Have we become a nation of uncaring and selfish people or are our actions just misunderstood? Barbara E Reid is a professor of New Testament studies and she wrote an article about the kindness of strangers for the periodical America Press. In the first paragraph the article explains some of the reasons we may not stop to help a stranger. “There are all kinds of good reasons for not stopping to help a stranger: I have other pressing obligations. It’s dangerous—what if the robbers are still lurking and attack me? I don’t have any professional skills or resources to help this person. If I move him and make his injuries worse he might sue me. And on and on.” (Reid, par. 1). We need to understand the complexities involved with human …show more content…
However, if we are witnessing a crime against another person and our flight-or-flight response is activated we have to decide almost instantly if that person warrants an intervention from us that might in turn cause us harm. Self-preservation is one of our basic instincts and fighting against our instincts can be difficult no matter what the circumstance. Moreover, when we only have a few moments to make the decision of wether or not to intervene it is only natural that we may sometimes be unwilling to act due to the inability to process the situation fast enough. In addition, we also must think about the legal aspect of our actions before we make the decision to intervene. When we are trying to decide if we should assist someone in a crisis we may tend to focus on the legal ramifications of doing so. In 1965 Time Magazine ran an article discussing the laws involved with helping in a crisis. They attest that “...U.S. law does oblige some people to help others--for example, parents must help their children, husbands their wives, ship captains their passengers and crew members. But those not legally responsible become legally liable if they volunteer. Indeed, the rescuer who accidentally causes injury may be sued for negligence or even prosecuted for assault...” (Time, par. 3). The article goes on to tell us about a man who simply “... fired a shotgun in the air to prevent 20 thugs from attacking two girls and a boy
Throughout life, one is to see many people they don’t know Humans walk past each other and no interaction occurs. Depending on a particular situation one might be in, it can change the ability to react, help and care for a stranger in need. In the article “We are all bystanders”, by Jason Marsh and Dacher Keltner, it shows how in certain settings people don’t act to help another, even though one might want to. “Everyday Stuart would board the bus and a couple of boys would tease him. I would sit silent and watch. I wish I would’ve helped” (Marsh/Keltner 3). People develop a feeling that prevents them from caring for strangers. This is due to a thought of peer pressure or judgement that could be given to an individual for taking action.
situation where there was a potentially dangerous situation and how these people who in to help.
I wasn’t aware of the importance of doing good for others, until recently that I witnessed it with my own eyes. It all started when was at Chicago, a random man helped out a homeless man and bought him some food. I noticed as I was in line that the cashier then gave the helping man a free choice to pick something he wanted due to the action he did. After that day I began to make an attempt at helping out more and being a better person in general.
Clearly, this is a big scenario someone is being hurt and the violator was a dangerous man, he could be armed, have guns, knives which can cause a person to be frighten, not knowing what to do but wanting to help .”They (the witnesses) were deaf, paralyzed, hypnotized with excitation “(p.97) this is what Dr. Banay stated in an emergency both the victim and the helper have their lives at risk, in a unexpected circumstance it is more likely that a person would not know what to do, because of lack of education on what to do, Darley and Latane developed the five stages of helping behavior, they are “1. You, the potential helper, must notice and event occurring. 2. You must interpret the event as one in which help is needed.
After reading the readings that I have read for this paper makes me sit back and think how others were raised. I wonder if these people were taught right from wrong. It is really hard for me to think that so many people just think of themselves and do not want to help anybody else out in a time of need. If it be at work, personal life, or in a state of emergency. I feel that if you do not help another person out you are a selfish irresponsible person. There are way too many people who like to make somebody else be responsible for what they should take responsibility for.
Should the United States enter into military intervention in foreign countries for humanitarian reason? Why? Why not? Under what conditions should the U.S. intervene if at all?
