In China a 2-Year-Old was Ran Over Twice & No One Helped Her

[BillSeurer]

...and it's very hard to find workers, especially since you get a pension at 50 there. Very strange and irrational regime, not sure what they're thinking with that 1 child policy.

There is almost 25% REAL unemployment in China (don't look at the "official" figures) so there is no lack of workers. Where do you guys hear this stuff?

There are simply too many people in China and their government knows it and has known it which is probably the point of the policy. The wealth effect that naturally lowers the birthrate hasn't kicked in there yet.

 

[Pessimeister]

You clearly implied that they were lacking in empathy.

Sorry mate, but you're projecting a false dichotomy. I said they failed to demonstrate or show empathy, that's different to saying they have none at all.

We can very much agree that there's something wrong, but the cause has little or nothing to do with a lack of empathy.

Semantics aside, I'm glad we agree on that at least.

My own additition to the stories told here: A friend was kindly giving me a lift home from sport one night when in front of us a utility failed to see a cat that was running across the road and fatally, ran into it. The driver didn't even stop to see what had happened, apparently not even registering that an animal had been hit and killed by their culpable driving.

I made my friend stop the car in the hope we could do something - perhaps to take it to a vet, but unfortunately due to the severe nature of the damage, it did not survive for more than another minute after the accident. What made me ask my friend to stop the car? For me responding to that kind of suffering in my immediate environment simply seemed like the right thing to do.

 

[GothicGothicness]

Well, I guess we can discuss these things for an eternity.

One thing I would like to point out is how large of a scandal this thing become, and how seldom such a things happen. In the world there are 100 000's of events where people get hurt and helped. In only a few rare cases do people NOT get help, those are mentioned and inflated in media, while the 100 000's that end with help are usually a small notice in the local paper........ just to get some perspective on things.

 

[BillSeurer]

…….. just to get some perspective on things.

Perspective is always important.

Last winter my daughter and I witnessed an accident right in front of us. A car spun out on a freeway ramp, flipped over, and slid backward into the ditch. I was the second car following it and I and a lady from the car in front of me ran down into the ditch to help while her husband was calling for help on their cell phone. There was a woman with her 3 little girls (~4-9) in the car and they were all completely OK thanks to seat belts and car seats. I frankly expected the worst given all the glass and personal belongings strewn into the ditch from the car.

After we helped them out of their car we went back to my van and we wrapped the kids up in my emergency blanket to help them warm up until the authorities arrived.

The guy in the snow plow who was behind me on the ramp also ran down to help but no one from the other 10+ cars that backed up did (though I suspect some had called for help). But then they weren't really needed I guess.

Anyway this didn't even make the news. I suspect if no one had stopped and the car had burst into flames incinerating the lady and her 3 kids it would have been all over the news.

 

[vurt]

There is almost 25% REAL unemployment in China (don't look at the "official" figures) so there is no lack of workers. Where do you guys hear this stuff?

There's a recent documentary about this (it was shown on swedish TV just 2 weeks ago), it's a big problem in china. They interviewed a few company owners, one american who said it was almost impossible to find people, he was going to shut his business down it seemed. They also showed how many companies had giant ad campains to find workers, where they showed nice pictures of their work place etc.. There's a severe lack of young people in China (in comparison to people over 50 who recieves a pension)

GG: About the gender imbalance: "BEIJING — China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting from the country’s tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced, state media reported Friday. "
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/1659330...acific/t/china-facing-major-gender-imbalance/

So it doesnt sound good..

 

[Thrasher]

One thing I would like to point out is how large of a scandal this thing become, and how seldom such a things happen. In the world there are 100 000's of events where people get hurt and helped. In only a few rare cases do people NOT get help, those are mentioned and inflated in media, while the 100 000's that end with help are usually a small notice in the local paper…….. just to get some perspective on things.

China is perceived as a big economic threat, so I'm not surprised the media is pushing this as a bad aspect of a confirmed threat. Pretty lousy.

 

[BillSeurer]

There's a recent documentary about this (it was shown on swedish TV just 2 weeks ago), it's a big problem in china. They interviewed a few company owners, one american who said it was almost impossible to find people, he was going to shut his business down it seemed. They also showed how many companies had giant ad campains to find workers, where they showed nice pictures of their work place etc.. There's a severe lack of young people in China (in comparison to people over 50 who recieves a pension)

It sounds like they are just parroting the official government line. Read these and you can see it (fake stats) have been a problem for years: http://www.economist.com/node/3178704
http://www.eeo.com.cn/ens/observations/2011/01/26/192447.shtml
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/15247/

 

[MasterKromm]

Anyway this didn't even make the news. I suspect if no one had stopped and the car had burst into flames incinerating the lady and her 3 kids it would have been all over the news.

Exactly, controversy and extreme heroism sells(at least that is what the media seems to think). But the unsung heroes who do the right thing everyday are just not worth reporting unless it involved some death defying or extraordinary feat(example).

Perspective is very important… Thus it is worth mentioning - the other big thing that propelled this event to the stage of international news was that is was actually captured on film. I'm sure there are plenty more examples of this sort of behavior(all over the world) but these events often lack the corresponding video footage to make them "newsworthy".

GG: About the gender imbalance: "BEIJING — China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting from the country’s tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced, state media reported Friday. "

Sounds like China is about to inherit a large standing army of cheesed off involuntary bachelors for life... I thought most nations were close to 1:1 with perhaps a slight surplus in females? Hmmm, how will China address this issue or is it a non-issue?

