Decency
I’m not sure why this bothers me enough to elicit a blog post. Maybe that means there’s some good in me yet.
I was driving on I-70 West to go to the bookstore. On I-70 East there was a horrific accident. I was never much for rubbernecking, but there was little way of not seeing a car turned upside-down in the middle of the freeway with dozens of people crowded around the car, traffic at an absolute halt for miles behind. Nothing I could do but mind my own business and continue westward unobstructed. I made a mental note to take the parkway instead of the interstate on my way back, because this was going to affect traffic for most of the afternoon.
Coming back, I encountered a few cars parked on the shoulder of the parkway overlooking I-70. The YouTube Paparazzi were huddled on the edge with their cell phone cameras and digital enemas. The vultures were mostly irreverent teenagers whose facial expressions did not match the gravity of the scene below. As long as it’s not someone they know, I suppose it’s okay to exploit the carnage, right? Maybe their MySpace pages can earn thousands of “theoretical dollars.” Good to know their parents’ money went to good use buying those extra phone features they just had to have.
Truly we are a compassionate race.
posted by the warrior bard at 3:55 PM
5 Comments:
I'm not sure I want to comment on this post, because every time I rant on this very topic, I'm pretty sure an angel has its wings surgically removed... with a jackhammer.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 1:25:00 PM
With me it's that little devil on my shoulder. Except he's on the other shoulder beating the shit out of the angel.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 3:17:00 PM
Addressing the actual content of the post...
This is the problem with a society that values strength and indifference toward the feelings of others and views compassion as weakness, as ours most certainly, and frighteningly, does.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 3:20:00 PM
The last time I posted along these lines was when that girl was abducted from a Target parking lot in KC and found strangled in the woods near my dojo.
I do believe the Captain had some good angel-maiming remarks at the time. Something along the lines of how even people who are total scumbags pretend to be polite, functional members of society. Even a rapist can open the door for a lady.
In this case, the Reality TV Generation shitheads and shithead enablers all slap on their slogan pins ("We Know No Shame") and grab their bandoleer straps of techno-vices, shoving each other out of the way to get there first, unabashed before the third party perspective (id est passers-by such as myself). To them I am ancillary at best.
On the flip side of that ugly coin, to me they are reduced only to the example they show. I can't see any deeper than that, because I am, again, a passer-by. I was waiting for one of my female readers to chime in and point out my hypocrisy for being judgmental, but there were no takers. I am not passing judgment anyway. Actions speak louder than words and they speak for themselves. I'm just bearing witness. I do not claim to understand anyone's context. Therein lies my salvation: I, at least, am ever-vigilant for signs of my own hypocrisy. In being so, I am by definition NOT a hypocrite. No double standards--just the one standard. One standard for being a decent human being, and that standard does not include taking pictures of a scene where most certainly at least one person has been maimed if not several people killed in gruesome fashion.
It is out of that decency that I refuse to rubberneck, much less whip out my camera and actually double back onto the side road (they had to in order to park their cars on that side of Veterans' Memorial Pkwy), park on the shoulder of an effing overpass, and lean over a 4-foot concrete safety slab in order to get a good camera angle.
If you like, I can find more examples of how this species is doomed. I sat at the DMV for an hour this morning. Those are more trivial displays of self-absorption, however.
To those who callously exploit the tragedies of their neighbors: Indifference does not make you tough, kids. Going to Rotten.com on a dare does not prove that you aren't easily rattled. When you see someone you know and care about in that situation, then you'll see what you're really made of. And bad karma travels faster than the speed of MySpace. God help you.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:42:00 PM
What do you expect from a species that has reveled in public execution in every major reinvention, or "age", of man?
Zee German's have a word for it... schadenfreude. Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
It's what separates us from the animals.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:39:00 AM
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