So I was browsing NPR when I came across this article:
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/04/137531649/evil-scientist-wants-to-teach-people-to-do-good
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/04/137531649/evil-scientist-wants-to-teach-people-to-do-good
It was pretty interesting (understandably, given I'm a psychology student), when I came across this line:
"Conformity is not an abstract concept to these students. Two years ago, the bystander effect happened not far from here. A 16-year-old girl was gang-raped by at least six men during a homecoming dance. Dozens of kids watched, some sent texts to their friends, telling them to come check it out. It took two hours before anyone called the police."
That blew me out of the water. I looked up a few original news articles on the subject, such as this one:
And I am furious. Trembling with rage.
I honestly cannot fathom who the hell would sit there and watch someone be completely stripped of dignity and otherwise brutalized, no matter how that situation could have arisen. No one deserves that sort of thing, especially when she didn't commit any sort of crime or atrocity.
I mean, they had to take her to the hospital in a helicopter. She was in critical condition. It obviously wasn't a "she was sexually promiscuous and was drunk so we misinterpreted her signals and thought she wanted it" deal. There's no sort of excuse or justification or anything that could be fabricated.
I just can't wrap my head around it. I can't think of what type of person wouldn't do anything. Yes, there are experiments that show that mob-mentality changes things (which was partially the topic of the article I started with), but shit, how far does that go?
How can someone have any sort of self-respect when they conform that much to the mood of the moment? Afraid of what your friends will think?
Humanity is full of hope and kindness, but things like this overshadow it with the extent of evil people are capable of. I am just seriously disgusted.
Just needed to get that out somewhere.
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