Here’s where we’re heading:
E.M. Forster: “The Machine Stops” (1909)
Read it!
MrLynn on June 6, 2008 at 9:59 AM

Interesting read so far. Thanks for enlightening us.

You don’t have to reach out to everyone who lives near you or random people on the street to be able to show some empathy for a person in need.
I don’t know a single one of my neighbors, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help one if asked to or that they wouldn’t do the same. I’ve had neighbors come to me for help and have returned the favor, and we’re still not on a first name basis.
This is just human decency.
Esthier on June 6, 2008 at 9:53 AM

How many of your neighbors tonight are grieving for a lost family member? Which one just got fired and needs a friend? Who’s the old man wrestling with a life changing issue or needed help unloading his groceries or moving a piece of furniture? Who’s the lady thinking of committing suicide this night or whose husband is deployed? And then, I ask, how would you know? I’d encourage you to get to know your neighbors, your fellow man. For all I know, you could be a neighbor a block down from me. Any of us commenting here could be. Interesting to think about.
As John Donne said back in 1624, “No man is an Island, entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.”

righty64 on June 6, 2008 at 3:15 PM

Jay walking or not… if you hit someone in a car, wouldn’t you stop?

eplain on June 6, 2008 at 11:54 AM

Not giving you crap for it. But not many know there is that law, so even the “good” people who would want to do something stop before helping.

Catch my drift now?

flutejpl on June 6, 2008 at 11:06 AM

Umm, I don’t see a comparison with Hartford or Katrina. Other then possibly the people.

Sorry.

Wind Rider on June 6, 2008 at 9:42 AM

That is a great story, thank you for helping that man. I am sure his wife appreciated it.

eplain on June 6, 2008 at 10:20 AM

There is such a thing as the good samaritian law in almost all State, in which your has one as well. You don’t have to move the man, but being there for someone isn’t wrong.

upinak on June 6, 2008 at 11:17 AM

Hey, I SAID- i would have done a better job in that respect. but all in 60 seconds? it wasn’t as bad as everyone is saying. as far as “breaking good Samaritan laws”…far worse happens in government every 60 seconds.

Wind Rider on June 6, 2008 at 9:42 AM

That is a great story, thank you for helping that man. I am sure his wife appreciated it.

eplain on June 6, 2008 at 10:20 AM

There is such a thing as the good samaritian law in almost all State, in which your has one as well. You don’t have to move the man, but being there for someone isn’t wrong.

I think that about sums it up. You’re probably 100X less likely to see something like this in a red state.

Trainwreck on June 5, 2008 at 6:46 PM

I wouldn’t assume a thing about this being red state versus blue state stuff or north versus south stuff. I grew up in Memphis, went to school in Indiana, and now live in New Jersey. In all three places, I’ve gotten to know wonderful people and have had great neighbors who I appreciate and who appreciate me.

Something almost as gross happened in Memphis, TN several years ago at a shopping mall in a better neighborhood. A store robber plugged and killed a lady who was getting out of her car, took her keys, and bolted. When he was arrested, a news crew went to interview his neighbors. “Well, maybe he shouldn’t have shot her, but he needed the car.” He needed the car! Pass the barf bucket.

For societal de-evolution on a large scale, think of the people in New Orleans shooting at the helicopters trying to bring them their aid after Katrina.

I live in the greater (?) Trenton area now. Trenton is no better than Hartford. I almost hit a cyclist who pedaled through a light that had been his red for 15 seconds; I don’t know how I missed him. He had the nerve to give me the finger and go after me. Fortunately for me, he was drunk, and he didn’t stay upright too long.

If we’re going to try to identify a problem set, let’s try this on for size. These cities and ones like them are cities with disproportionately large populations of undereducated, welfare-hooked people (skin color is irrelevant) who live in concentrated areas where government has set itself up as the savior. Crime is rampant as government makes a rather ineffective savior, yet these people and the academic elite on the other supposed extreme of societal evolution believe that the answer to their problems lies 100% in government’s hands. To them, the people are of the government, not the other way around; with that misunderstanding, people do some rather strange things like what we see.

We’ve seen this failure of understanding on a small scale in Hartford and on a larger scale with Katrina. Isn’t it amazing that, in the face of such governmental failure, the en vogue conclusion for such problems appears to be more government and liberation theology through Obama?

