Morality

[Lia. 45]

There has been TWO recent events that reminded me of the term 'Morality'.

I don't know if anyone has read the newspaper or watched the News on TV, but...

Case I:

Hit-and-run girl dies after brave fight Published October 21st, 2011 at 5pm

Articles can be found here, here and here

A quick summary: A two-year-old was hit three times by two vehicles (a minivan and a truck) on October 13th, in Foshan, China. More than 12 people passed by without stopping to move her away from the road, most of whom actually saw her and continued with their business. Eventually, a woman saw the little girl and quickly moved her away from the road.

The little girl has died in a local hospital, from brain failure. Doctors did all they could to save her.

Rest in Peace, YueYue. May Jesus protect you for the rest of eternity.

Case II:

Article: here

Summary: Muammar Gaddafi of Libya has been shot and killed.

Gaddafi was an incredibly influential Political figure in Libya, who also massacre thousands of unnamed civilians.

Please discuss the topics of Morality (and lack of morality) here. Thanks everyone.

[Kyuu Nye 425]

Not going to say anything about #2 except that it was predicted in the 80s by a comedy show that he was going to die this year... some how... Hell they even got pretty close to the exact date being only 3 months off...

As for #1, that isn't a case of morality, but a case of crowd mentality. It is the "Oh, someone else will do something" train of thought. The people that saw her aren't inherently bad people but they figured that someone else would have done something. It is unfortunately very common.

[conankoibito 21]

It was been said here too and I saw the full video of this.I am hurt with what I saw.

Even,China has a problem with the Philippines,I don't care if that would get over just I care with that kid.

Now,The one who has been the culprit should be the concern!

But I am still curious with what people do not noticed that the Baby was full of blood and then--

heh~I don't know morality is related with the no.2 case but I am happy for Libya that their are free.

And they should not bring on the test what they have.

[Lia. 45]

As for #1, that isn't a case of morality, but a case of crowd mentality. It is the "Oh, someone else will do something" train of thought. The people that saw her aren't inherently bad people but they figured that someone else would have done something. It is unfortunately very common.

Actually, it's more of a LACK of morality. Plus what you said - crowd Herd mentality.

Because they 'figured' that someone else would have done something, they are making up excuses to not help others.

Aren't they just trying to avert responsibility?

It was been said here too and I saw the full video of this.I am hurt with what I saw.

Even,China has a problem with the Philippines,I don't care if that would get over just I care with that kid.

Now,The one who has been the culprit should be the concern!

But I am still curious with what people do not noticed that the Baby was full of blood and then--

heh~I don't know morality is related with the no.2 case but I am happy for Libya that their are free.

And they should not bring on the test what they have.

I agree. The drivers of the minivan and the lorry have both been arrested.

According to the article and the security cameras, they did indeed notice, but simply diverted their attention to their own business.

I thought that I had to mention the second case because more people are more interested with non-Asian affairs.

Also because I thought that Gaddafi also have a lack of Morality to massacre innocent Libyan civilians.

[Amaranth 52]

Morality...

Lots of theories have cropped here and there about it...

such as Jean Piaget's and Lawrence Kohlberg's

But what I say is...

Base it on the Bible.

[dw5chaosfan 8]

Morality...

Lots of theories have cropped here and there about it...

such as Jean Piaget's and Lawrence Kohlberg's

But what I say is...

Base it on the Bible.

Obviously.

[Patronus Charm 53]

I saw the video of the hit-and-run victim the day before my birthday... And I honestly don't know why but my mind was like "stop it, don't watch it" but i kept watching it... I almost cried... especially when there were lots of people ignoring the child... I can't say anything against those people because I don't know them personally myself... I don't know what came to the driver's mind... How stupid of him not to notice that he hit something...

arghhh!

And about the death of The Libyan Dictator, even if he murdered lots of people during his regime, nobody has the rights to kill him.

[Wakarimashita 137]

I heard on the news the other day that China's judicial système (which is very very imperfect) sometimes doesn't bother to go after the culprits (especially when it's assumed that it's going to be hard to find them) and even accuses the people who get involved even if they wanted to help. Such a disfunction might explain why these people were so cautions and just ignored what was happening being scared of the consequences they might face if they had gotten involved.

[Elizabeth Antoinette 4]

I see.. But that's so cruel.

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

Not going to say anything about #2 except that it was predicted in the 80s by a comedy show that he was going to die this year... some how... Hell they even got pretty close to the exact date being only 3 months off...

As for #1, that isn't a case of morality, but a case of crowd mentality. It is the "Oh, someone else will do something" train of thought. The people that saw her aren't inherently bad people but they figured that someone else would have done something. It is unfortunately very common.

