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23 Comments
mentalityTheBystanderEffect
Humanity is disgusting.
SagemindFrom what I've witnessed the people of china don't use compassion for strangers. The only look out for number one and their immediate family. Everyone else is just dust on the street.
It makes me wonder if this is the result of over population, or the way the government sets up the communities. Living too long under martial rule maybe.
At any rate, I've seen this behavior time and time again (via the internet - and sometimes first hand).
It's time for the propaganda machines of China to kick in and educate it's people on caring for their fellow man. Or would that not be in the government's interest?
9547bis>> ^Sagemind:
It makes me wonder if this is the result of over population, or the way the government sets up the communities. Living too long under martial rule maybe.
Definitely martial rule, because doing anything out of the ordinary, or just showing curiosity, might get you in trouble (plus, the law is weak and you can often get away with murder, but repression is merciless, so why turn yourself in?). I'd say a high population density would on the contrary help a bit. Exhibit A: Hong-Kong, which is 100km from where this took place, and where that kind of thing would not happen. Note that I'm not saying that there would not be a bystander effect in HK, I'm saying that a child being run over twice and then ignored would not happen in a freer/saner society. It's just not the same level of horrific.
And to be fair though, this story generated major outrage in China.
EMPIREsays...god fucking damn it. This story ruined my day. My son isn't even 2 years old yet, and to think there are people like this in the world, just makes me depressed.
Poor baby....
ZifnabI can't upvote this as this is not something I want to watch, yes it's newsworthy and tragic I just don't want to see it. The channels also need to be adjusted. The kids channel is for videos *for* kids and the terrible channel is not for terrible things that happen, it's for vids of terrible movies and other pop culture products (like Megashark vs Giant Octopus). *nochannel *Asia *Wtf *Wheels *News
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mentality>> ^9547bis:
>> ^Sagemind:
It makes me wonder if this is the result of over population, or the way the government sets up the communities. Living too long under martial rule maybe.
Definitely martial rule, because doing anything out of the ordinary, or just showing curiosity, might get you in trouble (plus, the law is weak and you can often get away with murder, but repression is merciless, so why turn yourself in?). I'd say a high population density would on the contrary help a bit. Exhibit A: Hong-Kong, which is 100km from where this took place, and where that kind of thing would not happen. Note that I'm not saying that there would not be a bystander effect in HK, I'm saying that a child being run over twice and then ignored would not happen in a freer/saner society. It's just not the same level of horrific.
And to be fair though, this story generated major outrage in China.
It has nothing to do with martial rule. China's repression is notorious, but only aimed at politically sensitive topics. A child getting run over has NOTHING to do with politics. No government official is going to lose face, there's no embarrassment over touchy subjects like sovereignty or religious freedoms or human rights or government corruption. No one has to watch their backs or think twice about helping someone in an emergency out of fear of the government.
It is comforting to be in denial, to blame this on our differences. There must be something wrong with THEM; this could NEVER happen in OUR civilized society. The fact is, whether its a homeless man bleeding to death on a street, or those who cannot empathize with the millions of people without jobs or health care in America, or this poor child, these are just faces of the same ugliness that is humanity.
citoIts the same way all over, it's even worse in America.
That story on CNN where the old man was jumped on by a gang of black guys near an area of town known for gangs, the man was a white elderly man in his 60's coming out of a gas station and everyone watched, black women laughed calling him "old cracker" and noone came to help, and Andersoon Cooper said the gas station clerk didn't even call 911.
The man laid there for 30 minutes until a passerby called 911 as they drove past.
it's crap like that, that makes me wish we had more vigilantes in the world to beat people like that.
shponglefansays...This is just classic "bystander effect". Has nothing to do with these people being Chinese; it has to do with them being human. Sad, but it can happen to all of us.
