Good Samaritan and the "bystander effect"

What an end for a Good Samaritan

Poor Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax. He was just trying to help a woman from getting mugged, got stabbed for his trouble and 25 indifferent people passed him by while he lay dying on the sidewalk... one jerk even took a picture on his cellphone then went on his way.

It doesn't take a lot of effort to dial 911 but it took more than an hour before help arrived  for Mr.Tale-Yax, too late to save him. This is a classic case of the "bystander effect" when the presence of others makes one assume someone else would help, so nothing is done.

I'm not expecting anyone to play the hero, but come on, at least call the police/emergency services if you don't know what to do!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read more...

Kid directing air traffic: cute, but...

 

A dad who took his kid to work is in trouble for letting him give directions to pilots taking off at New York's JFK International Airport. It must have been exciting for this boy to pretend to be like his air traffic controller dad. It's darned cute too, but let's face it, it's not a good idea--even if the dad was dictating instructions and the kid appeared to be following them dutifully .

After all that's happened with terrorism threats and such, everybody's understandably jumpy about security breaches at airports. Security regulations must be adhered to. The last thing people need is to have kids running around at control towers, directing air traffic. I hope the controller does not lose his job because of this, though. No one was harmed here so he should just be let off with a stern warning.

Read more...