Did anyone see the Primietime episode that involved this hidden camera expose???

I did not get to see it all but the data they displayed floored me.

When a woman sitting in a park was obviously being physically threatened and pushed around by a boyfriend....
"During two days and 16 hours of taping, 92 men were captured by our cameras — and just five of them did anything to help. Out of 100 women, 14 intervened, stopped or dialed 911 — more than double the rate of men. "

Similar data was produced when the scenario involved a shoplifter.

Why do you think this was the case?

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Unfortunately, so many people are still of the mindframe that "it's not my business". I saw a similar study, probably by Dateline as well, involving an abusive babysitter berating a child. I was stunned by the lack of reaction from surrounding observers. Oh sure, everyone stared on in object horror and muttered to themselves, but only a few did anything. One was a grandfather, another a strong-willed woman who had no problem leaving the sitter shaking from her rebuke, but the one I found most interesting was a therapist. She handled the situation incredibly.

As for the others...they were interviewed by Dateline and shown footage. The common thread in their responses "I didn't feel comfortable butting in to their I thought someone else would do something."

And yes, by far, the number of men that reacted was lower than the number of women. In my mind, it's because men tend to minimize the seriousness of things. Poor excuse, I know, but it's all I could come up with.

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Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

How did the therapist handle it, WI?

Could it have been fear, too? Was the guy looking really angry?

I saw a guy yelling at a woman a few months ago and I thought if I said anything, he'd kill me.

She was totally soothing when she approached and diffused the situation in no time by not challenging the sitter but instead acknowledging that children can be very frustrating and this is what to do when that happens. It was suprising how disarming it was. The sitter was totally ready for a confrontation and ended up being faced with an ally.

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

I saw the same episode WI did but don't recall it as clearly in my mind. I know I faced a similar situation to what Lilith describes. In one of the apartments I stayed in recently it was clear that something extremely rough was happening in the apartment above me. I'd hear the screams, the sound of things hitting walls (never certain if it was a body), the sounds of feet moving harshly upon the floor. I never would have confronted the behavior in person for fear of my own life if I knocked upon the door. I considered phoning 911. I'm highly fearful of retribution and I always think somehow a perpetrator will know it's me calling and retaliate upon me in the future. I guess to sum it up you might just call me chicken shit!

Our first year married, we rented a condo unit. For the first two weeks, we were constantly witness to a woman screaming at her children like nobody should ever have to do. We were so torn between acting and not acting. Finally, we agreed that the children were alone in the family and unable to help themselves. Who would help them if we did nothing? Obviously there were others that heard the ravings and did nothing. People that had lived there much longer than we had at the time. We called Child Protective Services. It took us a week to get over the guilt, and what did it was watching her react soooooooooo much more positively with her children. I truly think had it ever been discovered that we were the ones that reported her, she would've thanked us.

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

I didn't see the special, but this reminds me of a situation that I myself encountered. A few weeks back, I was walking with one of my apartment-mates back from a friend's party. So I was quite smashed, and still had a slight pot buzz going. Anyway. We were walking up one of the busy streets on the way home, with lots of people around, and we saw this guy yelling at a girl, she was clearly very afraid, cowering against a building. I just had a major flashback to an abusive relationship that I was in, and I totally recognized her behavior. Now when I'm drunk, I get really ball-sy, so I went right up to them. I didn't yell at him, I just calmly told him that he's not to talk to her like that, or yell at her. My friend didn't know what to do, he just kinda stood there with his mouth open, I think he was shocked that I said something. This guy was an asshole to me too, and he tried to get in my face, but when I stood my ground, he realized he wasn't getting anywhere with me. I also had a good 5 inches in height on him - one of the joys of being tall. LOL. But eventually he stopped yelling at me and her and just stood there seething. So I turned my attention to his girlfriend, and just told her to walk away. The pain in her eyes just rocked me, cause I knew what she was feeling. But, *sigh* I keep berating myself that I eventually walked away and didn't call anyone, because I was on the phone with someone at the time. I think about it every day, and just wish that I had done more. Hindsight, huh?

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I see your fantasy... you want to make it a reality

Are you in the mood to be subdued

You see these shackles
Baby I’m your slave
I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave

Tie me to the bedpost

I like it rough
cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

I would say that my response would prob. also be to not get involved unless/until physical violence was shown, & then I would just call 911...when I was younger, I often let my outrage rule my actions, but as I've aged, I've developed an aversion to getting my ass kicked, or killed...recently saw an incident at the mall while my youngest was heading for the game exchange & I was aiming for the PetSmart, a woman had almost backed into another woman's car, & the near-victim, a rather substantial black woman, got out & began loudly berating & threatening the other, who remained in her car, trapped & blocked in, but she did have her cell phone (which I had no doubt she was using to call 911 for herself)...it may seem cowardly to some, but I figured my safest course was to take a roundabout route to the pet store, & hope that I wouldn't have to duck any stray bullets on the way...

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Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

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