Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Heavy Topic

Have you guys seen the video about the hit and run in Hartford, Connecticut??? I just watched it today and I was horrified to see dozens of people and cars who witnessed the whole thing or who passed by the man lying in the street and did NOTHING. Actually, 4 people did call 911. But no one approached the man, no one chased down the cars to get their license plate numbers, no one even went to take the guy's pulse or see if he was alive. In fact you see a couple of people in the video crossing the street, right next to the man lying there bleeding, and not even slowing their pace down.

(Warning, VERY graphic)




And I found links on the side of that video to other disturbing videos. In one, a woman in a NYC mental hospital emergency room collapsed to the ground and eventually died, right there in the emergency room, after no one did anything. Two other patients sat there watching. Two different security guards came in and saw her lying on the floor and then left. A doctor came in and saw her and left, and finally a nurse came in, gently kicked her, realized she wasn't responding, and then proceeded to try to help her. She was already dead.

And finally, a link to a video of a policeman dumping a paralyzed man out of his wheelchair onto the precinct floor because he insisted the man stand up to be searched. No one else in the room helped the man up. Can you imagine?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? Are those just isolated incidents of particularly callous people? Or are we, as a society, becoming so disconnected and numb that we won't help people in need around us?

What are you guys' thoughts?

10 comments:

Hildie said...

I have two words to say. They seriously sum it all up: East Coast.

Chelsea said...

That is really disturbing. I hadn't seen the hit-and-run but I saw the one about the lady in the mental hospital on the news. Apparently 6 employees got fired for that one - still, not enough punishment IMO.

There's a psychological phenomenon (I can't remember what it's called right now) that says that the greater the number of people present, the lower the chances of any individual person helping out. It's like everyone thinks "Someone else will help, they don't need me," even if they can see that no one is helping.

Mindi said...

i haven't seen that and i was shocked--people are so jaded these days. i don't know if it's because they are scared about what they would see if they walked over to him or what, but you have to get over that pretty quick and do something to help--i wonder if he wouldn't have died if someone would have helped?? sometimes i think people are scared that they will be sued if they moved someone and paralyzed them, etc. (which has happened and utterly baffles me)--we live in a sad world.

Mindi said...

i just typed out the longest comment and then i think it said there was an error and i am pissed--did it go thru??

Omgirl said...

Yup!

Unknown said...

So....I heard about it..i refuse to watch...seriously, i will be depressed for weeks.

Jeanette said...

So disturbing. It really makes me sick. The other day, on our way home from Vegas,John and I stopped off at the side of the road. A women on a motocycle veered off the road and crashed. John went to see if he could do anything to help. She was in shock, her face looked like hamburger and she had a slice up the side of her neck. John told them he had EMT training and asked them if they wanted help. They told him that they had it under control and help was on the way. He said it was mostly bikers and they didn't want help from a stranger. Does the majority of our society turn away from help in gerneral- giving or receiving? Sad.

Mia said...

I can't watch this either. I can't even really read too much news because I internalize this stuff way too much. It is sad that people are so unkind/oblivious/jaded what ever it is.

Christie said...

I saw this a few weeks ago. It really is disturbing. I don't know what is wrong with society as a whole - perhaps we're afraid that helping will in some way harm ourselves? The one that has been the most disturbing to me lately has been the people in California who witnessed the dad beating his little boy to death. Their reasoning: that it appeared the boy was already dead. How sad is that!

alex dumas said...

I'm with MiaKatia. It makes me furious and I can't handle it.