Tot, 2, run over twice, and no one helps

[jimmy olsen]

Be wary of saving someone over there HMBOB.

http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/17/8368104-tot-2-run-over-twice-and-no-one-helps

Tot, 2, run over twice, and no one helps

By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Correspondent

TRIPOLI – Even from a remote perch in Libya, we heard about the horrific story making waves in China.

Last Thursday, a two-year-old girl crossing a street by herself in the city of Foshan in China's southern Guangdong Province was hit by a car. The driver paused briefly as the girl lay between the front and rear wheels and then tore off, thumping her now-limp body again.

Soon after, a second vehicle rolled over the girl, with the driver presumably unaware that a body lay on the road. The second driver also did not stop.

As if both these acts were not outrageous enough, 18 more people – on foot, on motorbikes, or on bicycles – passed by the girl, lying inert on the ground, and did nothing. Even a mother with her own child ignored the victim.

(Warning the video is very graphic, but it can seen here from a Chinese broadcast or here from the BBC).

It wasn't until a female trash collector saw her and proceeded to pick the girl up that she was moved to the side of the road. The trash collector asked passers-by who the girl belonged to, and eventually the mother appeared, distraught, to claim her daughter named Yueyue.

All of this was caught on surveillance cameras. A clip was posted on China's popular micro blog, Sina Weibo on Sunday, generating a huge outcry as netizens counted the number of people who glanced at the girl and ignored her plight – all in the seven minutes she lay on the road until the Good Samaritan carried her to safety.

The story, which has been a leading headline on all of China's news sites, touched a nerve in the country, with many decrying the lack of moral standards and general disregard for fellow human beings.

One report quoted the first driver as saying, "If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,125). But if she is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan."

Some news reports and online discussions made the point that civil behavior is not always rewarded in China. Many people fear they're being subject to some sort of scam while others remember still a well-known case from 2006, when a man helped a woman who had fallen only to have her accuse him of causing the injury to begin with.  She filed a suit against him, in which the judge ruled the man wouldn't have come to her aid had he not caused the fall.

State-run news agency Xinhua has reported both drivers of the vehicles that ran over the girl have been apprehended by police.

Yueyue, meanwhile, is in critical condition with serious brain injuries, breathing with the help of a ventilator. Her parents are asking eyewitnesses to come forward with any additional information.

The story of Yueyue's hit-and-run stands in stark contrast to another story that picked up steam online over the weekend.

Last Friday afternoon, a woman fell into a scenic tourist lake in Hangzhou, the capital of the eastern province of Zhejiang. A Western woman who was walking by saw the Chinese woman struggling and quickly jumped into West Lake to save her.

After swimming back to shore, the foreigner dragged her onto the bank. The victim remained conscious and appeared out of danger. Police turned up ten minutes later, and the Western woman left quietly. Several websites reported she was American.

What was notable in this instance was the response of those who read the story online.

In addition to giving the rescuer high praise ("That American girl is great, she has a beautiful character"), people also made unfavorable comparisons to Chinese behavior:

"According to Chinese laws and regulations, if she hadn't pushed the girl into the water, why ever would she save her?"

Thanks to China Digital Times for the translations.

[MadImmortalMan]

the judge ruled the man wouldn't have come to her aid had he not caused the fall.

"According to Chinese laws and regulations, if she hadn't pushed the girl into the water, why ever would she save her?"

No way that's near-universally true. And there had to be something else involved the judge based his decision on. There's no possible way that axiom is the basis for a legal decision. Even in China.

[Malthus]

the judge ruled the man wouldn't have come to her aid had he not caused the fall.

"According to Chinese laws and regulations, if she hadn't pushed the girl into the water, why ever would she save her?"

No way that's near-universally true. And there had to be something else involved the judge based his decision on. There's no possible way that axiom is the basis for a legal decision. Even in China.

Could be something like the "in the US, woman sues for spilling coffee on herself and gets millions" outrage, or my favorite example, "Ontario thought of enacting Sharia law".

In short, stories about legal issues in which the actual (somewhat complex) facts were pushed out of the public conciousness by the (outrageous! but simple!) memes.

Or that would be my guess.

[Razgovory]

Why is a Chinese story being reported from Libya?

[Slargos]

the judge ruled the man wouldn't have come to her aid had he not caused the fall.

"According to Chinese laws and regulations, if she hadn't pushed the girl into the water, why ever would she save her?"

No way that's near-universally true. And there had to be something else involved the judge based his decision on. There's no possible way that axiom is the basis for a legal decision. Even in China.

Could be something like the "in the US, woman sues for spilling coffee on herself and gets millions" outrage, or my favorite example, "Ontario thought of enacting Sharia law".

In short, stories about legal issues in which the actual (somewhat complex) facts were pushed out of the public conciousness by the (outrageous! but simple!) memes.

Or that would be my guess.

Perhaps, but it's certainly not set in stone.

In Thailand, you should never stop for an accident as a westerner. Plenty of people who have end up in trouble on the simple reasoning that they have money so why not just take them for something? It's a different world.

[Habbaku]

I wonder if DisturbedPervert got taken for everything he has. 

[Josephus]

Why is a Chinese story being reported from Libya?

Yeah, that seemed odd to me too.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Be wary of saving someone over there HMBOB.

Thanks, I'll be sure that anyone I bump into is actually dead.
Especially the toddlers.

[jimmy olsen]

the judge ruled the man wouldn't have come to her aid had he not caused the fall.

"According to Chinese laws and regulations, if she hadn't pushed the girl into the water, why ever would she save her?"

No way that's near-universally true. And there had to be something else involved the judge based his decision on. There's no possible way that axiom is the basis for a legal decision. Even in China.

I've come across the "anyone who isn't family or friends" is worthless attitude in the East before, admittedly not to anything near that extent though.

[Faeelin]

Kitty Genovese suggests that this isn't just a Chinese thing.

[Razgovory]

The Kitty Genovese thing is somewhat over played.  It didn't happen as was first reported.

[garbon]

Kitty Genovese suggests that this isn't just a Chinese thing.

Oh fuck that bitch. Nearly 50 years later and people are still milking that. Considering the 2nd similar death that happened there, perhaps that was just a really awful apartment complex.

[Tonitrus]

Sometimes, they don't even do the police-state thing properly....

Hundreds of soldiers and police officers clash in Guangxi
J. L. Young 2011-10-17 15:54 (GMT+8)

Clashes between soldiers and policemen broke out in Yulin, one of fourteen prefecture-level cities in Guangxi autonomous region, on Oct. 15. Six people involved in the incident were injured, according to the Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy.

A local police officer confirmed the incident to the Sing Tao Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper based in Hong Kong. It is reported that local senior officials were shocked and had ordered an investigation into the reports.

Sources on Chinese microblog service Sina Weibo said that some soldiers, who were drunk at the time, tried to use the restrooms at a local police station, but were refused and had a quarrel with the police officers. Then, under the order of the deputy police chief, about 30 policemen dragged some soldiers into the station, where they were beaten for up to two hours.

The soldiers later called for help, and over a hundred others showed up and involved themselves in a confrontation with hundreds of police officers. A witness said that one police officer even took out a hand grenade to scare off the soldiers.

The news rapidly spread throughout the Chinese internet, with many netizens saying that both sides acted like gangsters instead of public officers.

[HisMajestyBOB]

I like how its the police that pulled out the hand grenade

[Razgovory]

I get the impression that solider is not well respected profession in China.  Anyway, the police intimidating the army is pretty typical in communist countries.