 

[BillSeurer]

South Korea also has an imbalance. In fact, many countries do:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sex_ratio

 

[aries100]

In a Danish newspaper (I'll see if I can find a link) I've read that it is not unusual for elderly people in China to 'fake' their injuriez, thus taking their rescuers to court for some quick money. On Chinese websites like Twitter and Facebook people are already complaining that 30 years ago, this didn't happen and asking what has happened to China during the last 30 years since this could happen today?

Maybe this has something to do with the advance of -ehm- cough- capitalism in China?

While we're talking about the subject, in Berlin there have been some incidents where people have been attacked and the others have looked away. Luckily, other people who have experienced attacks in Berlin's U-bahn have helped the people who got attacked.
(I'll see, if I can dig up a link or two). The Berlin authorites have made a campaign for zivil courage; it can just be something as simple as pressing a warning button or phoning the police.

 

[Corwin]

In Oz, there is actually an almost never used law which makes it a crime for any person to ignore another crime taking place and not offer to help. You can be deemed to be aiding and abetting a crime if you don't try to stop it. Do other countries have such a law?

 

[Thrasher]

That's pretty extreme. There are Good Samaritan laws in some US states. If you see someone''s life is in danger, and you do nothing, then you can be punished. But I've rarely heard of anyone actually being charged or penalized.

It seems like a lot of these laws on the books are hardly enforced.

 

[Damian Mahadevan]

These are the largest two denominations beyond Catholicism in the world and you never heard of them?

Martin Luther is often said to be the father of protestantism, popular in germany and northern Europe. Among the worst ideas he promoted was that faith alone is the key to heaven something which downgrades the importance of acting.
Calvinism is the second largest form of protestantism, popular in Britain and in the US. John Calvin went back to Augustinus and the idea about predestination. A God who creates and knows everything already knows whether or not your life is good or not, as a result it must be God who choses who's good or not, it's not something a person can change. Calvinism is related to Social Darwinism as it promotes the idea of not being able to change who God have chosen or not.
You can see the same mentality in many denominations especially in the USA.

Oh so Lutheran is protestanism? I didnt know. I know a lot of protestant churches.

Though i never heard of calvinist churches.

 

[dteowner]

That's pretty extreme. There are Good Samaritan laws in some US states. If you see someone''s life is in danger, and you do nothing, then you can be punished. But I've rarely heard of anyone actually being charged or penalized.

It seems like a lot of these laws on the books are hardly enforced.

While there very well might be laws as you describe, the Good Samaritan laws you mention are actually liability protection for people that do help. So if you bust out a window to pull somebody out of a burning car, they can't sue you for property damage. (And keep in mind, there wouldn't be a law unless crap like that happened)

 

[Thrasher]

Yep, Duty to Rescue laws is what I was referring to. Common naming mixup.

 

[dteowner]

http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-toddler-left-bloody-hit-run-dies-020238365.html

The girl died.

 

[JemyM]

Oh so Lutheran is protestanism? I didnt know. I know a lot of protestant churches.

Though i never heard of calvinist churches.

Around the 16-1700 there was 5 very distinct forms of Christianity in Europe, the catholics, the orthodox, the lutherans, the calvinists and the "sects". Protestantism is a generic term for non-catholic/non-orthodox denominations.

Understanding the split in Christianity is very important to understand some of the political development around Europe. Orthodox Christianity for example carry the idea that one need to completely replace the old with something new, an idea that have been very influential in Russia and the importance of revolution to bring forth communism.

Luther was the most famous and influental but around that time there had already started a rebellion against the Catholic Church around germany/netherlands. These sects contained several of the smaller denominations, including what eventually became the puritans in Britain. Luther probably got some of his influence by allowing monarchies to become the new Christian leaders, breaking all ties with the Roman-Catholic church. One of the most devastating wars in Europe, the 30-year war, was fought between northern (Sweden) and western protestant monarchies and the catholic church. Luther stressed the importance of living your life in the secular world, doing your work in the secular world, while keeping faith.

John Calvin was french, but calvinism became very influential in britain, so was Social Darwinism that has it's roots in extreme liberalism. Understanding the theological problem with predestination is important if one wish to understand Calvinism, Social Darwinism and Prosperity Theology.

Doomsday and separatists sects didn't begun to spawn until around the renaissance. The Roman church exterminated pretty much every heretic they came across, but around this time they had begun to lose their power. Many of the most extreme Christian denominations have their roots in this era.

I have always been interested in Christian history, a subject I found fascinating.

 

[aries100]

In Denmark we also do have such a law that makes it a crime l for someone not to aid or help a person who is in need of help. However, if you thereby come into danger yourself, you're not punished for not helping the person. It could be say a person trying to stop a bank robbery where the robbers use knifes or guns. This law is nearly ever used, and I think that in the last ten years, there have only been one or two cases where it was used. And in both cased the people that didn't help got aquitted - can't remember why, though.

 

[Drithius]

Bringing this topic back on topic in a tragic way, the child died yesterday morning: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/asia/china-toddler-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

So sad. And so unnecessary.

 

[skavenhorde]

Also the news caught up with three of those seventeen people who walked on by and they said that they didn't see her on the ground. Bullshit! For saying that someone should have them neutered to make sure they never have any children.

The ONLY good thing that might come from this is China will have to look at the precedence that Nanjing judge set. I saw this story on CNN the other day and you know that China hates any bad publicity so maybe they'll wake up after this. Probably not though. More likely they just come up with new and interesting ways of keeping things like this from hitting the web.