Friday, October 21, 2011

To help or not to help: the Foshan toddler and Chen Xianmei’s tragedy...

Making headlines around the world is the heart-breaking story of two-year-old Wang Yue. On October 13, a truck and a van ran over Wang Yue in Foshan, Guangdong Province, while 18 people either walked or cycled past the toddler before a scrap peddler, Chen Xianmei, finally rescued her.

This case has an eerie resemblance to the murder of Kitty Genovese. Sociologists coined the phrase ‘Genovese Syndrome’ or ‘the by-stander effect’ after the New York Times published an article, ‘Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police,’ which claimed that Genovese’s neighbours refused to intervene after she repeatedly screamed for help as she was being stabbed to death by her assailant. Since its publication, that article has largely been discredited: Genovese’s neighbours did in fact call the police, and did attempt to come to her rescue.

Unfortunately, and tragically, the Wang Yue case has been factually reported, and will be forever seared into the global consciousness through a security camera video that captured in its entirety the horrifying apathy of those 18 bystanders. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Chinese girl crushed by van, shocking passers-by indifference... (Graphic)
  2. Shocking Foshan incident reveals an unspoken illness at China's core...
  3. Outcry in China over hit-and-run toddler left in street...
  4. What do China's wealthy desire most? To get out of China...
  5. Beijing beggar turns out to be millionaire with 4 cars & several houses!!!

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