Diogenessays...it is probably not due to china's political system, per se... rather chinese culture. i have seen and even experienced the same in taiwan, which is democratic. the culture simply puts less value on a human life and welfare than many westerners do... you can see it in their medical system (universal health care is not what you might think here), and even the elderly, many of whom begin to feel they are simply a burden on their families, who will purposefully cause accidents to either end their lives or to bring some kind of "income" to their families. once when i was going home late here in china, i saw what appeared to be a shadowy mound of garbage in the middle of the street. i thought to myself, "damn, that is dangerous." so i stopped to move it closer to the sidewalk. turns out it was a nonagenarian scavenger woman who had been struck by a car. i phoned 119 (their 911) and tried to comfort her as best i could. soon there was a small crowd, and then the police and ambulance arrived. the police asked what happened, and all the chinese said i hit her. the paramedics revived her enough for her to confirm that it was me who struck her. can you believe it? they were all ready to take me in when i managed to make the point of her injuries being inconsistent with my riding my bicycle home in the opposite direction. now, before making comparisons with our overly litigious societies, keep in mind that 99% of their lawsuits are 'settled' on the spot... and in cash.
ant*british *kids
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YogiI said this in response to another video earlier the week. There's no point, we're all just cockroaches. It's becoming truer everyday. There was a similar story in Italy awhile ago, but that was to do with the Romany population and two dead girls lying on the beach, ignored by the Italian beach goers.
Cockroaches. Fuck us all.
ZifnabDidn't you read my note above? the Kids channel is *for* kids, this is not something I would want to show my eight year old. *nochannel *Asia *Wtf *British *Wheels *News *wheels
>> ^ant:
british kids
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9547bis>> ^mentality:
It has nothing to do with martial rule. China's repression is notorious, but only aimed at politically sensitive topics.
As a matter of fact, China's repression is notoriously aimed at everything that moves. Never heard of the countless stories of chicken thieves sentenced to death? Or of the citizens petitioning the local government over some company dumping stuff in the river, only to get harassed by the cops, because the CEO has connections with The Party?
In China, the police and Justice are famously ineffective and corrupt. To keep up the appearance of strength, they will come down hard on anyone they catch, regardless of their crime or even their guilt. If you are a regular folk, you have no money or connection so you'd better keep quiet if you don't want trouble. Basically if you're a crook, you have less chance to get in trouble than if you make your voice heard. And once again, I'm not saying this explains this specific story, I'm saying this doesn't make for a sane society.
People have this idea of China still being some sort of Stalinist state. It is not. It's the Wild West over there, and the robber barons are in charge.
>> ^mentality:
It is comforting to be in denial, to blame this on our differences. There must be something wrong with THEM; this could NEVER happen in OUR civilized society.
Mmm, maybe you're reading a bit too much in what I said? To the question "dictature or culture", I pretty much answered "not culture". For all you know, I could be Chinese. And that kind of thing could very well happen in an European society; case in point: the "whatever happens, walk by and pretend NOT to notice ANYTHING" attitude reminded me of Central/Western Europe under Communist rule more than anything else. This has left that kind of stigma there to this day (Russia: non-white baby stabbed in stroller in the middle of the street in broad daylight? Sorry, no witnesses!).
>> ^Diogenes:
i have seen and even experienced the same in taiwan, which is democratic. the culture simply puts less value on a human life and welfare than many westerners do... you can see it in their medical system (universal health care is not what you might think here)
Your story about the good Samaritan getting sued on the spot for helping, I do get (if you were talking about mainland China), because I've seen that kind of story several times in reports covering this news here (to explain why people would not stick their neck out).
However the part about Taiwan, care to back that up? Taiwan has the standard of living of Western Europe, and they in fact do have universal health care, something which cannot be said of the USA for example.
WaterDweller>> ^Diogenes:
the police asked what happened, and all the chinese said i hit her. the paramedics revived her enough for her to confirm that it was me who struck her. can you believe it? they were all ready to take me in when i managed to make the point of her injuries being inconsistent with my riding my bicycle home in the opposite direction. now, before making comparisons with our overly litigious societies, keep in mind that 99% of their lawsuits are 'settled' on the spot... and in cash.
Fuck, I'm never ever going to China. That's just fucked up.
Diogenessays...actually, the good samaritan part happened IN taiwan. i have been living in the PRC and ROC for going on 20 years. of course, the roc is a better place to live... there's no question. it's simply that there are blatant similarities that make this particular video heartbreaking for all of us and symptomatic of chinese culture specifically.
there's universal health care (as you would assume), and then there's universal health care (which you might never suspect)... the latter is what taiwan has. i've commented on it here on the sift in the past, so i'll just link you to the the anecdote in question:
http://videosift.com/video/Healthcare-in-the-US-vs-Canada-Europe-and-Asia
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