Discussion Oh the humanity...?

[Luca Breeze]

A tape from a hospital waiting room shows a 49 year old woman collapsing onto the floor.

This tape is a time lapsed sequence of said event.

The question I pose to you is, what happened to concern for others? Treating others as you want to be treated? Loving thy neighbor as yourself?

If the afore mentioned video wasn't enough proof to show the state of humanity (a sad thing indeed), perhaps this footage of a seventy eight year old man getting hit by a car would also be of service.

My point is that there is a problem here, and I want to find out the cause. This absolutely disgusts me. I'd like to think that people would have sympathy in their hearts to help others around them in need. I'm not just talking about sparing a few bucks to a homeless guy you pass every day to work- people getting hit by cars as onlookers do nothing, people falling over in hospital room floors and laying there for hours on end? Nobody thought at all to call for help until in once case it was almost too late, and in another, after nothing could be done?

 

[miyi]

I think this is a result of multiculturalism. One of the dangers of living in a multicultural society is that as a people, we build psychological walls to protect our identity from those who we see as "different" from us.

"Identity" is such a major issue in our lives, that it is what defines who we are. Are you a liberal, a conservative, a Christian, a Muslim, gay, straight, pro-this, pro-that? We dress a certain way in order to distinguish ourselves from everyone. Identity, identity, identity.....yes, living in a multicultural society is great and admirable. Our ability to tolerate different cultures and identity is amazing......but the negative side-effect of this is that, we develop mechanisms to try to preserve our own identities...this makes us more fragmented as a society. This makes us insecure, and we tend to build psychological walls, making us less interactive to strangers.

Just observe how typical High-schoolers behave...teenagers tend to gravitate towards those who have common interests, and keep distant with people who are "different".

Thus, when some "stranger" is in need of help, instead of reacting on gut instinct, to be a good samaritan, we are reluctant to help. This all stems, in my view, to our increasing isolationist mentality.

Just take this forum, as an example. If we did a survey of all the forum participants, the majority of the people will admit they are less interactive in real life, than in the internet. That is because in the internet, your identity is guaranteed to be protected. Your insecurities goes away, when in cyberspace. In real life, you have to deal with real people, with different identities, and you are pressured psychologically in preserving your own identity from others who are not like you.

When you don't trust anyone, then you are less likely to be a good samaritan.

We've lost focus that we are all, afterall, share commonality in that we are all human beings.

This is just another example of some of the challenges we face, as a multicultural society....how we preserve our own identities, while at the same time, remain tolerant of other people's identity, and their cultures.

 

[weixiaobao]

well the second of the two stories concerned me.. though some of what miyi said i learn in sociology but it really come down to your own personality .. like myself for instant if i saw a bug in a house i afraid it gonna starve to dead (don't know why i fascinated with animalplanet watching animals eat other animals)

it apply to people too like i usually donated what ever i can to charity (or handicapped children beggars on the street).. or help held the door for a handicapped person.. if i was at the scene i am more likely to help

though the 1st story of the two... the lady look like she sleeping..