Urban Apathy
Totally blown away by this video, not by what happened, but what did not happen. Check it.
The elderly man is paralyzed and currently in critical condition.
This terrible clip reminds me of something I read earlier this year in my urban evangelism and church growth class. Here’s an excerpt:
“The frequency of demands present in the city give rise to norms of noninvolvement. There are practical limitations to the Samaritan impulse in a major city. If a citizen attended to every needy person, if he were sensitive to and acted on every altruistic impulse that was evoked in the city, he would scarcely keep his own affairs in order.”
- Stanley Milgram, “The Urban Experience: A Psychological Experience,” in Urban Life, edited by George Gmelch and Walter P. Zenner (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2002), 87.
Nevertheless, we are without excuse. City dweller or rural rancher, we are called to love our neighbor.
Tags: Indifference, Individualism, Urban Apathy
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June 5, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Timmy…
Ashley and I just saw that video on Fox News and thought the same thing. We also saw a video of 5 high school boys assaulting a classmate on a city bus. Same thing. There was a “gentleman” sitting there doing nothing. In fact he got up to get out of the way. Pretty incredible.
kb
June 5, 2008 at 6:31 pm
We are beginning to see the same thing here in Japan too.
Just recently, a junior high school student was being physically harassed by an older person on the train and noone did anything to intervene nor help.
And we live in the suburbs of Tokyo………
June 5, 2008 at 6:41 pm
If a citizen attended to every needy person … he would scarcely keep his own affairs in order.
That hardly applies here. There is “every needy person,” and the there is the guy hit by a car. I don’t care where you live, you don’t witness something like that every day.
June 5, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Kyle,
Yeah, it’s crazy isn’t it? But I have to pause and ask myself how numb I am to hurting humanity around me. The more times you pass by them, the easier it becomes to pretend they do not exist. That’s really scary when we find ourselves in a world broken, hurting, and plastered before us everyday.
Jennifer,
It’s tragic, isn’t it? And the problem is universal in scope – not just in CT but in Japan and in my own zip code.
David,
That’s a good point. I have sometimes wondered, however, what all the press coverage about massive natural disasters such as earthquakes in China, cyclones in Burma, hurricanes in LA, and tsunami’s in Indonesia do to a watching world who feels bad but also feels that there is nothing they can do to help? We are inundated with pictures of devastation and destruction, and the more we see it, I wonder the more we become detached to the reality of it. Maybe I’m wrong in this, but I never want to look at such a situation and merely feel bad or at best have good intentions. They deserve more, and yet we are giving less.
June 9, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I’m drawn to consider the greater need that people like the elderly man walk around us all the time (unregenerate) and too many people (Christians) are content to leave them to their spiritual death without offering the hope of the gospel.
To be honest, it looks like the people were somewhat concerned, but looked like they were ignorant as to what to do. Perhaps someone knew to call 911 for the guy, but it appears that no one knew enough first aid to check the guy or at least offer him comfort until help arrived. This may apply as well. How much do we seek to learn and teach each other in our churches. My own church is good about this; we are blessed with amazing teachers and students, but I know it’s something to remain diligent about.
Perhaps the people knew enough to help, but there is a law that makes them liable if the guy died while they were trying to help him. We know that the law only offers condemnation, but the grace and mercy of Christ was due to the fact that He bore the condemnation of the law in our stead. For people like this guy, why not take the risk? My church sends a many from the congregation into dangerous places each year to take the gospel to people. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain, yet not for ourselves.
February 4, 2009 at 4:44 pm
[...] HT: Timmy Brister [...]
August 12, 2010 at 8:21 pm
I have seen cases like this more and more in media. In one case a homeless guy stepped in to save a woman from a guy who tried to mug her. (I myself was mugged once so I know what it can feel like) and the thief stabbed the homeless guy. The woman also ran away, and didn’t even bother to call for an ambulance. As he slowly bled to death a number of people walked by over the course of a few hours and no one did anything. In the end he died, not just because he was stabbed, but because no one did anything to help him. Turns out the only people with any humanity these days are Bums. It would be safer to be assaulted alone in a national park than it would in a city. At least there you know if someone sees you they will help you.
In my opinion, if you see someone in such a condition – where their life or death is entirely based on how quickly they receive medical attention – and you do nothing that makes you as guilty. I really have to wonder if any of those people feel anything when they realize that a person is dead entirely because they chose to let it happen.
I believe there should be laws where, if a person sees a crime in progress, or sees someone bleeding to death, and fails to respond to the situation, and the Victim then dies, that person should be charged as contributing to Manslaughter. In the case of video feeds every single person should be identified and made a Public example of. It would be easy to tell the actual time of death and compare it to individuals on camera to see who walked past when a person was still alive.
Maybe if people at least help others for Selfish reasons the Children will start to care a little bit more than we do in our generation.