newsonaut
Turning inner space into outer space
Monday, October 31, 2011
Why many people say we should 'clear them out'
This week’s poll is still in its early stages, but I don’t expect the numbers to change much: well over 50 per cent say their reaction to the Occupy Kamloops protest is that we should “clear them out.”
Showing tolerance or listening to them are options for only 20 per cent each.
I can see where these results might be disappointing for people who consider themselves progressive, and were hoping the Occupy protests might lead to some change in the world. But after about 20 years of living in Kamloops, I would have to say those kinds of expectations simply don’t jive with the kind of community we live in.
From my perspective, residents of Kamloops see themselves as people who work hard and expect other people to work hard also. And if that doesn’t do the trick, they should work even harder. The last thing they should is do ask for something to be simply handed to them.
So when they look at the protesters, they don’t see idealists. They see people who are not working, and who are asking that they be given something even though they are not working. They see people who are not taking responsibility for their own circumstances, and instead are blaming others.
I don’t totally subscribe to this view. My experience of life is that things are never as cut and dried as we might like them to be. But I can understand the appeal of the logic behind it. After all, it would be tough world indeed if even our best efforts weren’t good enough.
More posts in the People category
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Why didn't they help? Think back to Kitty Genovese
An elderly man is in Thompson River near the Henry Grube Education Centre, obviously in distress. A young couple, inexplicably, does nothing to help. Two older women walking a dog happen on the scene and immediately offer aid.
Why the difference?
This is a question that has been around since at least 1964 in the famous Kitty Genovese case. Thirty-eight people in Queens, New York, heard her screams as she was murdered, and some even witnessed the event — yet no one intervened.
The incident received widespread attention, and psychologists John Darley, and Bibb Latané were just as intrigued as everyone else. So they did a study. And the results show that any one of us could have played the part of bystander at Thompson River.
One of the things they discovered was that responsibility becomes diffused. The more people there are, the more likely we are to assume that someone else will take the initiative. If we realize that we alone are able to help, then the odds of us actually helping go way up.
They also found that bystanders can be misled. If other people around them act as if there is no urgency, then they will convince themselves that everything if fine. This can happen even when danger signs are obvious.
Darley and Latané made several other interesting discoveries about human nature, but here is the one that may have played an important role in the Thompson River incident: we are more likely to help people we can identify with. Studies found this to be the case with racial or ethnic groups, but here in Kamloops it may have been a instance of young people not being able to identify with the distress of an elderly person. A lack of connection may have left them confused about how to react.
As shocking as it may be to hear of the inaction of others, Darley and Latané demonstrated clearly that it’s all too easy for even the most altruistic among us to turn into bystanders.
You can read more about their findings at the Greater Good website.
More posts in the People category
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
I'm with the 40 per cent who find the royals to be a bore
The way the TV media have been fawning over Prince William and Kate, you’d think they were covering the Second Coming.
While watching the CBC news last night, I figured I’d grit my teeth and wait for the Royal Tour bumpf to end so I could see some real news. Just when I though it was finally over, Peter Mansbridge announces they “couldn’t resist” one more clip of Prince William talking to a guy cooking a lobster. That was it: nothing witty, nothing out of the ordinary. Just a guy with a lobster. And when that finally came to a merciful end, Mansbridge announced there was even more royal coverage ahead.
That’s when I hit the off button.
So am I some sort of curmudgeon? One of the few who doesn’t get it? According to the current poll at The Daily News, I may actually have plenty of company. Only a little over 100 votes have been cast as of this writing, but already 40.4 agree that the royals are a big bore. That contrasts with 30.3 who can’t get enough of royalty, and 29.4 per cent who figure they were fun for awhile.
That still puts me in the minority, but at least it’s a large minority.
More posts in the People category
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Missing: one of the worst feelings you can have
News stories about missing people are fascinating. They hook us — but why?
I think it’s because just about every one of us has been in a situation where a loved one has gone missing. It might have been for as little as a few minutes or as long as a couple of hours. But the feeling of helplessness and dread was still there.
Recently, a Kamloops mom lost track of one of her children while in a busy shopping area. When she cried out in desperation, fellow shoppers immediately came to her aid and helped find the missing youngster.
A young Kamloops woman recently disappeared without telling her family or friends. They were immediately concerned, because this was out of character, plus she had been going through some personal troubles. She later turned up with family in Ontario, but in the meantime the article about her on The Daily News website was the most read — more so than politics or parkades.
The most-read story currently is about a Neskonlith councillor who went missing during a campout. Again, it seems out of character for him to take off without telling anyone.
The big question you can’t keep out of your mind in just about any case of a missing person — even if it’s just a spouse who’s late returning home — is what happened. It’s probably nothing, but as time passes, your thoughts become increasing morbid. Was there an accident? Did they decide they couldn’t take it any more?
The tension builds, and there is only one way to resolve it. The missing person has to either show up or be found.
More posts in the People category
