Bill Nye “The Science Guy” was giving a presentation at USC in front of hundreds of students yesterday when he collapsed. And then something very odd happened – nothing.
Yahoo News reports:
It appears that the students in attendance, rather than getting up from their seats to rush to Nye’s aid, instead pulled out their mobile devices to post information about Nye’s loss of consciousness.
Alastair Fairbanks, a USC senior in attendance for Nye’s presentation, told the Los Angeles Times that “nobody went to his aid at the very beginning when he first collapsed — that just perplexed me beyond reason.” The student added, “Instead, I saw students texting and updating their Twitter statuses. It was just all a very bizarre evening.”
Indeed, a cursory search on Twitter revealed a virtual play-by-play account of the incident. One student wrote, “Bill Nye tripped on his computer cord while speaking at USC, was out for abt 5 secs, got back up, spoke w/ slurred speech and fainted.
That’s pretty disturbing isn’t it?
Are we raising a nation of objective observers more comfortable with commenting on people in need than actually helping them?
I don’t have any answers but I can say that there have been a number of incidents played out for the world to see where people in need have been ignored. In fact, YouTube can give one a rather dismal view of humanity.
There’s a point where apathy becomes evil, isn’t there? There’s times when doing nothing is the worst thing. It seems this was one of those times.
November 19, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Re: able bodied people sitting while others left ot stand ~ I notice that the able bodied hog up the parking areas closest to the churches as well. Now I understand *why* you have to have marked "disabled" parking spots! Even "church folk" won't take the time to consider the infirm and those with small children.
November 19, 2010 at 10:10 pm
A woman collapsed while I was at mass a few years back. The priest asked if there were any doctors there. No doctors jumped up, so another nurse and I went over there. The other nurse asked for a couple of guys to help carry her out to the lobby. Not a man moved. I said I could do it and she and I took her out to the lobby and started CPR. We did get someone to call 911 on their cellphone. The woman did come around fairly quickly. But I am still stunned when I think that not one man would volunteer to help move the woman!
November 20, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Michelle Therese, the woman was standing. Nobody offered her a seat. She evidently had come to Mass with her daughter who (unfamiliar with the SRO problem) had left "Mom" and gone elsewhere. Like a lot of the elderly who don't want to be a burden the woman didn't bother the ushers to find her a seat. Since they weren't bothered, they didn't take the initiative to ask someone about giving up their seat. The rest is history.
As for my wife replying to the "respect me" comment, she's already earned the enmity of the woman by openly admitting she'll go to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation. Any surprise when I say the other woman is a "cafeteria Catholic" of the first order who considers my wife a flaming zealot?