Discussion Main / BystanderSyndrome

This was in the trope description, and taking up more space than the actual description of the trope. I'm not saying it's not interesting, but the trope description isn't the place to go into so much detail. Maybe if this trope had an analysis page, it could go there.

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Sadly, this trope is often Truth in Television, although the often-used, most famous example of the murder of Kitty Genovese seems to have been 99% exaggeration and plain lies by the media. The story everyone's heard is that thirty-eight people just stood and watched as she was raped and slowly killed right before their eyes, and no one even called the police. For a start, it happened in the dead of night in the middle of winter, and most people were fast asleep with the windows closed. In fact, no one saw the entire incident because not only were there two separate attacks (the murderer actually was driven off by a bystander, but then returned to kill Genovese), the second attack happened in an inner hallway of the apartment complex where literally no one could have seen it. And several people did call the police.^note ...who blew off the call. Most of the callers had heard it, not seen it, and mistook it for a domestic quarrel or drunk arguing. Police rarely if ever responded to this type of conflict. Genovese was not identified by the callers, but if she had been, well, she was a Lesbian and a barmaid, so...^note As you may have guessed, police interrogated Kitty's lover Mary Ann Zielonko for hours, regarding her as the prime suspect. One of the callers had been asked to do so by a friend, Karl Ross, who was also a friend of Kitty's, but said he "didn't want to get involved" — and the subsequent New York Times account had everyone saying this.^note Besides the fact that Ross was also gay and feared the cops for this reason, NYPD's indifference to domestic violence and assault calls cannot be overstressed. If you called them for anything less than, say, a bank robbery, they'd often just tell you to mind your own business, or possibly even arrest you for bothering them. Massive reforms in police response followed. In fact, the Genovese case was a milestone that led to the institution of 911 as a national emergency response number a few years later. Nevertheless, this incident sparked research into what turned out to be a real phenomenon. It does happen, leading to the advice evolving into: 1) "Tell someone to help, directly"; or, 2) if you yourself are trying to help the person in trouble, specify by name who you're asking to help you help them, and tell them what to do, as people are much more prone to following direct orders in an emergency situation than a directionless plea for aid. (If you don't know names, look at a bystander and say "Call 911 now!" or whatever's appropriate.) It is also the reason why some countries, such as France or Finland, have a concept usually called "Duty to Rescue" in their legal codes - if you see or come across someone who has been injured or is at risk of injury or death (say, trapped in a car after an accident), there are legal penalties available for those who do not render assistance.

Kitty Genovese fell outside a neighbor's door; Sophia Farrar, one of the few people who knew Kitty and Mary were lovers, and who tried to comfort her until the responders finally arrived and took her to the hospital where she died.

"It is also the reason why in some countries, such as France or Finland, it is actually illegal to just do nothing in case of certain emergencies such as traffic accidents — if a Frenchman hits you with his car, he will stay to help, not because he's concerned about you, but because he doesn't wants to get thrown into jail."

I don't know enough about French law to fix this, but "Hit and Run" is illegal in the US. I'm not sure how much aid the person who hits you is required to give, but he must stay. There is also the issue of whether an innocent bystander is required to give aid.

Why no real life examples? The whole basis of S.E.P. is the bystander effect, and no one would have really known about if psychologists hadn't articulated it from the Kitty Genovese case. I checked the reason, and it's simply "too controversial." Why is it too controversial? Is it just too uncomfortable to talk about or something?

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Removed this from under Watchmen:

• Given how cognizant Rorschach is of this trope, it is darkly appropriate that he himself inverts it: he works tirelessly to aid helpless strangers, seeing no problem defending humanity in a general way (e.g., beating up criminals) and idolizing or idealizing people he doesn't know (Kitty Genovese, Harry Truman, etc.) but every person he actually knows and/or spends much time with, he hates.

It's not really true. He despises people on the street and assaults random people for information presumably on the basis that they're bound to be guilty of something. On the other hand, he respects the Comedian and likes Dan (Night Owl) in spite of not really having much in common with him. He might be trying to punish more than help... but whether that last one is true or not, he's got plenty of disgust for people he doesn't know.

Edited by VVK

Has anyone else referred to this as the "pedestrian effect" or is that me mistaking "pedestrian" for "bystander"? I think whether works and gets the idea across.

Don't make me destroy you. @ Castle Series Hide / Show Replies

There are a few examples on this page that have been mis-filed, and really belong under Perception Filter. I've removed the entries about the Knight Bus in Harry Potter and the Tardis on Doctor Who. If you see any other mis-filed examples, please move them too.

Edited by BlueIceTea 'Crisis or no, nothing should interfere with tea!'