In the world, it is so easy to walk past an individual that is in distress without even knowing that there is something wrong. People notice something and expect the individual in front of or behind them to assist the distressed, and it happens more than often. For example, driving past an individual that is stranded on the side of the road is so simple. It is much easier to drive past than assist, especially when driving on a city street. Many people think about helping, and want to help, but they just do not.
Globally there are at least 152 million people in need of Humanitarian aid. That's larger than the population of Russia.
I didn’t truly understand it at the time, but as I grow older and mature I am beginning to understand more and more. Also, in that same conversation, my father told me about some of the people he works with and works for, and how they give back but often only in the spotlight. They will donate money when the attention is on them, or they will do charity events when the media is involved. Looking back at it, this is a very selfish idea. When do we hit that point in our life where we are so selfish that we can not help others; is it a conscious decision or are we just not aware of our actions? I have seen this same of idea of selfishness in my own experiences. I went to a very wealthy private school, with many students coming very wealthy families. Often these families would donate money to the school, but in return they expected a plaque or they expected something to be named after them, some kind of recognition. Some people will say this is not selfish because they are giving back; however, others will say this is a selfish action because they are only giving looking for a return.
Imagine that someone sees a little, old lady’s hand bag stolen from her. Do they help her retrieve it? And if they do, should they be given a reward or simply rollick in the fact that they did a good deed? In John M. Darley’s and Bibb Latane’s , “Why People Don’t Help in a Crisis,” they help us find the answers to these questions through the social interations of several different groups of people that help us understand the true meaning of peoples reactions, and also in Mary Arguelles’ , “ Money for Morality,” we find our true answer through her exposure of the truly selfish and skewed motives behind people when they do perform a good deed which she shows through the story of an eight year old
The key objections to humanitarian intervention include the conflict of interests with the self-interested state and sovereignty, the difficulty of internal legitimacy, the problematical Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, and the debate over legality of intervention. The issue of morality stands as an overarching issue which touches on all of these. Overall, one finds that despite a moral imperative to intervene, humanitarian intervention should not occur but is perhaps the lesser of a series of evils.
Humanitarian intervention is the act when states intervene in the affairs of another state because that state is violating the basic human rights of its civilians or because it is in the intervening state’s self interest to get involved. (Humanitarian, 2008) These interventions are not specifically aimed at violating the sovereignty of a state, but rather their purpose is to protect the basic human rights of civilians during civil wars and during crime against humanity. (Humanitarian, 2008) Realism explains that humanitarian intervention came about during the genocide in Bosnia but not in Rwanda because even though it might have been the correct moral action to take, intervention in Rwanda was not in the national interest of other
According to Aronson, Wilson, and Akert (2013) prosocial behavior is defined as an act performed for the benefit of another person. Altruism is referred to as the want to help another individual even if it means no benefits, or possibly a cost, for the helper (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2013). One particular factor, the bystander effect, has a profound impact on whether or not people help others. The bystander effect states that as the number of people who witness an emergency increases, the likelihood that any of those people will help decreases (Aronson et al., 2013). Processes associated with the bystander effect such as pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility, and victim effect all impact the likelihood of prosocial
What is a crisis management? It is an unexpected crisis that happens on the company that will affect the trust and loyalty of the stakeholder. It can be extremely costly because it will affect the company reputation and brand. For example like financial failure from poor business management, workplace violence, fires, cybercrime, computer viruses, product tampering or union strikes and other external issue like damaged economy that causes from London bombings, terrorists attacks on 11 September and others. The SHRM 2005 report indicates that only 56% organizations created or revised their disaster preparedness plans but 45% did not after the terrorist attacked on
Who are we as human beings if we overlook the suffering of others? While sitting on the cold, hard ground, dying of hunger, I watch these strangers pass by. Feels as though I am invisible to the world, like they are judging me because of the state I am in. Without even knowing my story to why I am homeless, many people make assumptions. Being watched every day with a scornful look, as though I am a disgrace to the world. On the bright side, there are these few strangers that would stop and give me something warm to cover with. I would probably feel this way if I was ever placed in that situation or something of that nature.