Have we got some Kitty Genovase going on?
__________
For those who don't know, Kitty Genovase is a perfectly sane girl, in nearly every psych textbook in the world. She was murdered outside her NYC apartment building, in front of roughly 38 witnesses... over several hours. She was not attacked once, but instead several times. Her assailant frightened off after stabbing her, only to return to rape and stab her some more. And leave. And return again. And leave. And return again. She was raped and stabbed over and over, over the course of hours. To be strictly accurate... 2 people did help. In the beginning, a man seeing a struggle outside shouted out his window to leave the girl alone, and she later died in the arms of another girl in the vestibule of her apartment. While 38 people did nothing.
The story set the world on fire. It took Kitty hours to die, and while a few people did a little, what was expected would have been for a mob of 38 people to clamoring: dozens of calls to police, a lynch mob after her rapist and would be murderer, a 'give the girl some room to breathe!' crowd around her.
Kitty fought her attacker. She screamed for help, that she'd been stabbed. She managed to get herself to the public enterence to her building. She screamed, and fought, and did not go quietly.
And 38 good people did nothing. The police never came. An ambulance was never called.
If you're furious & horrified... So was the world. Which is how Kitty has ended up immortalized in psychology, as the patron saint to a facet of normal human behavior: The more people are around? The less likely it is that anyone will do anything.
It's called Dispersed Responsibility.
The idea being that singly, even if we're woefully unsuited to the task, we will act. Someone is bleeding out! We have no medical training, but we look around and no one is there, so we take to our heels and run to the person needing aid. We cover their wounds, we scream for help, we hold their hand. What we do varies... But we act.
But if we're in a crowd? Someone! Someone do something! While we stand there, and wait... for someone. Surely, if we have no medical training, someone here does? There's a doctor in the house, or an off duty EMT, or, or, or... Someone? Not even safe behind the walls of our apartments, but standing in the dumb-circle of onlookers around a fallen person... Most people will simply stand and wait. Wait for someone better suited than themselves... To act.
Upon being interviewed 38 people in Kitty's apartment building heard her attack. Some saw it. And it was so violent, and so horrible, that everyone assumed someone would do something.
Dispersed Responsibility isn't found only in violent and traumatic instances. Not just in assaults, or schoolyard fights, or a crisis. It's found any time people gather anywhere, and something needs to be done. It's not laziness, most people singly would act. It's not apathy, most people do actually care. It's sometimes linked to self esteem, the idea that someone better is out there, someone who can do it better than we could. But not always.
It's its' own unique thing.
And since this is the 2nd, maybe even 3rd, time Anthony is asking for our help... I suspect we're seeing it again, here.
So let's flood his inbox.
We all want this newsletter... We asked for it, enthusiastically whooped! at its suggestion.
We're all writers... We're on this forum, writing.
If you're a supporter? Write something. Maybe even something Supporterish.
If you're a sufferer? Write something. Maybe even something Suffery.
Bring on your tales of woe, and laughter, and strength.
It can be crap. A slush pile is no fun without a whole lotta WTF??? to wade through.
It can be amazing. Let's give them a queue of good stuff to layout for future editions.
It can be in no way suitable for publication. That's what Editors are for.
It can be totally embarrassing, so beet red blushing 'I can't believe I just wrote that!' you'd not even put it in the anonymous file... because they've promised to go all 007 and rewrite some things for us! :sneaky: Bwaaaaaahahaha.
It can be whatever the hell you feel like writing today. Come up with a better idea tomorrow, and send that one, too.
But I'm going to issue a challenge (gulp: to myself, who has written nothing) & to us all. By the end of the week to send something. By the end of the day, if you're reading this right now.
Lets make sure Kitty Genovase would be one of us :D, instead of dying alone. Let's act. We're good at that. We're survivors.
Ahem. We're also good at second guessing. So, if you're like me, and cringing over all the what ifs? Do what I'm about to do. Brazenly hit post reply...
