[ExI] trolley problem and doing nothing. was: RE: paranoia risk

[spike]

>… On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace



>… case of Kitty Genovese (1964), who was killed, stabbed, in front of dozens of people who did nothing, not even call the police.  

There was no question of legalities - calling the police threatened no one. bill w  ​

 

 

BillW, on the contrary sir.

 

I don’t know in this particular case if calling the constables would have resulted in personal risk to whoever made the call, but in many modern situations I would assume it.

 

The Genovese case was about personal responsibility or even personal risk so much as spreading of responsibility.  Given sufficient numbers of able-bodied witnesses, no one does anything.

 

I was involved in something analogous to that.  I personally witnessed a security violation, along with about twenty others.  I was one of the lower ranking people present.  No one reported it.  Months later, someone mentioned it to the head of security for that facility, who was most annoyed with all of us.  He made us review security procedures in an hour long course on our own time.  Had it been five in the room, good chance all five would have reported.  In that case, there was zero risk of retribution and zero chance of commendation for reporting.

 

Regarding the Genovese case, I can imagine neighborhoods where bad things happen and the local constabulary are never invited.

 

spike

 

 

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