have no plans to charge the drivers at this time.
The Real Wizard wrote: Very interesting - thanks for posting that.
So judges in China don't believe it's possible to help someone you didn't injure, and it's cheaper to bury someone than pay for their medical bills.
And picking up the phone to call for help also falls under "helping the person you injured" (whoever made the video misses that point).
Something is very wrong with that country.
Why people do things - in China and everywhere else - and why they think they do them are not necessarily the same thing. This 2010 survey regarding coming to the aid of a child in need is interesting both in it's results and in the comments: link
Particularly of note were the 79% of adults that felt community spirit had weakened since they were children and those that attributed the responses to relatively recent changes in laws and culture. Surely we would have seen adults more willing to help children 20 or 30 or 40 years ago? Not so much: link
It's fascinating really. If one thing can come from the driver's unfathomable display of human selfishness other than a couple million of us further desensitizing ourselves to horror it could be the realization that it's not really China, and it's not really the other guy, and it very well could be us in any moment in which we are faced with an unfamiliar, unexpected or stressful situation. Knowledge, of course, is the great power.