Is it better to walk on by?

Mr T said:

In some respects I'm not surprised that some people would not stop to help unconditionally. Chinese people will sometimes go out of their way to help people they only have a tenuous relationship with (e.g. friends of friends of friends), whereas I'm not sure they're so interested in complete strangers. But 7% is very low.

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It happens in Western countries as well.

[video=youtube;OSsPfbup0ac]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac[/video]

Plus, if you have ever taken introduction to Psychology, you would learn that that kind of survey is subjected to self-bias and is inaccurate.

I was in a supermarket where I was walking pass an isle and there was a little bottleneck walking traffic happening and then I saw some guy laying on the floor. I didn't have a clue what that was about because weird stuff happens. So I tell the first employee I see that there's a guy laying on the floor over there. So he goes checks it out and then I all of the sudden I heard the employee yell out for someone to call 911.

There was a incident earlier in the year in the San Francisco/Bay Area where a woman was swimming at a public pool with her friends. Her friends suddenly didn't see her hanging around and thought she had left for home. So days go by and the woman is still missing. Not sure if anyone was looking for her but some worker found her laying dead at the bottom of the pool. This is days after and people were swimming in the pool during those days.

I heard a story from a police officer I know where in the city he worked for someone was apparently mortally wounded and laying in the residential street dying and no one did anything including calling the police. So the guy ended up dead and was only discovered when a police car spotted the body being played with by the neighborhood kids.

Any decent human being (even non-believers of any religion) would and should help any person/s in trouble or in dire need/s. There are many stories and ongoing events where people in China, Japan, UK, EU, US etc. etc. perform charitable acts on the quiet, and they do not expect rewards OR publicity. God bless them always. These acts contribute toward a more "Peaceful World" which we all want, don't we?

By helping people, including people you'll never meet again, you increase the probability that the people in your society will behave better.
The recent riots in England show that many people, all rioters and probably a great many people more, don't feel there is a society to improve. I remember that Margaret Thatcher during the Tory congress when she was hailed as the new leader in 1979 said: "Society doesn't exist". This part of her speech was broadcast on the BBC. I am sure there is a connection between this attitude and the recent riots.

These are some causes why people don't help, cause of these things:

> They take you to court saying you pushed them.
> While your helping them up another person is pick pocketing you
> Robbery, pretending to be in need of help while waiting for someone to come up to them
> There a many people who use beggars and people in desperate need who use this as a profession to get an income.

Many people don't help them cause of these reason.

Alot of incidence like these when people try to walk purposely behind your car when your reversing so they can claim a law suit on you. It just this society has no more morals anymore in any nation.

HKSDU, your a pessimist. But you may well have good reason to be one.

Yes, HKSDU, I know that there are "bad" incidents where the helpers become victims. Also I acknowledged delft remarks about the recent UK rioters & his quotation on Thatcher's "Society doesnt exist". Now, where does it leaves us? Can the people of all nations afford to be selfish & care for themselves only? Of course one must not be naive that bad & unfortunate incidents will occur. BUT we must remember if we promote uncaring people, societies & somehow influence our children & future generations to follow sooth, THAN this will always be a troubled world. Already problems have occured with internal uprisings as well as external crisis. More so with the current financial & economic dilemma, WHO is going to help the poor countries & people? The result will be catastrophic - problems between the poor & rich people & contries. Manipulations by greedy Corporations & Nations, including support of corrupt leaders & dictators etc. This would eventually lead to regional wars & perhaps on a much wider scale in the future. So that is my 2 cents worth, and we can agree to disagree in a democratic world.

delft said:

I remember that Margaret Thatcher during the Tory congress when she was hailed as the new leader in 1979 said: "Society doesn't exist". This part of her speech was broadcast on the BBC. I am sure there is a connection between this attitude and the recent riots.

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This is what Thatcher said:

“I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand 'I have a problem, it is the Government’s job to cope with it’ … and so they are casting their problems upon society, and who is society? There are individual men and women and there are families, and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then after our neighbour … and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations..... There is no such thing as society.

She was talking about people expecting someone else to resolve their problems for them. If anything, it was a very prophetic speach, because many of the looters claimed that they were causing trouble because the State wasn't giving them everything on a plate.

I will say one thing about the poll, it's quite possible that recent events have made people more wary of helping others. The Guardian article itself referred to events like the old woman trying to claim compensation off the bus driver. I suppose the question is what people would have said a few years ago. But as I asked "is it better to walk on by". I'm glad to see people here saying that we shouldn't.

I have another question, do people need more protection against when accused of breaking the law? For example, does Chinese law need to presume innocence and require a complaining party, whether the State or an individual, to prove what they're claiming, rather than forcing the defendant to prove their innocence?

@ advill
i didn't say that we shouldn't help or promote it. i'm saying the probable reason why some hesitate is due to these reasons.

@ delft
i'm an engineer, we always look at the bad side of things in order to prevent it.

Tks HKSDU for your clarification. I am a realist and I believe that there are still many good and helpful people in countries the world over who are generous & charitable. To be pessimistic is to "surrender" to the view of no point helping the unfortunate; just "Walk on by" simply disregard them as they don't deserve to be helped. Tsk! tsk! those who subscribe to this (I am not saying one should be naive about unfortunate incidents) are morally wrong. Anyway, I am no preacher but an ordinary citizen, but seriously, we should think of the dilemma facing the poor people. Also, let us not point fingers or accuse any one country or their people or system. Before doing that, I suggest we first examine whether there are "beams in our eyes". Most if not all countries and people have faults - to what extent? Their citizens will judge, and eventually they will rise up like what has happened in Egypt, Libya & Tunisia.