(May 18, 2016 at 7:46 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Shitty things happen to people, sure..but I don't know that women are getting raped -because people do nothing, that babies are getting burnt up in fires -because people do nothing, or that people are being stabbed and bleed out on the street -because people do nothing-. Must be some cases like that, but probably not enough consider them representative.
Actually, this inaction in a group setting is a well-studied phenomenon in psychology. It is especially common in large groups where there is no clear leader-- everyone kind of looks around for direction, and nobody takes the lead. This happens all the time with things like heart attack or seizures: someone will clearly be in serious trouble, and passers-by will literally walk right past them, pretending not to notice. However, if ONE, just one person, takes action, a dozen more will immediately jump in to help.
Women, by the way, are told to shout "fire" if they are being raped, because the chance of being saved if they shout "rape," even in an alley off a busy city street with many passers-by, are very poor indeed.