That's not the case. If you really watched what happened, it IS really the lack of morality.

The girl has been run over by a van/truck (can't remember) and then the driver has actually realized that. But instead of stopping and bringing her to the hospital, he attempted to run away and thus, ran over her a second time. The tricycle that passed just looked at her and went around her. Many people passed without caring about her and just looked. Not even a single person called any help or ambulance. The most alarming part is, after very long, another car came by, and instead of moving her away, it went over her, crushing her another time. You can call it crowd mentality if you simply avoid her, but to run her over another time is really just murder...

@wakarimashita: you're very right about that. Especially in guang dong province.

Oh and the law in china actually make things more cruel. The price you have to pay in an accident for killing a person is actually lesser than that if you just paralyze him. That's why if you hit the person, make sure you kill him in one hit. Else, you have to pay him for life.

[Kyuu Nye 425]

That's not the case. If you really watched what happened, it IS really the lack of morality.

The girl has been run over by a van/truck (can't remember) and then the driver has actually realized that. But instead of stopping and bringing her to the hospital, he attempted to run away and thus, ran over her a second time. The tricycle that passed just looked at her and went around her. Many people passed without caring about her and just looked. Not even a single person called any help or ambulance. The most alarming part is, after very long, another car came by, and instead of moving her away, it went over her, crushing her another time. You can call it crowd mentality if you simply avoid her, but to run her over another time is really just murder...

@wakarimashita: you're very right about that. Especially in guang dong province.

Oh and the law in china actually make things more cruel. The price you have to pay in an accident for killing a person is actually lesser than that if you just paralyze him. That's why if you hit the person, make sure you kill him in one hit. Else, you have to pay him for life.

Actually no, it still applies. You only saw the small area and people passing DIRECTLY BY HER. You only saw a small part of the story. I will guarantee you there were more people around that area. Yes, the guy that hit her and ran her over was a cold hearted bastard who deserves a punishment far worse than he'll ever receive in the Chinese legal system, but the people who saw her and didn't do anything is different. Especially considering that it is actually worse for them to help someone, as screwed up as it is. They didn't want to be the one so they assumed someone else would. It is still herd mentality. So long as there are multiple people in the area, crowd mentality is considered a factor. It doesn't have to be a large group of people in the same place at the same time, it just has to be a metropolis area. Now if it was not in a city and in a rural area of China, I would agree and there would be a gross lack of morality. I really doubt that any of those people who passed her will be losing any sleep over the incident.

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

Actually no, it still applies. You only saw the small area and people passing DIRECTLY BY HER. You only saw a small part of the story. I will guarantee you there were more people around that area. Yes, the guy that hit her and ran her over was a cold hearted bastard who deserves a punishment far worse than he'll ever receive in the Chinese legal system, but the people who saw her and didn't do anything is different. Especially considering that it is actually worse for them to help someone, as screwed up as it is. They didn't want to be the one so they assumed someone else would. It is still herd mentality. So long as there are multiple people in the area, crowd mentality is considered a factor. It doesn't have to be a large group of people in the same place at the same time, it just has to be a metropolis area. Now if it was not in a city and in a rural area of China, I would agree and there would be a gross lack of morality. I really doubt that any of those people who passed her will be losing any sleep over the incident.

Of course crowd mentality still applies. But in my opinion, the idea that they 'applied crowd mentality' already signifies they have lack of morality. From my understanding, their mentality would be more towards 'It would be troublesome to help, so I shall stay out of trouble's way'. Of course we cannot blame them for that because they want to protect themselves as well. This kind of mentality originated because of its society's problems.

Even if you're a kind hearted soul who just happened to pass by and picked her up, you'll be subjected to suspicion and then their family might accuse you of knocking her down. Give some cash to the people around and they would become witness to your crime and you'll be sent to court and ordered to pay for their medical bills for a lifetime. This is their society and it had become such a common occurrence that made their people gradually lose their morality.

However, the most alarming part is when the second car came by... If he just reversed and went another way, we can categorise it under 'crowd mentality', but he just went over her AGAIN like a piece of log and drove away... This is really disturbing.

[IdentityUnknown 216]

Even if you're a kind hearted soul who just happened to pass by and picked her up, you'll be subjected to suspicion and then their family might accuse you of knocking her down. Give some cash to the people around and they would become witness to your crime and you'll be sent to court and ordered to pay for their medical bills for a lifetime. This is their society and it had become such a common occurrence that made their people gradually lose their morality.

