Last year, I went to a summer school in New York City. Everything was fine until I saw a group of people standing in one area, as if they were looking at something. My friend who was walking with me at that time literally dragged to see what the fuss was all about.
Then what I saw made me so mad that I could not possibly explain my anger out loud. Two girls were having a fight just a block away from my school. Actually, one of the girls was on the ground while the other one was beating her up with her fists and her feet. The girl who was on top was pulling the other girl's hair so hard that she started screaming. What's even more horrifying is that no one tried to stop the fight at all. The people there actually encouraged the fight. When the beaten girl tried to run away, a guy came out and pushed her back in...I guess he was a friend of the other girl. Many people decided to walk away while some just stopped and watched.
I knew martial arts, so I wanted to go and help the girl who was on the ground. My friend didn't let me go and told me not to get involved since it seemed that I might be the next gang target if I jumped in. I was yelling at my friend that we had to do something. We decided to call the security guard who was in the school near by. I think someone saw us running towards a policeman too. So, by the time we came back with the security guard, everyone already left. The crowd and the girls vanished after 5 minutes. I don't even what to know what happened afterwards.
Now, I was mad at my friend for a while...since she was the one who was holding me back when I desperately wanted to save the girl. Then she said I'd probably make things worse. Maybe she was right. However, there were so many people around and they let a crime happen right in front of their eyes. How come no one did anything? I learned from a psychology professor that, the more people are around the crime scene, the less likely they'll be willing to do something because they think "Oh well, someone will actually stop it or report to the police." What's the matter with these people?
I too have learned about this in a few of my psychology classes; the more people who are around, the more they think someone else will take care of the problem. That is called the bystander effect. One example was with a case of a woman named Kitty Genovese who was killed near an apartment building in which tons of people saw the murder happen, but no one called the police. When asked why they did not most said they thought someone else would take care of it.
Brittni
It's Worth Reading
someone told me about how gang members were following one of our church members. It wasn't until some lady screamed out of the second floor of an apartment suit that they stopped and turned the other way.
Today we live in a society were violence is much, and good Samaritans are little. We fear for our own life, and that's it. It is a very narcissistic thought that we have today.
Yes, you might have made it worse, and you probably would have been the target of a next gang related death. But your actions wouldn't have been for naught.
And this same progeny of evils comes from our debate, from our dissension; We are their parents and original. -- A Midsummer Night's Dream Act II, Scene I, Lines 115-117