God help us.

Liberals are to afraid of being held libel for anyone to get involved.

‘Ra’ (radium sunlight) is the only thing that separates libel from liberal. No wonder they change into a conservative when they reach their ‘half life’.

Those people are sad.
Dr. Manhattan on June 5, 2008 at 12:18 PM

“Those people?” How about “our people?” When most people drive home from work, open the garage door, pull in, close the door, sit on the couch, watch TV, then go to bed without ever having had spoken with their neighbors, how can we act surprised when people think nothing of one another? People make their lives boring, seek human interaction from a box with blinking lights, and are happy with that. Most folks only talk with their neighbors when the power goes out. Not “those,” but “our” people. It’s part of our collective culture now.

Send_Me on June 5, 2008 at 10:42 PM

Here’s where we’re heading:

E.M. Forster: “The Machine Stops” (1909)

Read it!

It’s part of our collective culture now.

Send_Me on June 5, 2008 at 10:42 PM

That’s simply not true. You don’t have to reach out to everyone who lives near you or random people on the street to be able to show some empathy for a person in need.

I don’t know a single one of my neighbors, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help one if asked to or that they wouldn’t do the same. I’ve had neighbors come to me for help and have returned the favor, and we’re still not on a first name basis.

This is just human decency.

My son and I were walking from Constitution Ave towards the WWII memorial, when we heard a woman screaming for help behind us. Her husband had collapsed and was having some sort of seizure. There was a handlful of people close by, and to a person, they all whipped out their cellphones and dialed 911 and began stumbling through a description of the scene. Otherwise, no one (except my son and I) made a move towards the guy.

We approached him and began doing what we’d been taught in USAF self aid and buddy care training – making an assessment to see if he had an airway, etc. He’d bitten his tongue, and since he had no other apparent injuries, and his wife said he was suffering a seizure, we made sure he was on his side so his mouth could drain without obstructing his airway. Within about a minute or so he started to come out of it, and was very disoriented and embarrassed, and tried to get up (although it was apparent he probably would not succeed).

When everyone saw that he had blood on him (from his bitten tongue) everyone (even some of the Capitol Police that had arrived, then paused to put on some of the purple medical gloves, with a snap, of course) didn’t get close to him. We stayed with him till he was somewhat coherent (could tell us his name, recognized his wife, knew he was in DC) and was able to swish out his mouth with a bit of water.

The biggest vibe I got from everyone that had gathered (and several simply dispatched their 911 calls during a minor pause in their travel – they didn’t stick around) seemed to be simply fear. Fear of becoming involved, an almost palpable fear at the sight of the blood. Even from the DC Cops, there seemed to be a reluctance or fear to ‘jump in’ prior to the paramedics arriving – and although no one tried to stop me, the way people were looking, it was if they were watching something that was totally unexpected and odd – a bystander becoming involved beyond simply dialing a cellphone and waiting for “the proper, trained professionals” to arrive and deal with this obvious aberration to normal, civil life.

Still, the lack of someone’s going out there and directing traffic around him is sickening. The entire state of Connecticut just got a black eye from this incident in my book, even if the 911 switchboard did got clogged.

As for both of the thugs who were racing and swerved over the yellow line, may they never drive again. That goes for the guy who just missed him just as much; with his misdeed, he blocked the view of the victim for the guy who clobbered him.

The only kudos here go to Hartford police for happening to have a police cruiser on scene in a minute.

Connecticut is a blue state. Nicegood liberals wouldn’t just let somebody lay injured in the street.

With Father’s Day upon us it really hit home for me. I love my dad so much, I cannot even go there, a life without my father is a life I am not ready to live just yet or anytime soon.

Poverty is NEVER an excuse. How did people behave in the Great Depression?
OldEnglish on June 5, 2008 at 10:53 PM

While you argue correctly that poverty is not a cause for bad behavior, I would say that there is a correlative relationship between poverty and many of societal ills. But really, in this case, in Hartford, CT., this is a non-issue.

What is wrong with these people?

greggriffith on June 5, 2008 at 4:58 PM

Poor, dependent, on gov’t assistance, hopeless, New Orleans type victims of socialism.

JiangxiDad on June 5, 2008 at 5:07 PM

Poverty is NEVER an excuse. How did people behave in the Great Depression?