(October 17, 2021 at 12:06 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: It's apathy. I don't think this inaction is in any way excusable, but this shit happened outside Philly. People are hard. They've probably witnessed so much violence it doesn't elicit the same response as it would in one of us. Also, law enforcement is not a dependable "go to for help and help arrives" thing for everybody.
Furthermore, in some urban environments, calling the cops is not a risk-free affair. Shit can come down on you real hard for doing something like that. Minding your own business is a learned and environmentally reinforced behavior.
Again, not excusing it. Just trying to come up with "guesses why"... since "why?" is the question we're asking. I'm just as bothered by this as anyone else. Maybe even more bothered than some (since apathy involving sexual assault has affected me personally). But people already expressed outrage, so I felt no need to re-express it.
I wouldn't call it "apathy", but survival instinct.
I don't think anyone sane is excusing it. I think it it is a matter of context and conditions. It is easy to armchair quarterback after the fact.
But I do agree, humans in large volume concentrations, can get to the point of "minding their own business" for survival purposes. And it is the same instinct that caused lots of Europeans to stand down while Hitler was on the rise.
On an individual case by case level, it isn't as simple as saying "they should have done this, or that".
Long term however, I think the reason crime goes up, anywhere in the world, in big cities, it has to do with economics ultimately. The more neglected a large population is, the more crime one can expect to see.
