Is this a hallmark of an individualistic country (live, mall)

[thewitchisback]

I will share 2 examples that happened in Canada to persons I know quite well.

1. My cousin and her friend were in a packed Toronto mall food court when my cousin began choking. Like seriously, I-need-the-Heimlich kind of choking. My cousin ended up going from table to table frantically clutching at her throat with soda and food spilling all down her shirt trying to signal to people to help her. Meanwhile her friend totally lost it and started screaming help her! at the top of her lungs. Quite a scene. The oddest thing happened. Not one person got up. Everyone sat and stared nonchalantly at them and didn't move a muscle Finally one guy got up and did the Heimlich on my cousin.

2. My friend who lives in Edmonton recently went to a waterpark. While there with her kids she saw a little girl fall (under 10 years) and hit her knee. The girl's parents were not in sight.There was some blood and the child was crying hysterically. Once again noone did anything....and there were tons of parents there who witnessed the whole thing with their own kids. My friend sprang into action and helped the little girl to a first aid centre and helped clean her up and got her onto her parents. Several other parents who had witnessed everything came up to her after and asked her if it was her child or if she knew the child. Which horrified my friend.


These incidents strike me as very curious...not to mention scary. Would you guys say this is just a trait of an individualistic society? Every man for himself sort of thing?
Where I'm from people would have all rushed to the aid of the persons in each scenario. Even people who dont know the Heimlich would have been rushing forward to help.

[Jdawg8181]

People are afraid of getting sued. That is why ppl are sometimes reluctant to help.

[Ottawa2011]

Number 1 is appalling. But I wonder how many people even know the Heimlich nowadays. No mall security came over to assist? They usually hang around near food courts. Sad to say, but maybe no one would've gotten security to help unless she'd passed right out on the floor.

Number 2 actually doesn't surprise me (although it's also appalling). I've noticed/heard of incidents where children have gotten injured, or lost, and parents with their own kids standing nearby did not intervene. I think it's a weird psychological thing with parents, they look after their own kids, but they won't touch someone else's. They probably don't want to be blamed for the other child's injury.

[P London]

That's the same here in the UK.

[thewitchisback]

Doesn't this strike you guys as weird though? I know individualistic societies pride themselves on their freedoms ( freedom of choice, freedom to do your own thing without worrying about what family or society will think etc) but this seems like a seriously negative trait.

[P London]

Yes its very disturbing but people are scared to do anything and its WORSER in cities so maybe if you go into rural Canada or England it will be different.

[Ottawa2011]

One way of describing it is "bystander effect", when people don't want to get involved with someone else who is obviously in distress. I think urbanization tends to cause this. People just become alienated and detached from everyone else.

The movie "Rear Window" is an interesting take on this phenomenon too... Grace Kelly's character tells Jimmy Stewart that he's "diseased" for watching the neighbours through his window and wanting to intervene when he thinks a murder has happened. I think Hitchcock was inspired by the Kitty Genovese case, a murder in NYC in the 1950s, where the victim's cries for help were ignored by her neighbours. Scary.