I've actually seen a woman getting the sh*t slapped out of her by a guy, I intervened and gently asked the guy to relax. The female then turned on me, and cursed me out for "butting in", then she told me to mind my own business.

So personal experience has taught me to just keep moving.

Unless it's my own, or someone I know, I generally will do as that ungrateful b*tch said, and "mind my own business".

It's a sad reality. I don't often see people getting beat up, so I don't feel so bad "minding my own".

As far as sounds, like Richie said, I hear it all at any given time living in a big city. I pay it no mind, I just keep moving...

ARodomus; maybe talk to the victim rather than your potential target; ask her if she needs a hand; keep the target in a sight line
but otherwise "appear" to be ignoring him... but it's REALLY easy quarterbacking from this armchair

Russ, I get it, I am not completely unwilling to help. If asked, or invited, I would not turn a blind eye.

But as rule, unless I see the clear signs inviting it, I just mind my own.

But I definitely get your point.

Fucking sad: http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_13651646?source=rss

FROM THE NEWS ARTICLE

Quote:

For several days, the community has struggled to understand how so many could stand by and watch, failing to call police or alert other adults in the area.

What I struggle to understand is how this never fails to surprise people.

When DOES bystander intervention actually happen the way so many expect it to?

It seems to me that when it happens, the news recognize it for the rare treat it is, and present it as the sensation it is. THESE DAYS anyway...

On second thought to why people being surprised that bystanders just stand by annoys me. It's probably an instinct. But this world isn't what the instincts were attuned to. In a tribe the expectation is reasonable. Among selfish strangers in hairy situations it's not. And that seems instinctive too. Cooperation is the lifeblood of a tribe, and risking your ass over outsiders is not worth the risk. Hell I'm on a roll here... Maybe even CONDEMNING people who do not assist is instinctive. Seeing that they're bad for your tribe, and by extension; you.

From another angle there is something referred to as "the fundamental attribution error." People believe that both themselves and others are most strongly affected by their personality. In the news article video, a police officer states that these people are monsters. But the research keeps showing that what the SITUATION is has the most power to predict what will happen. Situations with many people involved snowball. Suggestible, pre-myelinated teenagers with a fucked up value system get sucked in easy.

These are fucked up people. By and large the action must have been floating fairly close to the surface in the entire group for it to have so much support, and so little resistance. It wasn't a large step for them.

They will probably get what's coming to them. Maybe not being broken on the wheel:



But the legal system is fairly good at hiding retribution and deterrence under euphemisms. So a lot of it still exists in these times of pussification. Look at the electric chair for instance. If all they wanted was to kill effectively, that's easy. Remember the video of the guy electrocuting himself on a train powerline? The second he touched it, it went KZUMM and a he turned into a blinding lightbulb for a split second. Dead and on fire, smoke rising from his smoldering hair. In the chair they take the time to cook them just right. The principle applies in many levels of the penal system. So with some help of karma, maybe the penile system will do it's job and rape them good.

Yes, that was an intentional typo.

_________________
"I have a high art, I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me." — Archirocus, 650 BC

This is from the TED lecture series. Talk given by the guy who was part of the prisoners and prison guards experiment done with a group of students a while back.
I think it relates here because it duscusses the group mentality, and situational behavior we are talking about.
http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html

Just watched it again ... it's about 25 mins long, but if you have the time please watch - I think this guy has some great insights.

Pretty sad reading. Can you imagine what it must be like for the parents of the victim. I honestly have no idea how I would handle such an event. I know I would lose my mind to rage for a period of time, but then what?