There was an article in China that my dad told me about. There was this man who died after a fall, despite him being fairly close to other people. The reason why nobody helped? Because if they had, they feared the old man would accuse them of tripping him and they would end up standing in court with false evidence. After that happened a few times, people just figured it was best to let people deal with themselves.

The issue of morality is never black and white. There are always at least two (I'd like to say three, but I'm not sure about that) sides to each story.

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

There was an article in China that my dad told me about. There was this man who died after a fall, despite him being fairly close to other people. The reason why nobody helped? Because if they had, they feared the old man would accuse them of tripping him and they would end up standing in court with false evidence. After that happened a few times, people just figured it was best to let people deal with themselves.

The issue of morality is never black and white. There are always at least two (I'd like to say three, but I'm not sure about that) sides to each story.

I think Ive heard of a similar case. This is so common in China that people are gradually not helping each other due to the fear. People are now left to fend for themselves.

Actually, the part where Im really very shocked about, is the fact that the TWO YEAR OLD girl is left alone for so long. WHERE THE H*** IS HER MOTHER?!

[Black Demon 466]

These kind of things also happen in many other places (if not everywhere), not only in China.

About the "crowd mentality" case, in some circumstances, it is actually understandable. The reasons for that everyone has already pointed out, so there'll be no need for me to discuss it any further. Also, I believe that most of those witnesses really did want to help instead of being 100% cold-blooded, but after all, they're on the weak side. (And by saying "weak side" I think that everyone understands exactly what I'm talking about).

And I pretty much agree with IU that in situations like this, we cannot just use the terms "black" and "white", "good" and "evil", "brave" and "timid".... to make judgements. Because it also depends on different circumstances. As for me, if I somehow became a witness, I would act something like these:

- I meet a wanderer/mendicant on the street: Give him/her some money, but not very much, in case he/she is an imposter.

- Someone's about to die accidentally (like almost get hit by a car or fall off): Save them, unless I'm not in a life-danger situation myself at the time. I've done this actually. Of course the "about-to-be-victim" was not very grateful, not much to my surprise, but I think I can get over that.

- Someone who has already been injured but still gain consciousness: Help them. Call the ambulance/tell someone to call the ambulance if necessary. In this case, I'm not afraid of "getting in trouble" actually, even when that person ends up accusing me.

- Someone who's been injured and lost consciousness/died: In this case, "crowd mentality". Call me a coward, but that is what I will do, unless I'm the only one there of course. I can call the ambulance, but as for the police, NO.

- Someone who's trying to commit suicide: First, advise him/her. If he/she listens to me, that's a good thing. If not, let him/her die, that's none of my business. Cold-blooded, isn't it ? But let me tell you about this one article that I've read about (Sorry, I don't feel like saying the exact place and time here). There was this guy who wanted to kill himself (I forget about the motive though), and an old couple saved him. He ended up holding a grudge against the couple and attacked them with acid; then committed suicide again. The story ended up with the old couple not only wasted their good deed, but also suffered painfully for it as well.

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

^

The fact that this is thought of as a common occurrence and a common behavior in China is something to be worried about.

Of course it does not mean that it is only occurring in China. Many other places including developed countries have these occurrences too, just that it is not so common or it is not actually published. But this is cause for concern.

If Im in Japan, or Britain, for example, I wouldn't be too afraid to send someone to the hospital or help someone in need if I had to. However, I would think twice of doing so in China, especially in the suburbs and provinces.

[dw5chaosfan 8]

It seems that the government is not sticking to much morality now. You people do realize that prostitution is illegal because it can be used for tax evasion, not because it is immoral, right?

[tengaku squared 291]

It seems that the government is not sticking to much morality now. You people do realize that prostitution is illegal because it can be used for tax evasion, not because it is immoral, right?

Excuse me, but your pants are on fire.

[redangelran 29]

Te first case was really saddening. We should really be scared and aware of what the world is becoming

[dw5chaosfan 8]

Not going to say anything about #2 except that it was predicted in the 80s by a comedy show that he was going to die this year... some how... Hell they even got pretty close to the exact date being only 3 months off...

As for #1, that isn't a case of morality, but a case of crowd mentality. It is the "Oh, someone else will do something" train of thought. The people that saw her aren't inherently bad people but they figured that someone else would have done something. It is unfortunately very common.

No, because they don't want to get delayed from work or school, because you have to waste a lot more time(the police questioning). Also, I remember a case when a bus driver stopped a bus to help an old lady who fell, and the old lady said that the bus ran him over and filed a lawsuit. The bus company had put a video camera on the front, so they displayed their video, and the old lady lost all her reputation. What if the video camera wasn't there? What if it wasn't the company but you? Would you help?